A plethora of beneficial schemes for women and girl child under Bitia Varsh in 2012 and Ladli Lakhsmi Yojna, is said to be launched on the 11th foundation day of Jharkhand, celebrated on 15th November by the Chief Minister Arjun Munda. “We care!” is the resounding affectionate message that will resonate this year for addressing the problems and upliftment of the girl child.

However, Jharkhand, a decade old State is grappling with numerous problems and human trafficking especially of its women and children tops the list. This nemesis caught the attention and stirred the conscience of the Government and the society in 2004 when maximum numbers of trafficking cases were reported from Jharkhand. The State’s present data still adds creases of worry with 100 per cent rise in trafficking cases in 2010-11.

Shakuntala Kujur(name changed) a resident of Mander block of Ranchi district works in Reliance Fresh and is a trained security guard. Until a few years ago her life was a tragedy worst compounded. It bears a tale of saddest experiences, an ignominious life of torture and deceit by her close relative. Traded and sold as cattle at the minor age of 12, she hoped of financially helping her family living in abject poverty after the death of her father.

Her uncle sold her to a middle man who brought her to Delhi and placed her as a domestic worker. At her employers house she was subjected to over work and denied enough food and sleep. For every mistake committed she was abused physically and verbally. Deprived of proper shelter, she was often sexually assaulted by the driver of her employer who terrorised her of dire consequences.

Numbed by the constant physical and mental exploitation, survival for her became a daily battle. She recounts a horrid instance, once when unable to lift a heavy trunk, her mistress beat her so brutally that she was left with a broken arm and multiple injuries. After four years, Shakuntala could muster courage to slip out of the house and reach Delhi railway station. Luck favoured her as she was caught by the Railway Police and sent to Ranchi. Here she came into contact with Bhartiya Kissan Sangh, an NGO, who trained her to become a security guard and live a dignified life.

In a bizarre incident of last month, Shiela Soren from Simdega was abducted by her distant brother-in-law at gun point while on way to her college hostel in Ranchi. She was sold for `25,000 to a group of traffickers who brought her to Delhi and was waiting for a better bargain to sell her further. For two months she lived in sub-human condition with no respite from the unending torture. By sheer luck, she contacted her family and was rescued by the Ranchi Police. Shocked, she looks overtly blank with an aura of deep melancholy blanketing her face. Innumerable heart - numbing accounts faced by thousands of girls trafficked from Jharkhand go unreported.

The python-headed insatiable greed, its mouth gaping wide, is engulfing the conscience of the society. Its serpentine grip is strangulating our reasoning, compassion and sympathy towards our own and the deprived. Universally, humans migrate in search of improved economy and security- the basic elements of life. In the process people from the weaker economic sections of society due to ignorance and naivety are lured into a world of exploitation and commercialisation and treated as commodities for monetary gains. They fall prey to the nefarious intentions of domestic and international gangs.

Human trafficking is a serious human rights violation. It is an organised crime estimated to generate crores of profit per year for the well networked global traffickers. The strength of trafficking business is the anonymity of the supply chain which is long, undulated and uneven involving recruiter, seller, buyer, transporter and agent at different points of time. The traffic victims are confined and forced to work as bonded labourers, servitude, removal of organs, for marriage and often forced into prostitution.

Trafficking is preponderant in the extremely torn regions of Palamu, Garhwa, Chaibasa, all districts of Santhal Parganas, Lohardagga, Ranchi, Khunti, Dhanbad and Bokaro. Most of the women and children trafficked from Jharkhand belong to Oraon, Munda, Santhal and Gond tribes. 77 per cent girls trafficked belong to the ST category, 12 per cent to SC, 3 per cent to the general and 8 per cent to the OBC category as informed by Sanjay Mishra of ATSEC. Illiteracy, deplorable living conditions due to miniscule economic development, life of depravation due to less employment opportunities make them vulnerable. The glare of metros seed desire to work in cities where it is easier to conceal ones identity.

According to the data released by the NCRB, cases of sexual exploitation of minor girls records a 186.5 per cent increase. Conscience awakening of committed NGOs, CBOs, Civil Society, Jharkhand State Women’s Commission, State Social Welfare Department, the police and the judiciary can curb this inhuman practice. Government must generate adequate livelihoods to check exodus. Panchayats, priest forums and media should spread awareness and educate women communities at village level against this menace. The exemplary work done by ATSEC, BKS, Asha Kiran, Diya Sewa Sansthan in the field of trafficking is the only silver lining in an otherwise a very dark cloud.