By M.C. Linthoingambee
There are law reforms almost every day and we can say that sati has been abolished; untouchability has lost its perks along the way. We believe what our mind wants them to, but our heart says otherwise. Slavery is one of the greatest diabolic turn of events in the history of mankind perhaps after its predecessors `“ war, genocide, etc. If we looked back in time, we have seen great battles succeeding into the extent of seeking liberty. Revolutions over the years gave great men and women honour from their versatile adoption of thoughts. There was Moses, for whom God chose as a messenger in order to bring liberty to more than a thousand slaves from the wrath of the Egyptian King (Pharaoh). Today, we are sometimes under the misconception that slavery exists no more but it goes on concealed behind closed doors in numerous ways than we know.
The Australian based Walk Free Foundation published to a more surprising effect, the first Global Slavery Index estimating that 13.3 to 14.7 million people are still prone to slavery even after sixty years of Independence. These results were estimated on the basis of certain factors like modern slavery, child marriage and human trafficking beyond the scope of the country`™s jurisdictions. To our astounding revelation there are still practices like debt bondage, forced marriage and sale or exploitation of children. There are more children employed in factories, restaurants, small shops as a result of the unchanged mindset. And most importantly there are differed thoughts on sending these same children for education where their parents feel it unimportant to make them literate. The world index names more than 29.6 million people engaged in the modern slavery. Countries like India, China, Pakistan, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Russia, Thailand, Democratic Republic of Congo, Myanmar and Bangladesh account for 76% of the world`s modern slaves. India ranks fourth in terms of modern-day slaves as a percentage of the population, just after Mauritania, Haiti and Pakistan. In Mauritania, 4% of people are regarded as slaves largely because they inherit the status from their ancestors.
The formation of Panchayati Raj, Village Councils, etc has been doing considerable work of imparting legal awareness and sensitization programs in order to provide legal aid to people whose knowledge of their rights are limited to a certain extent. They don`™t even know there are entitled to payment for every work they do. There were times when people were paid differently for the same kind of work because they belonged to certain castes; and then we came up with the idea of equal pay for equal work thereby attaining it as fundamental principles of legislative standing.
The more surprising effect is the practice of the rich employing and exploiting the poor in the process of following traditions. There are more farmers and their children inheriting the line of debts that is owed to the Zamindars. India having not ratified to the Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention but it owes its effect of modern day slavery mostly to debt bondage and bonded labour. The International Labour Organization (ILO) estimates the illicit profits of forced labour to be $150 billion a year.
The report says, “India`s modern slavery challenges are immense. Across India`s population of over 1.2 billion people, all forms of modern slavery, including inter-generational bonded labour, trafficking for sexual exploitation and forced marriage, exist. Evidence suggests that members of lower castes and tribes, religious minorities and migrant workers are disproportionately affected by modern slavery. Modern slavery occurs in brick kilns, carpet weaving, embroidery and other textile manufacturing, forced prostitution, agriculture, domestic servitude, mining, and organised begging rings. labour is particularly prevalent throughout India with families enslaved for generations.”
Child Labour although believed to have been eradicated, is still in practice. More than a thousand households in India still employ children as labourers, even the most literate of the lot. Every once in a while we also get phone calls offering jobs. Sometimes they don`™t always turn out to be real companies and hence, there are women and children from India being recruited with promises of non-existent jobs and sold for sexual exploitation, or forced into sham marriages. In some religious groups, pre-pubescent girls are sold for sexual servitude in temples. Recent reports suggest that one child goes missing every eight minutes; it is feared that some are sold into forced begging, domestic work, and commercial sexual exploitation.
Criminal justice reforms specific to human trafficking are the strongest component of India`s response to modern slavery. There were amendments during 2013 and 2014 by the Government to include specific anti trafficking provisions in the Indian Penal code and they also expanded the number of police anti-human trafficking units across the country to 215 units, aiming to establish a unit in 650 districts.
The judiciary and over 20,000 law enforcement have received training on victim identification, the new legal framework, and victim-centered investigations. Dalits for example are the least under social protections and are highly vulnerable to severe forms of exploitation and modern slavery.
They say people learn from punishments and hence, we need strong punitive measures to initiate protection for these common folks. We need rigorous imprisonment and question their authority. PETA is generously working to give a voice for those who cannot speak `“ that is for the animals. The inhuman treatments to both people and animals deserve to be spoken as well.