90,000 children go missing in India every year!

It is amazing. Over 90000 children  go missing in India through abduction, kidnapping, allurements etc. Many of them sold in forced labour on farms and factories. Globally, trafficking of children for forced labour and sexual exploitation remain a "largely hidden crime" says the International Labour Organisation (ILO), with no reliable data even existing on the scale of the problem. The ILO makes a "conservative estimate"  that 5.5 million children around the the world are trapped in forced labour, but in India alone the government uses estimates of five million to 12 million children forced to work.

Sadly such social evil are ignored by the mainstream media in India by and large! The general media trend of giving primacy in coverage to life style and leisure over livelihood issues, sex surveys' over falling sex ratio, and the socialist concern over social issue, thanks to the neoliberalism and imperialism and their impact ON the ground, literally and figuratively Apart from that general trend among elite classes , particularly politicians, has to sideline increasing poverty and welfare issues to ameliorate the condition of poor in India! Significantly, poverty in India is defined in terms of food and their intake availability norm: People unable to access2, 100 calories a person a day in urban India and 2,200 calories a person a day in rural India (initially 2,400 but late rescaled down ) are counted "poor" in India. By this criterion, the percentage  of "poor" in urban India, in rounded figures were 57,65, 73 respectively in 1993-94, 2004-2005 and 2009-10: and in rural India 59, 70, 76 respectively ( by Utsa Patnaik from basic consumption and nutritional intake data provided in the National Sample Survey (NSS) for these years). Thus, over 73 percent of people , who are not getting prescribed calorie intake, are under the bracket of poor both in urban and rural  India by and large. More over the union government is more concerned about GDP growth-during the same period when GDP growth rate was unprecedented, around eight percent, absolute poverty increased in the country!

I though to bring to the attention of the readers and people over such deplorable scenes in the country, before going through in detail over children trafficking in the country. Such practises have taken alarming proportion in India. The Washington Post has in a recent article has threw light ion child trafficking in India and I feel strongly that this should be an eye opener for both print and electronic media to pay more attention on welfare measures to uplift poor in the country than to sway their pens in highlighting neoliberal model in the country. What has gone wrong with our "Swadeshi model and socialistic pattern of society"?

The Washington Post has based its article on the basis of children's rights group Bachpan Bachao Andolan, which showed the problem was far greater that previously thought. The Andolan has compiled the data and released late last year, which has said that 90,000 children are officially reported missing every year. "up to ten times that number are trafficked, according to group-boys and girls, most of the poor families, torn from their parents, some times in return for cash, and forced to beg or work in the farms, factories and homes, or sold for sex and marriages," the Washington Post report said  adding  that it is an epidemic that until a few years ago, remained unreported and largely ignored by the authorities!

But years of tireless work by activists, a few crucial victories in court-and the shocking discovery of the bones of 17 slain girls and young women around a businessman's house in a suburb of New Delhi called Nithari in 2006-have gradually push the issue on national  agenda.. The media frenzy surrounding the Nithari killings was a watershed, reminiscent of the way the disappearance of Etan Patz in Manhattan in 1979 helped spark the missing-children's movement in the United States, the Washington Post commented.

Sadly in recent times, footage from surveillance cameras-a new phenomenon in modern India-has also repeatedly broadcast on television here, showing infants being brazenly snatched from train stations and hospital lobbies as parents slept nearby."A couple of decades  ago, there was no understanding of the issue of missing children or trafficking for forced labour--child labour was not even considered a crime" said Bhuwan Ribbu., an activist for children's right group. "Though things are slowly changing, the biggest issue is the lack of political and administrative will to enforce the law, which is  often outside the reach of the common person."

The Washington Post report has further said that In India and many other developing countries, children often work in agriculture. What is only now becoming apparent is the huge trafficking industry that has grown up outside the law. The sad tale  of Irfan, a resident of Nangloi district of Delhi, son of ,Iqbal Ali,   abducted and subsequently recovered after a long time and six-year son of a rickshaw puller from Patna town are tips in the iceberg of children trafficking in India.

