Andhra Pradesh Lok Sabha MP Kalisetti Appala Naidu on Monday defended his outrageous offer to women – Rs 50,000 for the birth of a third child, and a cow if that child is a boy – by pointing to a “very poor next generation” in the state and the “very important” need to increase population in India, already the second-most populous nation with over 1.44 billion, or 144 crore, people.
The bizarre (and sexist, in giving greater ‘rewards’ for boys) offer – from a member of the ruling Telugu Desam Party, which is also allied with the Bharatiya Janta Party at the centre – has been praised by Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu, and hailed by others as “revolutionary”.
The ‘offer’ was made Saturday at a public meeting in Mr Appala Naidu’s constituency – Vizianagaram, one of the state’s 25 Lok Sabha seats and a TDP stronghold.
It comes amid a row between the centre and the southern states, led by Tamil Nadu, over delimitation – i.e., the process of redrawing constituency boundaries, in this case for the Lok Sabha – based on current population data.
