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A boy cries as he recuperates after surgery during "Operation Smile" at a hospital in Manila's Makati financial district October 26, 2009. Operation Smile aim to provide free surgery for about a hundred children inflicted with cleft lips, cleft palates, and other facial deformities over a period of five days in Makati.  REUTERS/Cheryl Ravelo

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    It pays to go in an Indian public toilet

    NEW DELHI
    Sun Jul 6, 2008 2:21am EDT

    NEW DELHI (Reuters) - It pays to use a toilet in southern India, as residents are earning close to a dollar a month by using public urinals, a scheme launched by authorities to promote hygiene and research in rural areas.

    Health  |  Lifestyle

    Dozens of people are queuing up to use toilets in Musiri, a remote town in Tamil Nadu state, where authorities have succeeded in keeping street corners clean with the new scheme, The Times of India newspaper said on Sunday.

    "In fact, many of us started using toilets for urination only after the ecosan (ecological sanitation) toilets were constructed in the area," said S. Rajasekaran, a truck cleaner.

    The urine was also being collected and tested for its efficacy as a crop fertiliser, an official of the state's agricultural university added.

    People relieving themselves in the open is a common sight in India's rural towns and villages, as basic sanitation still eludes millions.

    (Reporting by Bappa Majumdar; Editing by Jerry Norton)

    (For the latest Reuters news on India see: in.reuters.com, for blogs see blogs.reuters.com/in/.)



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