Thus kidnapping represents just the tip of the iceberg of a vast child-trafficking industry in India. Many young children are sold by their parents or enticed from them with the promise that they will be looked after and be able to send money home. Never registered as missing, many simply lose touch with their parents, working long hours in garment factories or making cheap jewelry. On a recent raid with activists and police in a mohalla in Delhi, 36 children were rescued from a series of tiny rooms where they were making bangles for 10 hours, some for just $4 a month. One of them was a Patna boy.

Only recently, The Union Government has proposed a blanket ban on the employment of children younger that 14, building on a new law that established a child's right to education until that age. Activists have hailed the proposal, which now needs Parliament's approval., as a major step forward, but warned that enforcement will remain a significant challenge. However, parents of several missing children in the past month have grievances of their own-they complained that that they received little or no help from the police, largely, they said, because they were poor.."The police are very cold. They just keep saying: a lot of kids are missing.What can we do?, said Kanwar Pal (48), whose son Ravi, was missing when he was only twelve years old about two years ago. after going to  ride  bicycles in a Delhi locality. May be if I had money to pay a bribe they would have found my my kid."

Nearly 450,000 cases of children trafficked for labour were reported in the past three years, but prosecution were launched in just 25,000 of those cases and 3,394 employers were convicted, official figure show. Even the US State government has given left handed compliments to Indian government by saying that India is "making significant efforts" to comply with minimum global standards for the elimination of trafficking but notes challenges and the "alleged complicity of public officials in human trafficking".

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, WORLD'S BIGGEST ARMS MANUFACTURER: INDIA, GLOBE'S BIGGEST ARMS IMPORTERS!

Sadly India, which was once considered a nation of peace and non-violence in the Globe, thanks to the principles of "Satya-Ahimsa" propounded by Mahatma Gandhi as well as vision of disarmament of  the former prime minister of India  Pundit Jawahar Lal Nehru, has gone for huge arms and ammunition in the name of so called security of the nation while its crores of people are dying without bread, medicines, home etc.

Not only that people of the world have also forgotten the devastation and destruction, created by America in Hiroshima and Nagashaki at the end of second world war. On August 6, 1945, American B-29 flew from north of Tinian island and after three and half hours, the fighter plane had dropped an 8900 pounds atomic weapons from its specially modified bomb from 2000 feet above the ground. The bomb was dubbed "Little Boy", destroying 90 percent of everything in Hiroshima. Again on August 9, 1945 B-29 Bockscar was dropped on Nagasaki . killing of over one lakh forty thousand and injuring millions of people  in both the bombardments apart from destroying every things in and around Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Highly enriched uranium and plutonium, grinned in the bombs had many side-effects and generation after generation of both the cities of Japan are still under the effect of such devastation of bombardments.

Not only that, Americans in their miles stones after miles stones to spread  their influences in the entire world, particularly in the Middle East and Arab World, have created devastation and killed thousand of persons  in the name of restoring peace in the areas. Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan and many other countries  specially Cuba  had to face rough weather in many years and these countries lost their leaders and  huge number of populations in the so called operation of America, mainly to spread its ( U S ) imperialism in the globe through its "dadagiri"!

A recent report on various news websites including  Yahoo and a comprehensive  report in the Washington Post have pointed out how the world nations are acquiring sophisticated weapons,arms and ammunition including nuclear arms and chemical weapons and America has "evil design" to arm its allies and friendly countries to keep its hegemony intact in the world. Such tendency of America reflects  its "super power dadagiri" in the world. Instead of growing food produce and bring agriculture revolution in its vast areas, six and seven times more than India, the America's economy is mainly based on manufacturing and sales of arms .Among the ten largest arms manufacturing countries in the world, United States tops the List.

