In this tribal village, penalty for liquor consumption is a coconut

RAIPUR: Drink or manufacture liquor and pay a coconut as fine! It’s a new rule at a panchayat in Korba district of Chhattisgarh.
Tribal Maingadi village’s sarpanch Sanicharan Minj, 32, said people in this region drink locally-brewed rice beer right from the morning and there have been increasing incidents of youth and even children indulging in drunken brawls.Paying a coconut as fine may sound like a light punishment, but what is hidden in that is “public shaming.” If the offence is repeated, a police complaint will be lodged.
“In absence of entertainment and electricity in the village, people are habituated to sit in groups, drink and chit-chat to pass time,” Minj told TOI. “It was a huge task to even think of banning liquor in the village. For the (dominant) Uraon tribe it’s a culture to drink rice beer, mahua, manufacture local liquor and drink every evening after work,” he said.
Minj, who is a graduate, said the issue became a matter of concern when children stopped going to school and youngsters became disoriented under influence of liquor. He said it was very challenging to convince the drunken crowd of villagers.
“I counselled them first about consequences and increasing violence in the village. Without being harsh, I then asked them to give the new rule a try so they don’t feel that anything was being imposed upon them.” Subsequently, the villagers gathered on Rakshabandhan and took a pledge to ban liquor as a “gift to the women of village” and for their own betterment.