The Indian Express (Delhi Edition)
When his daughter went missing, he didn’t know whom to turn to
In some of the poorer eastern districts, the fight against trafficking begins at the basics — popularising helpline numbers 1098 (childline) and 100 (police)
A DAY IN THE LIFE OF ANTI-HUMAN TRAFFICKING CARAVAN
ON A bustling road in Khunti, the Jharkhand town bordering capital Ranchi, the red-andwhite tempo traveller stands out. Its message stark — slogans such as ‘Be Alert, Raise Alarm’ and ‘Stophumantrafficking’ have been painted all over the van.
Dubbed the ‘Anti-trafficking In Person (ANTI-TIP) caravan, it's part of efforts to raise awareness about men, women and children from these parts being lured to big cities on the promise of better work, who end up in hard labour or prostitution. And there is good rationale for the van’s presence here in Khunti: it is on the Union Home Ministry’s list of 106 Left-wing Affected districts in the country, scores low on several development indices and, hence, is a potential hub for human exploitation.
To get to the district, the caravan and its entourage — theatre artistes, members of NGOS and other support staff — have already traversed nearly 400 km, having begun from Kolkata on March 17 and covered five districts of West Bengal and four in Jharkhand.
This Wednesday morning, however, things aren’t going to plan. The deputy commissioner (DC) had set the caravan on its way with a simple flag-off ceremony at 11 am, but at Birsa College in the town, the first stop, the institution’s principal has informed the DC that with examinations underway, the caravan’s presence would disturb the students.
“I have asked the deputy commissioner for an alternative venue. We have been told that Jal Tanda in Karra Block, nearly 10 km from Khunti, would be good as the weekly bazaar there would attract a large gathering,” says Amit Parui of banglanatak.com, the coordinator of the programme. Parui’s social organisation and New Delhi-based NGO Shakti Vahini are among the key players in this initiative funded by the US government.
“We have chosen the blocks on the basis of our assessment of trafficking in these areas. The idea is to popularise at least the two helpline numbers – 1098 (childline) and 100 (police). We want villagers to know what to do and where to go if their children go missing,” says Rishi Kant, head of Shakti Vahini.
At Jal Tanda, the caravan arrives at a busy bazaar, with crowds milling about in the searing noon sun, amid shacks selling vegetables, utensils and clothes. Samosas, dhuskas (a local delicacy) and jalebis are handed over in donas (leaf-bowls) while tea simmers in earthen chulhas, fed by coal and wood.
Parui and Anil Mishra, the person in charge of Shakti Vahini’s Ranchi office, scout for a suitable location to hold a street play, before zeroing in on a vacant plot under the shade of trees in the corner of the bazaar. “Nobody is going to stand in the scorching sun. This will be perfect,” Mishra smiles.
Around 1 pm, as the actors take their places for the skit, the show opens to a small audio-visual film played on an LED screen — about a girl who is trafficked but later escapes. It ends with a woman police officer questioning the girl’s parents on how they could let her work for an agency without verifying its antecedents. While most of it is in Hindi, parts are in English.
Language is key if the troupe is to get its message across, especially in this tribal area, where Hindi is sparsely spoken. So for the skit titled Hoshiari (being aware), the actors converse in Nagpuri, spoken widely in Jharkhand. Dinesh Gope, who plays the policeman, is the Nagpuri instructor. “We learn from him. Also, what is more important is to get the tone right,” says Khushboo Kritika, one of the two woman actors in the troupe.
The skit depicts a hawker luring a girl, Chandni, who ends up with a trafficker — a role essayed by Ghanshyam Kashyap, a veteran of street plays on social issues — but is later rescued. As the play reaches its end, Gope warns the crowd of the presence of a strong network of traffickers in this region.
The bazaar crowd is amused by the hawker’s trickery, watches passively when he traps Chandni, and laughs again when she returns. A few wonder what the fuss is all about. “Ye kya Swachchta Abhiyaan waale hain (Are these people from the Swachh Bharat campaign)?” asks Rajesh Singh of Rola Ghutu village, around 10 km from Jal Tanda. Told it is about human trafficking, his interest wanes. “I am into agriculture. I have never thought of going outside for work,” he says.
But as soon as the skit is over, Birendra Singh, a farmer from Torpa Block, approaches the troupe and takes down the childline number and also the Shakti Vahini helpline number. “When I was young, one of my older cousins went to work in Punjab and never returned. We don’t even know whether he is alive. Since then, nobody in our family is allowed to travel outside the state for anything,” he says.
Tolu Munda of Chatti Tanadih, nearly 8 km from Jal Tanda, walks up to the team and says his daughter went missing some years ago. “I don’t know when it happened... must have been more than seven-eight years ago,” says the old man. “He didn’t even know that he should have reported the matter to the panchayat or the police. This is why it is important to raise awareness,” says Shakti Vahini’s Mishra.
It’s past 2 pm now, and the caravan’s next stop is the Karra Block office, nearly 12 km away, where the show is scheduled to begin at 3 pm. After a stop at a petrol station for fuel, the caravan reaches Karra in 20-odd minutes. It stops outside the local police station — a Bal Mitra thana (child-friendly police station), part of 100 such stations set up across Jharkhand in a bid to facilitate, monitor, rescue, re-habilitate and re-unite trafficked children with their families.
Philip Kujur, the incharge of the Bal Mitra Thana, says people here do not come forward to complain. “Usually, parents don’t realise until much later that their children have gone missing, and when they do, they don’t know where to go,” he says.
After a brief exchange of pleasantries, the troupeperformsthesameskitandby4.30pm, the caravan is ready to leave for the Khunti circuit house. The troupe will spend the night there, before heading for the two other blocks of Khunti — Murhu and Arki — in the morning.