PERSPECTIVE OF GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS

 TRAFFICKING AS A PROBLEM 

According to the Government officials, trafficking is becoming more prevalent in West Bengal. The primary factor attributed to this is poverty. In addition, West Bengal shares borders with Nepal, Bangladesh and Bhutan. This makes the State extremely vulnerable to trafficking. Lack of literacy and awareness amongst girls also contributes to them being trafficked. Other reasons cited include: 

·    Poverty coupled with frequent, almost annual, floods has reduced some people to virtual destitution. Destitute women and girls often join the sex industry out of desperation.

·    This is one State in India, where employment opportunities are sorely lacking. The urge for money to cater to basic needs compels people to take up prostitution.

·    Large-scale displacement and migration of families from their ancestral homes in search of jobs exposes the women and children to alien environments and trafficking.

·    Children have become the soft targets of the mafias, since the demand for young girls has increased due to the fear of HIV/AIDS. The clients believe that physical intimacy with young girls reduces their chances of contracting the deadly disease. The demand for young girls is also heightened by the spurious myth that sex with a virgin can cure HIV/AIDS and impotence. 

·    Globalisation and the present market economy have worsened the conditions of families that are trapped between the evils of economic impoverishment on the one hand and degradation of the agrarian economy, due to myopic agricultural practices, on the other. This, combined with the secondary status that women and girls tend to occupy, exposes them to trafficking. 

 

Kolkata and Siliguri are home to notorious brothels and red light areas such as Sonagachhi, Bowbazar, Chetla, Tollygunje and Kalighat.

 

Ø     Source Areas of Trafficking:

Within the State: Murshidabad, Dinajpur (South and North), Nadia,
                                           Howrah, 24 – Paraganas North, Beharampur and
                                           Midnapore.

Outside the country: Nepal and Bangladesh

 

Ø     Transit Areas: Howrah, Murshidabad, Jalpaiguri and Bardhaman. Major railway junctions in these areas offer easy passage to the traffickers. Also NH 34 acts as a major transit route. 

 

West Bengal serves as an easy transit route, because it shares a vast border with Bangladesh and in most places vigilance is abysmally low.

 


Ø     Destination Areas:

In Kolkata:  Sonagachhi, Lalbati

Within the State: Siliguri, Malda, Murshidabad, Nadia, Midnapore, 24 –
        Paraganas, Bardwan, South and North Dinajpur.

 

Outside the State: Mumbai, Delhi and Arab countries

 

Identification of Vulnerable Locations and Groups:

The Government officials suggest that the following could be the vulnerable locations and groups:

·        The places forming the international borders.

·        The places worst struck by poverty and natural calamities (frequent floods).

·        The places where socially backward and economically downtrodden classes reside.

·        The roadside dhabas lining NH 34.

 

    

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