Renegade roadside relievers hit New Delhi's bottom line
The sight of men - women are more modest - relieving themselves in public is so common in India that it scarcely attracts any attention, let alone criticism.
For some it is a matter of habit, for others in a country with about 260m people living below the poverty line it is the prohibitive cost of repeat visits to public toilets that often charge one rupee - two US cents - for use of a urinal and two for entry to a cubicle.
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As preparations for the 2010 Commonwealth Games get under way, however, New Delhi is debating whether the host city should amend the situation.
"Do people urinating in public turn you off?" the Hindustan Times, New Delhi's leading English language newspaper, asked its readers yesterday. The paper invited them to call in or SMS their opinion to a hotline. "Do you think it is time for a change in mindset to be brought about?" To some, the fact that the question needs to be asked at all highlights the serious socio-economic challenges facing those who urge more disciplined bathroom habits.
With state governments starved of funds for urban infrastructure, some are looking to the private sector to provide the solution.
The dearth of clean and free toilets presents an opportunity for companies such as JC Decaux, the French outdoor advertising company, that provide and maintain modern public toilets in exchange for the right to sell advertising space.
Few are optimistic there is a future for a pay-as-you-go system of public toilets. Millions who are forced to steal electricity see no reason why they should pay for the right to answer calls of nature.
"The chief minister is trying to provide good facilities near the games and has announced she wants Delhi to look like Melbourne. God bless her if she's successful," says Dr Bindeshwar Pathak, founder of Sulabh International, an NGO with a network of 7,500 public toilets.
印度讨论可否随地小便
在印度，男性在公共场所便溺的情景（女性比较羞怯一些）极为常见，以至于几乎无法引起人们的注意，更不必说会提出批评了。
对于某些人来说，这是个习惯问题，而对于另一些人而言，在一个约有2.6亿人口生活在贫困线以下的国家里，总去公共厕所成本太高，小便一般收费1卢比（合2美分），大解则要收2卢比。
然而，就在开始筹备2010年英联邦运动会之际，新德里正在就主办城市是否应该改变上述状况的问题进行争论。
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新德里的主要英文报纸《印度斯坦时报》(Hindustan Times)昨日向读者发问：“你讨厌人们在公共场合便溺吗？”这份报纸邀请读者打热线电话或发短信，表达自己的看法。“你认为这种习惯现在是不是该改变了？”从某种程度上说，这个问题需要这样问出来这一事实，就表明了那些敦促养成更自律如厕习惯的人，面临着严峻的社会经济挑战。
