TN tops the wife-beater list

As per the National Family Health Survey-3, Tamilnadu tops the list in spousal violence
among the four southern states. And Kerala ranks at the bottom of the list, not just among
the southern states, but also in comparison with the other states also.

The national average is 37.2 % women suffering domestic violence and the listing of the
various states was as below :

Tamilnadu : 41.9%
Karnataka : 20 %
Andhra : 35.2%
Kerala : 16.4 %

Bihar, as usual topped the list at 59%. No surprises there.

So, what do these figures show ? Does literacy have any bearing on these figures ?
Kerala is the topper in literacy figures among Indian states. Does literacy help women's
empowerment ? I would guess so.

As was expected, politicians had to come out with their own theories of why things are
the way they are. The PMK leader is sure that liquor is behind this wife-beating and the
surefire way to remove this blot from TN's face is to ban liquor shops or atleast ban the
bars attached to the liquor shops. Rationale being that drinking will reduce as most men
will not be able to drink at home or afford the costly bars in hotels.

If liquor were the culprit, how does Kerala not figure above TN ? Kerala has one of the
highest per capita liquor consumption figures. And still the spousal violence figures are
much lower than that of TN.

Maybe it would be more worthwhile for him to goad his rank and file to go attend adult
literacy classes, instead of spending time blackening Hindi (and recently English also)
sign posts with tar or uprooting trees on the highways.