Inquiries by Eastern Panorama established that some of the good looking girls are taken to South East Asian countries for flesh trade and slavery as domestic help. Three tribal girls from Tamenglong district of Manipur belatedly learned that they had been brought to the foreign country for slavery. From morning to night they were forced to perform sordid acts in some houses and the entire earnings which must be handsome had been pocketed by the trafficker. One day they decided to confront the trafficker to demand their wages. The foreigner was rather taken aback that these girls he had purchased from the Indian agents should have the temerity to speak out like that. The infuriated trafficker exposed himself in front of the crestfallen girls and demanded sex with one of them. Some days later they made an impassioned appeal to a tourist from India to help them. The sympathetic tourist gave them some money with which they telephoned their parents. They succeeded in returning home. Talking to journalists, these girls said that some other girls are staying at different areas of the country. There is no report of those girls having escaped from the clutches of the traffickers.
An official of the Social Welfare Department told Eastern Panorama that the human traffickers in India engage recruiting agents and pay these middlemen handsome fees. These agents move around the remote and inaccessible villages and make false promises to the unlettered parents. They also freely use names of churches and religious organisations to lend credence to their mission of providing education to the children of poor parents. These children are taken to some states in the southern part of India where they are given some lessons in Hindi and English so that they can communicate with others later. The good looking ones are taken to foreign countries while others are kept at different Indian cities.
There had been instances of police arresting some agents who were taking away several children. Besides this, the Social Welfare Department and various NGOs had rescued children who were held against their will. Once they were brought to Manipur they were restored to the parents. These children have to drudge from morning to night and cook scratch meals by themselves. All of them have to sleep on the floors of the godown like rooms. They were never sent to schools and medical care was non-existent.
The Social Welfare Department has been issuing public notices every now and then which warn against the promises of these agents. If some children are to be sent elsewhere for education this should be done after duly informing the authority. But the unlettered parents are not aware of the public notices. On the other hand, the rosy promises of the trained agents are an irresistible temptation since these poor people can not afford to send their children to school. On the off chance that they can raise enough money for the education of the children, they would be hard pressed to find a school worth the name in the interior villages.
A high ranking government official parried a question by Eastern Panorama as to why no trafficker and exploiter of the children has been booked despite the fact that hundreds of children have been rescued. Is there  more than what meets the eye in the repeated failure of the government to prosecute the traffickers and their agents? It is somewhat surprising that some women who were arrested along with several children at different places were set free. In view of this incomprehensible official lapse, the traffickers and their agents in the North East region have become more daring and enterprising. As a result, children of poor parents are no longer safe since they are easy targets.
An official report says that in Manipur most of the students study in private schools since in almost all cases, the government schools do not have proper infrastructure and teachers grease the palms of the higher ups not to be posted in remote areas. The poor parents who can not arrange square meals for the family readily agree to the proposals of the agents. The latest incident says that one 14 years old girl from Manipur had been lured away by a resident of Haryana. With the active cooperation of the Northeast Helpline Support, the culprit was arrested from Gurgaon. Sadly, this crook identified as Biku Ranpal had by this time sold her to another person for  ` 50,000. It is feared that she will now be forced into prostitution. If the government continues to look the other way as in the past this culprit will escape punishment. Meanwhile a report says that at least 70 children from the North East states are now kept in Maharastra. Out of these 70 children, 30 are from Tamenglong district of Manipur.

Kavita Laithangbam