According to a report of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), in its report published 2012 year book on armaments, disarmament and international security, the America's Lockheed Martin, an American Global Aerospace, defence, security and advance technology company heads the list of arms manufacturers in the world followed by BAE Systems UK. The SIPRI has  categorised in its 2012 year book the arms manufacturing companies like Boeing, Northirop Grumm an, General Dynamics, Raytheor, EADS (trans Europe), Finmeccanica (Italy), L-3 Communications, and United Technologies. These arms manufacturing companies are vying each other to export deadly arms and am munitions including chemical weapons and arms to various countries of the globe!

A report in the Washington Post has said that legacy of decades of mistrust, together with lingering barriers to technology transfer between India and US "continues to dog defence trade between two allies whose relationship President  Obama said would be one of the defining partnerships of 21st century." The report quoted Ashton Carter, U S Deputy defence  secretary "we want to knock down any remaining bureaucratic barriers in our defence relationship and strip way the impediments."

Perhaps India is suffering from fear psychosis in the South East Asia and thinks itself a weak nation in respect of acquisitions of arms and ammunition to counter growing influence of China in the continent. The Washington Post report has said, " With a wary eye on China's military build-up, India is in the midst of an ambitious defence acquisition programme-worth about $100 billion over more than a decade-to replace its ageing Soviet-arsenal and but new fighter aircraft, maritime patrol aircraft,, infantry combat vehicles, helicopters, assault rifles, under water submarines and tanks. because India's  own defence production industry is relatively small, much of that equipment has to be imported."

India's strategic defence partnership between the United States and  India has alarmed the peace-loving country throughout the globe particularly in the South-East Asia. India had to face economic sanction from America for many years after nuclear explosion by the Vajpayee government. As part of strategic partnership with India, U S has opened  in Adibatla aerospace, near Hyderabad  major of that country Lockheed Martin and Indian company Tata Advanced Systems and producing wing parts and tail sections for the American SuperHercules military transport aircraft. Sudden interest of America  with India  appears an ominous signal for India and Indian as whole because of well-known imperialistic design of U S , defence experts feel, adding that India must move cautiously.

The Washington Times report has said , " India is expanding market for us  and by building our industrial foot prints here, we are trying: we are not here to sell and walk away. We have got our skin in the game we are here to stay," Abhay Paranjape, national executive for India at Lockheed Martin Aeronautics said in an interview. Defence trade between India and United states grew from almost nothing to generate $ 8 billion since 2005, marking definite shift on India's part towards buying American equipment. But Russia continues to be the top arms supplier to India, with the United States and Israel vying for second."

US, however, felt disappointed last year when even after several rounds of fierce competition, the contract for 126 fighter aircraft went to French Company Dassault.Washington Post report has further pointed out that the 2005  civil nuclear  energy deal helped cement the United States's relation ship with India as a counter to China's rise in Asia.. The U S plans to move 60 percent of its naval fleet to the Asia pacific by 2020 makes the partnership vital for with India.

However, the Washington Post has put a rider about all these things  has said, " In India, though, the vision is some what different. New Delhi closely guards its strategic freedom and is reluctant to get too closely alingned militarily with Washington" The Post has also quoted S Amer Latif, visiting fellow of the at the Washington-based centre for Strategic and International studies, "there was a lot of scratching of heads in New Delhi  when the U S lost the contract, given that the U S had invested such a lot of political and diplomatic capital into this relationship".

Indiscriminate arming of India at the cost of huge expenditure is expected to adversely affect the welfare measures and programmes of poor people, constituting over 60 percent in the country! No doubt , India's security should also be considered primarily but not in such large scale!

HUGE POPULATION OF INDIA YET TO COME UNDER NATIONAL MAINSTREAM: SUCCESSIVE GOVERNMENTS ENGAGE IN SHOWCASING THEM!

