Mangalorean.com recently reported about a poverty stricken villager killing his children and himself:
Facing acute poverty and hunger, a tribal man in Bihar committed suicide by jumping into a gushing river after first throwing his four children into the water. Only one child survived.
Triloki Uraon, 45, a landless farm worker, plunged into the river near the Sulaihiyadah waterfall in Rohtas district Friday after pushing his children off a cliff, the police said.
The eldest of the four kids, Manoj, 10, swam to Lutura village and saved himself.
Uraon was depressed because he was not able to get any employment, his distraught wife said. She and the children lived at her parents’ house due to differences with Uraon.
“We used to quarrel because of poverty and hunger. He was upset because the children always demanded food,” she said.
Uraon’s father added: “The family was forced to go to bed without food at night as my son was unable to earn enough. He was worried over this.”
In the last 15 months, nearly half a dozen similar incidents have been reported in Bihar.
According to a World Bank report, nearly 40 percent of Bihar’s population lives below the poverty line and hundreds of thousands of poor people migrate to other states to earn a livelihood.
I find murder completely unacceptable and intolerable, in any circumstances. Nonetheless, the above story demonstrates the effects that poverty and hunger have on all of society. Beyond that, it demonstrates how terrible of an affliction poverty entails, that it drives men to suicide-murders.
I wish I could call such incidents incomprehensible, but I cannot. I can indeed comprehend the choice one would make in such seemingly hopeless and painful situation, with such a horribly grim outlook on one’s own future and one’s children’s futures. Albeit, I still do not agree with such choice.