India's £40,000 renovation is money down the toilet

An Indian government agency was criticised yesterday for spending $63,000 (£40,500) to renovate its toilets just months after setting the national poverty line far below global standards.

The Planning Commission tried to mitigate the outrage by saying the three restrooms could accommodate up to 30 people at once.

India has 450 million people living below its poverty level of less than 32p a day.