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Aid
group Sulabh International, which says it has built 1.5 million
toilets across the country, has set up "Trump Village" signs
around the small community in the northern state of Haryana,
each bearing a grinning portrait of the president.
Neither the White House, nor the Trump family's commercial
empire, has given permission for the rebranding of the village,
still better known locally as Marora, the charity said.
But founder Bindeshwar Pathak said he hoped the gesture would
win enough publicity and good will to at least raise awareness
of a major social problem.
"Such a step might spur rich people, companies and other donors
to come forward and donate money," he said.
"Once basic infrastructure is built here, the popularity of this
village will grow and it will act as a motivational factor."
The change is purely symbolic - the name Marora will continue to
appear on maps and signs.
But locals said they were prepared to embrace the new title,
Trump Sulabh Village in its full form, and any good things it
brought with it.
"All our problems such as electricity and water will be
addressed by renaming," said resident Mohammed Joharuddin.
Village head Shaukat Ali also played along, saying he was
grateful for the charity's work. "A toilet is being constructed,
a road is being built and community hall will also be built in
the village," he said.
The event was organized as Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi
prepares to fly this weekend for his first meeting with Trump in
Washington. The U.S. embassy in New Delhi said it was aware but
referred further inquiries to Washington.
Fewer than a third of India's 1.3 billion people have access to
sanitation.
The United Nations estimates that half the population defecates
outside - putting people at risk of cholera, diarrhea,
dysentery, hepatitis A and typhoid.
(Reporting by Reuters Television; Writing by Vipin Das M;
Editing by Douglas Busvine)
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