Thousands of poor women in India’s Tamil Nadu state have been offered free cosmetic breast surgery, including implants, its health minister said Friday, because “poor people also have a right to look beautiful.”The southern Indian state is known for its populist schemes, which have previously included free canteens and providing thousands of disadvantaged people with goats, laptops and bicycles among other items. It will now offer cosmetic breast surgery free of cost to all women — for aesthetic or medical reasons — with priority given to those from the poorest sections of society. “If a poor woman desires to look beautiful, we will support her financially,” state health minister C Vijayabaskar told AFP. The Tamil Nadu scheme was launched Wednesday at a state-run clinic in state capital Chennai, with a promise to soon expand it to other districts of the state. One of India’s more prosperous states, Tamil Nadu has for decades offered freebies to its marginalized population, mostly under the government of popular actor-turned-politician Jayalalithaa.

Source: Dhaka Tribune February 23, 2018 22:41 UTC