Life is stranger than fiction, and it is so visible in Goa. The other day, I was listening to a real life account and I thought, if it was not coming from the NGO worker, I would have thought, it is imaginary, some kind of dark and depraved stories of Anton Chekhov or Leonid Andreev or Nikolai Gogol.
The story I heard is painful, piercing. There is this widow whose daughter is in class IX. The daughter got befriended by some guys from her Vaddo and beyond, and sensing her vulnerability, she is introduced to drugs by them. And sooner, she needs to solicit these boys, to get her supplies. And later, not only them, but she had to solicit others too. She was under their grip and she’s been filmed. Her mother kept getting complaints from her school and neighbours, the young boys are from influential families (from few of our elected politicians), and all the doors of seeking justice for the widowed mother is restricted to her. So much so, that family is slowly ostracized for no fault of theirs, for bringing shame to the Vaddo, sigh! Our squalid hearts and blinded judgements.
It is a matter of pride that Goa has non governmental organisations (NGO) like Bailaancho Saad, Anyay Rahit Zindagi (ARZ), Video Volunteers, Sangath and others working here. All of them work towards championing Human Rights and Dignity, in various degrees and focal points. I am writing this today because July 30, is ‘World Day Against Trafficking in Person’, and this year’s motto is ‘Use and Abuse of Technology’ in trafficking world. I thought the Class IX girl’s and her mother’s woes would have been a little lesser if she was not filmed and shared on in social media! We know the criminals profit from control mechanisms and desperations!
We had 1714 registered cases of persons trafficked in India in 2020, according to the National Crime Record Bureau. While independent reports estimate that in India there are currently 8 Lakh people trapped in trafficking, The National Crime Record Bureau (2020) states that 778,379 persons are also missing. Human Trafficking is considered as the second largest organised crime in India. These statistics were given to me by Amrita Anand, the Impact Manager of Video Volunteers. They are organising various programs across India, on the Anti Trafficking week, starting July 25, for a week.
In Goa, the maximum rescues of victims happen in Calangute and Anjuna police station jurisdictions. Goa has one ‘Integrated Anti Human Trafficking Unit’ (IAHTU) that works closely with NGO’s, active citizens, police and Intelligence Units. There is another ‘Goa Victim Compensation Scheme 2012’ that compensates the victims up to Rs 10 Lakh, the price of their dignity.
I travel by bus, as a principle, whenever I can, and sometimes I see North Eastern women. They are always courteous, giving seats to the elderly, or letting school going kids sit with them and saying ‘thank you’ when they get off the bus to the conductor. I asked one of them about their work, she mentioned few of them are students in a grooming school, studying to become ‘Customer Engagement Executives’! She told me how in New Delhi, the house maids refused to work for them, thinking they are from China. Here they do not have to face that indignity. I was thinking to myself, once they graduate from that grooming school and start working in the floating palaces of Mandovi, their POV’s may change!
It is difficult to come out of this iron clutch of dehumanising, systematic violence of human trafficking without external support and counsel, that is why IAHTU and NGOs such as Bailaancho Saad, ARZ, Video Volunteers, matter. Let us all be aware and assist them, so that these dank stains of slavery are destroyed.
Life is stranger than fiction, the ‘First Post’ reported that now in Sri Lanka, the women textile workers are soliciting — they do not have money to buy food or provisions for their family. I remembered Jose Saramago’s dystopic novel, ‘Blindness’, where all the people were becoming blind one by one, in that town, of a highly contagious disease, and to survive, few of them had to solicit the relatively powerful others. Both of them are blind, the victims and the perpetrators. Where is our choice and dignity in such a situation, where we are forced to measure everything with bare minimum survival skills? Remember when we did not have oxygen cylinders in Covid times?