Over 15 crore population of India is yet to be brought under national mainstream-they live life of vagabonds, moving from one place to another; many of the tribes are yet to know that they have a homeland or nation of country- that is called"-INDIA, A SOVEREIGN, SOCIALIST , SECULAR  DEMOCRATIC  REPUBLIC.............."
Before I deliberate on this  topic about sad plight of huge number of population, I exactly remember two quotable quotes of the first Prime Minister Pundit Jawahar Lal Nehru and Editor of the well-researched Literary monthly  magazines-Dowab, published from New Delhi and retired professor of English and former member of Council of States Prof Jabir Husain.........

Pundit Nehru had said on the night of 14\15 August, 1947 after India had achieved independence from British Rule, " Long years ago we made a tryst with destiny and now the time has come when we will redeem our pledge, not wholly or in full measures, but very substantially. At the stroke of the midnight hour , when the world sleeps, INDIA will awake to life and freedom........A moment of comes which but comes rarely in history, when we step out from the old to the new, when an age ends and when the soul of a nation long suppressed finds utterances. We end today a period of all fortune and India discovers herself again......."

Prof Husain has written in a purview of his article in "Khanabadosh (nomads)" in Dowab...."Jaab mein aaya tha meri koyi jaat nahi thi; Aur jaab mein ja raha hun tab bhi meri koi jaat nahi hai; Aakash ko aisa hin khula rahne do; Dharati ko bhi mat bandhi; Tumne jo bich bich mein diwaren khara ki li hai; Unhen gira do kyonki wah tumhin ne banai hai; Aapne purkhon ke  kewal gaurav ko lo; Unki gati ka samman karo; Undino ki yaad karo jab pahiye nahi the; Par purbaj chalana Chahte the.......(When I had come then I had my no caste; And when I am going then also I have no caste; Allow the sky to open like this; Do not bind even earth; You have raised walls in between; Demolish them because you have raised them, Let take your ancestors pride; Allow normalising their speed; Let remember those days when there were no wheels; Even than ancestors wanted to walk.....")

Is India running of its own or some body is pulling the nation? India as a nation achieved independence exactly over 62 years! We have adopted a well defined  Constitution, enunciating Justice, social ,economic and political; Liberty of thought, expression, belief, faith and worship; Equality of status and of opportunity; and to promote among them all; Fraternity assuring the dignity of the individual and the [ unity and integrity of the Nation].. Then why discrimination galore prevailing everywhere in the country?

To begin with, one must take  into account, the burning question of deprivation of over 15 crore population of nomads in the country. They are yet to identified in the social and national  set-up. Prof Husain has taken a lead to highlight the plight of nomads in the country. Apart from that, huge number of Adivasis  and primitive population, living in the deep forest areas of Jharkhand, Chhatishgarh, Madhya Pradesh,Orrissa, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal,, Karnataka , Tamil Nadu , Maharshatra  many eastern states as well as remote islands of south India nearing Sea shore are yet to see the light of independent India. Sadly primitive and ancient tribes in Andmand and Nicobar islands, Puducherry,,Lakhshdweep, Dadar -Nagar Havelis as well as many deep forest areas of adivasi-populated Jharkhand, Orrissa,Chhatishgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal etc have not been identified so far-they live in island forest and tribal forest, unknown nobody knows their living-Some random survey have found that they move naked and their population are dwindling because of diseases and natural calamities. In this way , our successive union governments had been showcasing these rare population of the country and made them  exhibition subject matter ,ridiculous of being their ancient and primitive living away from the civilisation and culture of India as a whole!

