Tripura's Biplab Kumar Deb gave cows to families to ensure a new mode of income

Highlights Biplab Kumar Deb said he will rear cows and drink their milk

He said rearing cows will be better than any big industry

He said the state government will distribute cows among 5,000 families

Tripura Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb has announced that he and his family will rear cows at his official home and drink their milk, to lead by example.

"Today I am announcing that I will start the domestication of cows at the Chief Minister's residence along with my family and will consume its milk. This will also inspire people of Tripura to do the same and will help fight malnutrition," Mr Deb said on Sunday.

He said this while talking about his pet project - distributing cows among families to give them a new mode of income.

The motor-mouth chief minister said the BJP-led government in Tripura will distribute cows among 5,000 families, to start with. The returns from rearing cows will be better than any big industry, he promises.

"We are about to launch a scheme for distributing cows among 5,000 families. I am not against setting big industries but in that one has to invest Rs 10,000 crores for employing 2,000 people. But if I give 10,000 cows to 5,000 families they will start earning in six months," said Mr Deb.

If he does rear cattle in his backyard, he will not be the first Chief Minister to do so. In the 1990s, Lalu Yadav kept several cows at his official home.

Since he took power in March, Mr Deb, 48, has stayed in the headlines with a series of controversial comments. He had earlier advised the youth of Tripura to milk cows and run paan (betel) stalls to earn money instead of wasting their time.

The Tripura chief minister famously told a crowd at a rally earlier that the internet and satellites were not new to India but existed since the age of the Mahabharata. He also once threatened to "cut off the nails" of those who criticized his government and poked into his administration's policies.