November 4, 2006
Chetan Chauhan,
Hindustan Times
New Delhi, August 23, 2007
Punjab and Haryana continue to exploit the girl child. A new United Nations report released on Wednesday reveals that girls and women are not only trafficked to these two states to improve the skewed sex ratio but also, and mainly, to bear male children. Once they give birth to a boy, they are usually sexually exploited and either abandoned or passed on to another man.
Punjab and Haryana — two of India’s wealthiest states — also have the dubious distinction of being among the states with the most skewed sex ratios — in the age group of 0-6 — in the country. Punjab has a ratio of 886 girls to 1,000 boys while the number in Haryana is 867.
The districts with the worst sex ratios also come from the two states. The worst offender is Fathegarh Sahib in Punjab, which has a ratio of just 766 girls to a 1,000 boys.
Despite the skewed ratio, the United Nations Development Fund report indicates that the desire for a male child still persists and for that, women are trafficked regularly from Assam and West Bengal. “There is an emerging pattern of trafficking girls from West Bengal and Assam to the more prosperous states of Punjab and Haryana where the gender gap is most acute,” reads the report titled Human Trafficking and HIV: Exploring Vulnerabilities and Responses in South Asia’.
So far, it was believed that poor women from Bihar, Assam and West Bengal, were being trafficked to Punjab and Haryana to fill in the shortage of women for marriage. Now, the study conducted by the UNDP reveals that women are mostly trafficked to bear male children. “The woman is either abandoned or passed on to another man after the birth of the male child,” the study — covering India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka and Nepal — says.
Terror recruits getting younger
On a different subject, the damning report also notes that extremist outfits in the country have “reportedly” begun recruiting boys aged between eight and 15 years to provide food and deliver ransom notes without arousing the suspicion of the police. “The People's War Group (now Communist Party of India-Maoist) founded these organisations in an attempt to train children to resist police interrogation more effectively,” it reads, adding that tribal girls are reportedly used as couriers in the areas of Adilabad and Dandakaranya.

REGIONAL CONSULTATION HIGHLIGHTS MUSHROOMING OF PROSTITUTION; STATE DRAWING PLAN
‘City a major hub for trafficking’

Pune, August 23: OVER 2,000 girls rescued in trafficking cases in Maharashtra during the last three years hail from other states and other countries like South Africa, Uzbekistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal. This fact was highlighted by Aslam Khan, social worker at the Police Commissionerate’s Women and Child Vigilance Department. He was speaking at a regional consultation on anti-trafficking organised by Holistic Child Development India (HCDI) on Thursday.
With Maharashtra emerging as a major destination for trafficking, Khan said that Pune, Nagpur and Jalgaon were among the primary hubs. “Approximately 3,755 girls, including minors, were rescued in the previous three years. Of these, barely 600 girls come from Maharashtra, whereas 500 were brought in from other countries, and the remaining from other states in the country,” said Khan.


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Khan also said that trafficking and prostitution were no longer restricted to just brothels. “Recently, this trade has also been mushrooming in newer places like massage parlours, ‘friendship’ clubs and even web portals like Orkut,” said Khan.
Emphasising the need for prevention as a means to tackle trafficking, Khan said that the Maharashtra Government was drawing up a State Action Plan for prevention of child trafficking. “The draft for this plan has already been approved by the committee headed by the additional secretary of the State Home Department, and is likely to be approved by the Legislative Assembly within the next few months,” he said.
The Action Plan would involve interventions at every stage, beginning with the reasons for trafficking. “In most cases the parents send their children into prostitution to generate additional income. In such cases, the government would offer financial aid schemes like scholarships for the child’s education,” said Khan.
The regional consultation was attended by representatives of various organisations in Pune and Mumbai working in the field of child trafficking, prostitution and HIV prevention. These included representatives of the Good Shepherd Sisters, Mumbai, Indian Network for People living with HIV/AIDS (INPH), Pune Diocese, and Kaya Kalp, Pune. “HCDI along with the Good Shepherd Sisters, Mumbai, will be preparing a programme of action based on the discussions and suggestions made during the consultation,” said HCDI consultant Naina Athalye.
Father Jeetendra David of Pune Diocese spoke about the difficulties encountered while preventing children from entering into prostitution, because of objections by employers and even parents who lived off the additional income. “Such women should be provided with basic facilities like ration cards and education, and security for them and their children,” said David.
Network to track missingA national network to track missing children is being set up through collaboration with NGOs and various government committees at the national, state and district level, said Khan. “This network would involve setting up a software to track and match details of missing children, which could be uploaded on websites at the city and village level,” said Khan, adding that the project was currently being designed by various NGOs like Prerna and Save the Children. “The project implementation can be done by district level committees comprising special police officers, who could keep a close watch on activities in brothels, and report details of any missing children found in these areas,” he said