Stories of cursed nomads, published in various issues of Dowab,( I think Dowab is a Persian word ant it means conjunction of two rivers) reflect the indifference of  of successive governments towards sad plight of over 15 crore such population in the country.. They have no home, no shelter etc-they move one place to another right from their ancestors to present youths, old, women and children.The British Raj, which had enacted a law in 1871, considering nomads a bunch of thieves and female population prostitutes, used to punish them under such black law. After independence Pundit Jawahar Lal Nehru could know the sad plight of nomads and after the repealing the black law of British, enacted a new law-Habitual offender Act -1952.. That law still today in vogue has proved more darocian in humiliation terms of nomads! The issue got momentum when Prof Jabir Husain raised in Parliament the plight of nomads-but sadly government remained silent over such important issue! Prof Husain has pointed out in his Article-"Delli mein Khanabadosh" in Dowab monthly,that  nomads have many sub-caste.They are Kureri ,Kureriayar, Kurori, Dhami, Dhamin etc. They move different places in live in tents on road side streets away from life of urban and rural habitats in an rural and urban areas. They are held most neglected community in Indian society. Reports of their killings pour from different places. A few years back in September 2007, nomads of Kureri sub-caste, numbering ten , were killed mercilessly on the concocted charges of thievery by villagers of Rajapakad-Delphoswan in Vaishali district of Bihar. Such incidents in different parts of the country with nomads have become order of the day.

Prof Husain has also referred about a commission, constituted by the union government, to identify nomads and suggest measures for puting them in Schedule Tribes list. The Commission under the chairmanship of Balkrishna Renke long back submitted the report to the union government-but the union government is putting them in cold-storage. Interestingly, the report has not been placed in the Parliament in the last several years., resulting into rampant rise in atrocity and violence against them .In yet another revelation of facts in another issue of Dowab, Prof Husain has put startling facts about the recommendations of the commission and the union government's indifference towards them.Balkrishna  Renke commission report ,submitted interim report and final report in 2007 and 2008 respectively  to the union social Justice ministry. But the report was not presented before Parliament! In the meantime, the report was any how reached to the much-publicised National Advisory Council l(NAC) led by the AICC president Ms Sonia Gandhi. To the  hopes and aspirations of nomads, the NAC  referred the report to the working group, comprising Ms  Aruna Roy, Mr Harsh Mander,, Mr Madhaw Gadgil, and Mr Narendra Jatav, for suggestion to uplift the plight of nomads in the wake of Renke Commission report. However working group studied the report and put them on website for public suggestions to bring them on national mainstream. Even there remained many shortcomings on the suggestions of working group-but in one aspect, the working group admitted that present law of 1952 appears more darocian and wanted its repeal.. But thanks to Ms Sonia Gandhi, she voiced many objections over working group suggestions. she lamented that the suggestions are limited to 200denotified communities and pointed out that about 1400 nomads tribes and sub-tribes have not been referred in the working group suggestions, Prof Husain said and added that even today thousands of above mentioned tribes and sub-tribes have not been provided any right so that they could be brought under national mainstream!

More over , Prof Hussa Husain has disclosed that the British Raj had declared 200 communities, mostly travellers, moving from one part to another and had put them under "criminal tribal" under 1871 Act. British thought them they are criminals and had considered travellers moving from one part to another as possible criminals.. After Nehru's intervention in 1950s a new Act was enacted-that also not at all suitable and considered nomads , indulging in thievery and other crimes. Both NAC working group and Renke commission made many suggestions but all of them are yet to draw the union government's attention to bring nomads under national mainstream!

In the meantime, an article by Malini Bhattacharya, a former member of the National Commission for Women  in the Frontline fortnightly  has  also mentioned many things about nomads in the wake of  a raid conducted by the police in a well-known brothel areas of Uttam Rampur, Ward Number-3, Forbesganj in Araria district of Bihar written . The writer has said that she was shocked  to find the name of one Md Kalam mentioned as person the person who had been arrested following the testimony given by one of the rescued girls. Md Kalam, had first met Ms Maninin  in Uttari Rampur as a member of the marginalised Nut community, which provided women for brothels of Rampur for generations.Kalam has been raised by two elder sisters , who had been themselves been inducted into the trade at an early age but had vowed to make sure that their brother never become part of the vicious network of traffickers and pimps. Both the sisters had sent Kalam for education and in time, Kalam took opportunity and became the first graduate from the Nutta community in the areas. Kalam also acquired a degree of law and returned to his birth place as a social activist fighting against the exploitation of women. Kalam succeeded in his venture and started schools for marginalised community. But he was got involved in the case on false charge when he was doing social work to bring back nomads girls from the clutches of brokers. And knowing all these things, Maninin has added in her article, " But what is more unfortunate is that the social and political forces outside Nutt his own community also seem to be inclined towards perpetuating the fate of the Nutts."

