remembers me of something regional

From Techdirt :

Not quite sure what sort of message this is sending, but a British job training school is offering free iPods to unemployed kids who take their classes. You can kind of understand the rationale. These are often kids who aren't interested in going to any kind of school -- but getting them in could help them find a job, which would be a good thing. However, as some critics point out in the article, this is basically bribing them for being lazy. Shouldn't the fact that they don't have a job be incentive enough for them to go to a program designed to help them find a job? Meanwhile, the people who actually do work hard in school and actually have found a job don't get rewarded at all. It seems to be sending the wrong message.

atleast the first part of the story resembled our own "sathunavuth thitam" where children are offered a lunch if they come to school. And it's a tremendous hit in Tamil Nadu where its being practised for around 4 decades. btw, anyone knows who was the first to introduce this idea - Bhagthavatchalam, Kamaraj or MGR?