Pati, Patni and ten thousand
Cashing thrashing
Alcoholic men in Andhra Pradesh who batter their wives may soon find tables turned on them.
If a proposal of State Irrigation Minister T G Venkatesh becomes operational, women who beat their abusive husbands will get a reward from the government.
Venkatesh, an industrialist, is proactive against alcoholism. He offers incentives for employees in his industrial units and sacks those who drink.
“Beat your drunken husband if he touches you. The government will pay you a
Rs 1,000 reward. The more you beat him the better as you can get up to Rs 10, 000,” he told a gathering of women, Mahila Sadassu, a government programme in Kurnool.
The minister urged women to get their drunken, abusive husbands on to the streets and beat them in full view of the public so that it encourages other women, whose men return home after squandering their day’s earnings in toddy shops.
“Once you do this and you get rewarded, your husband will stop harassing you,” Venkatesh told the women of Kurnool.
However, officers in the child and women welfare department say that the novel idea will be difficult to implement.
“First, how to ascertain whether a woman is really beaten by husband or that she has beaten her abusive husband. What can we do if the couple hatch a plan and cheat the government,” one of them said.
However, the minister is very enthusiastic about the idea. “We can call this as Pati, Patni and Rs 10,000 scheme,” he said.
