From Bhupen Goswami
GUWAHATI : Assam, including Jharkhand and North East, has emerged as the smuggling hub of the country. The Report of the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) 2020 states that with 1494 cases, Assam, including Jharkhand and the North East state, accounts for 25% of the total cases of smuggling across India. This is the main challenge for human beings but no government has taken any action against smuggling all over India. This shows a steep rise in cases of child exploitation and child rights violations in Jharkhand, Bihar, West Bengal and North East India. The state has the highest child trafficking (1317) cases, which is 42% of the national figure. The report says that there are centres of human trafficking in Assam, Manipur, Mizoram and Arunachal in the north-eastern states. In Jharkhand, 12,700 people are suffering from human trafficking on every 10 lakh population. More than 80% of these people are not able to get out of this clutches. This has been released by the Report of Niti Aayog.
As per the report of sustainable development goal of Niti Aayog, Jharkhand ranks fourth in the country in this case. The first place is the North-Eastern State of Mizoram. There are 57,400 people smuggled every 10 lakh. On the other hand, the best position is Arunachal Pradesh, Andaman and Nicobar and Nagaland. Not a single human trafficking case has come to the fore. According to the report, an average of 0.46% of the population per 10 lakh people in the country, i.e., 4600 people are victims of human trafficking. In Jharkhand, it is 1.27 per cent. That means, every year, 12,700 people are victims. Thus, the state’s average is 0.81% higher than the national average. There are also question marks on the state’s campaign on human trafficking. Cases of human trafficking are reported in Simdega, Gumla, Khunti and other cases including Santhal in the state. The brokers are lured by the children as well as the girls in the name of getting out of work. They are served in metros. A number of placement agencies are also active for this. Some children are also served in other cities of the state. On the other day, the police team is also rescue the children who are being taken for smuggling from some railway station.
Top-10 states smuggled the most at every million Mizoram – 57,400, Goa – 36,800, Delhi – 22,200, Jharkhand – 12,700, Rajasthan – 12,100, Telangana – 11,800, Manipur – 10,300, Assam – 9500, Andhra Pradesh – 6500, Maharashtra – 5500, Top-10 States where the lowest smuggling per million, Jammu and Kashmir – 100, Uttar Pradesh – 300, Punjab – 300, Gujarat – 300, Haryana – 800, Tamil Nadu – 2,800, Uttarakhand – 3,600 Not a single human trafficking case is registered in three states, including Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh and Andaman and Nicobar. The report said that during the recent coronavirus crisis, assessment and post disaster monitoring was carried out, which found that the coronovirus crisis has affected migration of family members for livelihood and children are being smuggled by agents. The closure of the tea plantation is another reason to make the region fertile for child labour and smuggling. The report also mentions that the cause of ‘illiteracy of children’ comes as issues of child trafficking and possible intervention of young boys and girls for labour and sexual exploitation.
