Modern Day Slavery

Human trafficking is one the biggest crimes being practiced in our country. It also stands at the third position in the list of largest crime industries in the world after drugs and arms trafficking. It has become a multi billion dollar industry with investors, dealers and corrupt officials participating actively. This keeps on increasing in the form of sexual exploitation, forced labour and bonded labour.

People are brought to towns and big cities in the name of providing them a better future. Exploiters extract benefits of poor financial health of the victims who are easily spoofed by their false promises. Desperation wins over caution and blind faith on traffickers guides them towards the pit of dark and hopeless lives. Bonded labour in India is justified on the basis of caste system that believes that some people NEED to live on the mercy of others. Children become a soft target and are to take responsibility of repayment of their parents' debt. They are put into hard labour in their nurturing years with a negligible pay which enables the owner to enforce generations into this practice.

Women and young girls comprise of 98% of the victims of sex slavery. They are kidnapped and trafficked from India's rural areas and are then compelled for prostitution. In Afghanistan, daughters are literally sold as brides to repay the debts of their fathers for opium. Young girls of lower castes are trafficked and tied to temple elites for providing them sexual services without hopes of a real marriage in Devdaasi system. Such people who consider them to be untouchables have no qualms in satisfying their physical needs with these women. Boys are seldom heard of this because of our crash in acknowledging its existence and further support comes from our male dominant society. But trust me, even men are sexually embarrassed by making them dress up like girls and entertain sexually hungry men in Bihar and parts of Uttar Pradesh as a tradition of laundanaach in the name of employment. This is the most practised form of male prostitution and provides us a look into the world of male sex slavery. It is now a base entertainment to a bunch of men who perceive launda dancers as a piece of meat or an object and thus feel free to rape them. This exactly happens in the practice of bachabaazi in Afghanistan as well where boys are touched and sexually assaulted without consent and hence are forced into brothels in both the countries.

Human trafficking has become more or less an industry with ever increasing demand as well as supply. We are at a point where this crime cannot be completely waved goodbye to just by clogging a few individuals and groups. There is a need of a massive movement to uproot this callous and ruthless act. All it rests upon is whether we are ready to have that first step.