Growing menace of child trafficking

Trafficking in persons – more particularly in women and children – has been increasing at an unbelievable pace in Assam. The rescue of 40 children of the state on Friday is definite proof of this. It was June 13 that the Assam Police got a major tip-off that several children from villages on the Bhutan border in Chirang district had been trafficked to Sikkim. Based on this input, a police team led by a senior officer of the rank of a Special DGP left for Sikkim and rescued 40 children and two adults with the help of the Sikkim Police. The police have arrested the kingpin of the trafficking racket, one Krishna Yogi, along with an accomplice. The duo had reportedly taken around 80 children from the border villages of Chirang, of whom 42 have been rescued so far. It is suspected that the remaining children have been to Dubai, Maharashtra and Kerala. This is not a stray incident. Chief Minister Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma has said that altogether 107 women and children have been rescued from the clutches of traffickers in the past two months. According to the latest 'Crimes in India' report published by NCRB, Assam had 201 human trafficking cases registered in 2019. The situation is indeed very alarming. The Chief Minister has himself admitted that thousands of women and children from Assam have been trafficked in the past few years. According to him, the traffickers put some of the trafficked women and children in the flesh trade, while the rest become domestic help. It is good news that the Chief Minister has announced that the government would look after the education and upbringing of these rescued children provided their parents were agreeable to it. But it is equally important to fix responsibility on certain officials of different governments responsible for welfare, development and protection of children. The State government has a full-fledged Social Welfare department headed by a minister, and comprising a large number of officers, from the Commissioner to the Director to the District Social Welfare Officers. Going through the official website of the Social Welfare Directorate, one will find that this department has the mandate "to ensure proper care of the uncared, protection of the most vulnerable sections of society and creation of an environment which is conducive to the all-round development of children, women and physically challenged persons both by taking the caring and protective hands of the Government to them and by giving an intensified fillip to the non-government initiatives aimed at reaching out to them." But what is the most appalling is that when one clicks on the link called "What we do" on the directorate's official website, one will find it blank. This means that this department does not do anything. This is where the fault lies, and one cannot but surmise that the Social Welfare department – from top to bottom – is to be held grossly responsible for the menace of child trafficking in Assam. But then, one must also say that the Social Welfare department – whose officers generally hit headlines for the wrong reasons – is not the sole culprit. There is the Labour department, which, says to its website, has four specific functions, the last of which says – "To eradicate Child Labour from the State by detecting and rescuing Child Labourers from all prohibited sectors and to prosecute such employers." Unfortunately, there is no history of any Labour department official ever detecting and rescuing child labour in Assam. Every detection and rescue has been done by NGOs with the help of police; officers of the Social Welfare and Labour departments are never seen in any of these rescue operations. There is also the Integrated Child Protection Scheme (ICPS) – a centrally-sponsored scheme – which is implemented in partnership with the State Governments and Civil Society Organizations (CSO). That all is not well with the implementation of this scheme in Assam has been already proven by the rising number of children trafficked from the state. The activities of officials of other departments which are supposed to implement various poverty-alleviation programmes also need to be thoroughly looked into. A thorough audit is probably also required into the functioning of the various NGOs and CSOs which receive funds from the government and other donor agencies to work in the greater interest of children. The society too probably needs to shift its focus from music, dance, literature, festivals and such other things, and look at how to first ensure the protection of children. After all, a society that fails to ensure the protection of its children is like the one which keeps its future confiscated forever.