Can’t afford a toilet at home? Sell your wife

INDIA: Villagers should sell their wives if they cannot afford to install lavatories at home, according to a magistrate in India’s poorest state.

The ill-judged advice was offered by Kanwal Tanuj as he struggled to convince a crowd of villagers in Bihar to invest in sanitation as part of the Clean India Movement.

He was filmed saying: ‘‘Save the dignity of your women if you can. How poor are you? Raise your hands and tell me if the value of your wife is lower than 12,000 rupees (NZ$250).’’ He was citing the cost of installing a toilet, a third of the average yearly income in the state.

His plea did not provoke the reaction he anticipated. Whether they misunderstood him or took the view that their wives were indeed worth less 12,000 rupees, some of the villagers raised their hands.

‘‘Listen to me first, don’t raise your hands,’’ Tanuj countered. ‘‘Which man would say take the dignity of my wife and give me 12,000 rupees? Is there anyone like that?’’

Some in the audience were still not convinced. When one man insisted that he could not afford a toilet, a frustrated Tanuj replied: ‘‘If that is the case then go and sell your wife. If this is the mentality you have then go and sell your wife.’’

Footage of the incident has been circulated widely on social media, prompting both anger and amusement.

The confrontation underlines the colossal task of installing sanitation in a nation of 1.2 billion people.

More than half of Indians do not have access to a toilet and many consider public defecation more hygienic. In many rural areas the new toilet stands idle while villagers continue to defecate in fields.

The prime minister, Narendra Modi, has pledged to install a lavatory in each of India’s 650,000 villages. - The Times