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An Indian village is being named after Donald Trump to help fund new toilets

The charity behind the stunt hopes their efforts will help improve sanitation across the country.
The charity behind the stunt hopes their efforts will help improve sanitation across the country. The charity behind the stunt hopes their efforts will help improve sanitation across the country.

A tiny village in India is being unofficially named after Donald Trump – and it’s all for a good cause.

A charity that provides toilets to poor Indians is leading an effort to rename a village in Haryana after the US president, saying the gesture is meant to honour relations with the US and draw support for better sanitation in India.

The new name, Trump Sulabh Village, is not official, and so will not appear on maps.

India Trump Village.
India Trump Village.
(Tsering Topgyal/AP)

Although the 400 villagers who live there said they had no idea who Trump is, they are delighted that their village elders agreed to the promotional gimmick because it also means they will receive free toilets in each of the village’s 60 or so mud-built houses.

None of the funding for the new toilets is coming from Trump or the US.

The charity’s founder, Bindeshwar Pathak, admitted that naming the village after Trump was a stunt aimed at drawing more attention – and hopefully funding – for their efforts to improve sanitation across India.

India Trump Village.
India Trump Village.
(Tsering Topgyal/AP)

“Trump is the president of the leading nation in the world, so that’s why I chose him,” he said.

According to the World Health Organisation, more than 60% of the country’s 1.3 billion people still defecate in the open, and dysentery kills about half a million children around the world every year.