Child eats mud out of hunger; mother seeks govt care

A one-room shack on a piece of revenue land in the heart of Thiruvananathapuram city has shaken Kerala society as six children, aged from three months to seven years, and their mother were found starving in the house.

Left with no other option, the eldest son was forced to consume mud to suppress his hunger which pushed the mother to go ahead and seek the help of the Council for Child Welfare. She approached the council on Saturday and the council authorities initiated further steps with the help of Childline and the city corporation.

While four elder children, including two girls, were taken care of by the council, the mother and two breastfeeding babies were shifted to a government-run destitute home.

The Thiruvananthapuram city corporation also offered a job to the mother. The kids' father, a daily wage labourer, was a drunkard and used to mentally and physically harass his wife, said the council general secretary S P Deepak.

The plight of the family has caused embarrassment to the Kerala government which has been making tall claims regarding social welfare schemes.

The family has been living in the revenue land for quite some time. The shack made with worn-out flex boards and tin sheets hardly offered any security to the children. Some of the nearby residents used to help the family after seeing their plight. The poverty level reached acute levels with the increase of members in the family. Some health workers, who had earlier visited the family, had also advised them against the increase in the number of children.

Meanwhile, many voluntary organisations have also come forward offering assistance to the family.