Police in a district in India's Madhya Pradesh state is being paid to grow mustaches because bosses believe it makes them command more respect.
Jhabua district police chief Mayank Jain told BBC News Online: "The response is growing, and in the months ahead, we expect to see more mustachioed policemen.
"Moustaches are improving the personalities of our constables. They are acquiring an aura of their own. They are creating a positive impression on the local people and getting a lot of respect."
The police chief hit upon the idea of mustaches-for-cash after a seminar attended by district policemen and local people.
"There were two or three mustachioed constables in the gathering, and I saw people were looking at them very respectfully and pleasantly. That is when I thought of making more policemen grow mustaches," Mr. Jain said.
The decision to pay them a whisker more every month for their efforts was just a "little motivation," he said.
Mr. Jain said he was keeping a watch on the shape of the mustaches so that they did not look too intimidating and so have the opposite effect on people.
"It takes time to keep a proper mustache. A good one has to take a turn near the angle of the upper lip," Mr. Jain said.
He said that many more of the 1,100 policemen at the district's 22 police stations would begin sporting mustaches in the next few months.
Men in rural India have traditionally sported impressive mustaches to assert their masculinity.