Ms Manini has reminded in a foot note in his article , " The Nutts are a marginalised community of tribal origin, now settled in parts of Bihar and Rajasthan. From whatever mythical memories of their past they retain, one learns that they were nomadic and possessed exceptional acrobatics skills. The half -forgotten bardic songs of "Alha-Rudal" note that Nutts had shown great bravery as contingents in the army of Rana Pratap in his battle against Mughals. They never took up agriculture. They are settled on homestead lands in some parts of Bihar and Rajasthan by their feudal overlords who used their military prowess for their own purpose. Perhaps, even in pre-colonial times these feudal lords extracted sexual services from Nutt women, which would explain the evolution of the so called custom prevalent in the community even today. It is closed and largely endogamous community. Many of them have  Muslim and Hindu name,suggesting that they have been on the margins of both the religious without being accepted by either. Poverty and underdevelopment, even after they gave up their nomadic ways, combined with the uneven power structures in society, helped perpetuate among them the so called custom of pressing their girls into prostitution and eventually some of their settlements turned into red light areas and centres of trafficking."

Here I must discuss the primitive tribes living in interior fo deep forest of Andmand Nichobar Islands.Because of dense forest and non-accessibility in the areas, rare tribesmen , belonging to Great Andamanese, Oges of Little Straight Island, Jarawas south and middle Andmand, Sentinelese of Sentinent Island, Shom pens of Great Nicobar and Great Andamanese remains neglected and joining of them in national mainstreams appears  quite impossible  and a distant dream, thanks to the lackadaisical approach of the union government. Population of many these tribes are declining. They remain quietly naked in deep forest. They feel unsecured as soon ssas they see people from the developed areas , moving on helicopter. Either they ran away in deep forest or fire  arrows and bhallas on flying helicopter. They are far away from the culture and civilisation of India. Large  number of their population have perished in the last Tsunami.. By random survey and census, the union government has determined their population! There are only 19 Grat Andmanese, who were 24 in 1971, 25 in 1901 and 10000 in 1789. Another Tribe Onge are considered most primitive tribe. They are semi-nomadic tribe-fully dependent on food provided by nature. It population have no record-but negligible in the Forest island . Jarawas tribes are only 341 inhabitants. Sentinelese are world's only tribes without any contact with any other group and community. They are said to be very hostile and never leave the island. Very little is known about these tribe.Shopens Mongoloid race and they are very shy..This tribes major group are hostile. Population of all these tribes are decreasing because of hunger and various disease. They are gradually becoming physically weak! More Over in this age of advance technology, successive union governments are   yet to rescue and rehabilitate these primitive tribes what to speak of identifying them in national main streams.
Just only not these facts, even adivasis in remote and deep forest of Jharkhand, Odisha, Chhaitshgah, Madhya Pradesh ,Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal and eastern states are already away from national mainstreams. I had been Saranda forest range in Jharkhand state about a few years ago and many deep forest areas of Orrissa and West Bengal, Chhatishgarh, Madhya Pradesh along with some of my Naxalite friends, I personally found tribal running away in deep jungles perhaps being afraid of us!

SOURCE: Issues of  DOWABA, monthlyliterary  magazine, FRONTLINE, a fortnightly magazine,, Constituent Assembly Websites, Chhatishgarh, Orrissa, Jharkhand, West Bengal government websites as well as websites of  Union Territories and eastern  states government websites, Tribal Achieves of many organisations etc..