Kerala mother who was forced to give up her 4 children due to poverty gets a home

Kerala Tourism Minister Kadakampally Surendran on Monday gave the keys of a flat to the woman who had last year handed-over four of her six children to the Kerala State Council for Child Welfare (KSCCW) due to acute poverty.

With no help from an alcoholic husband, it was in the month of December last year that the woman turned to the Child Welfare Committee (CWC) which rehabilitated her four children in the government-run institute.

The woman along with two of her children - an infant and a one-and-half-year-old child - are currently living at Mahila Mandiram, run by the Social Welfare department while the other four children are lodged in a home for poor children. All four of them are now attending a school.

"The government is committed to providing housing for all. In the first phase of Life Mission, the housing project of the state government, over 2 lakh houses have been built for people who have land but no house. In the next phase, the government will be providing housing for those who do not possess land or a house. They will be given flats," said Minister Kadakampally Surendran.

Thiruvananthapuram Mayor K Sreekumar said that the flat was constructed under basic services for Urban Poor Housing Scheme. "The flat is located at Kalladimugham, which was constructed under basic services for Urban Poor Housing Scheme. She sought time for taking up the job as she has to take care of the two children living with her. They can take immediate possession of the flat. We have kept our promise," he said.

The incident had exposed the underlying problems in the state that the poor and downtrodden face and had triggered widespread outrage when it came to light last year.