Crammed in van 15 kids collapse
Imphal, May 23: In what could be termed as corrobo-ration of serious concern fre- quently highlighted by the pa-rents regarding their young kids transported in an un-friendly manner by school van operators and other transpor-ters, no less than 15 students.....
Mute/deaf student shines bright
IMPHAL, May 23: Pukhram-bam Juliana Chanu, who is virtually mute and has very low hearing capacity outshone a large number of her peers when she scored the highest mark (88 out of 100) in Philosophy apart from securing letter marks in four subjects in the.....
Obscurity clouds HSE '13 results
IMPHAL, May 23: Results of the class XII exam conducted by the Council of Higher Se-condary Education Manipur (COHSEM) have confused many people even as some others have started questioning if there were certain lapses or follies in the result. As per .....
Cabinet okays
IMPHAL, May 23: The State Cabinet has today given its approval for the recognition of three tribal dialects. Government Spokesperson, M Okendro said the three tribal dialects recognised by the State Government are Poumai, Liangmai and Gangte. Beside.....
DTO issues 3057 licences in a day
IMPHAL, May 23: One former District Transport Officer (DTO) of Ukhrul issued 3057 driving licences in a single day and the revenue thus collected never reached the Government’s coffer. One G Athui, then Inspector (Mechanical) was given the charge of .....
Educational facilities in Saitu inaugurated
IMPHAL, May 23: Along with inaugurating an Eklavya model residential school at Gamnom Saparmeina, Deputy Chief Minister Gaikhangam today dedicated two hostel buildings for scheduled tribe boys and girls students at the same area. Eklavya model resident.....
Ukhrul ADC
IMPHAL, May 23: The Ukhrul Autonomous District Council (ADC) has resolved to remove LN Kashung, CEO of Ukhrul ADC from his post for alleged ‘misconduct’ and ‘unbecoming act of a Govt servant’ under Section 32 (2) of the Manipur (Hill Areas) ADC Ac.....
HIV girl secures four letter marks in HSE
IMPHAL, May 23: It is a big morale booster and a source of inspiration to all children living with HIV that a girl living with HIV and undergoing ART secured letter marks in four subjects in the Higher Secondary Examination 2013 conducted by the Council o.....
Director inspects Govt model schools
IMPHAL, May 23: An official team of Directorate of Education (S) led by its Director H Deleep today inspected Wangkhei High School, Keishamthong High School and Lamding High School in connection with the introduction of Mentoring System at a few selected .....
Unidentified man locks Nambol school
IMPHAL, May 23: The Development Protection United Voluntary Organisation has urged the concerned to make a clarification on locking of Nambol Leirel High School by a person who identified himself as an RPF activist yesterday. In a press conference held.....
VA urges authority
IMPHAL, May 23: The Samulamlan Village Authority has urged the authority concerned to complete the installation of Mobile BTS at Samulamlan within June this year. A statement issued by the chief/chairman of Samulamlan VA, K Paohminglen said the VA woul.....
TSA admitted in ATSUM
IMPHAL, May 23: Thadou Students Association-General Headquarters (TSA-GHQ) has formally become the unit of All Tribal Students Union, Manipur (ATSUM). Three of the TSA-GHQ 'officials' have also been inducted to the ATSUM fold today where an oath-takin.....
Kabow Leikai eviction Fasting prayer on May 26 followed by rally, meeting
IMPHAL, May 23: In the backdrop of the alleged forced eviction of Kabow Leikai, a fasting prayer would be organised on Sunday (May 26) in respective Church which would be followed by a peace rally and public meeting on May 27. This was decided during .....
BSF detects IED in Tbl
IMPHAL, May 23: Troops of 116th Bn BSF today detected an IED weighing around 10 Kgs at Wangjing Heituppokpi, Thoubal district. The bomb detected by BSF troops posted at Wangjing was retrieved by a bomb disposal squad of Manipur Police and they set of.....
PMS for SCs
IMPHAL, May 23: The 2nd phase lists of selected SC students of the State for the award of Post Matric Scholarship for the year 2012-13 were notified on the notice board of the Directorate of MOBC & SC located at Old Gauhati HC Complex and on the website w.....
Anniversary observed
IMPHAL, May 23: The Indian Dental Association (IDA), Manipur State Branch has celebrated the 24th anniversary function of the association on May 20 at Classic Hotel, Imphal. The programme was presided by Dr T Nabachandra Singh, president of the IDA (MS.....
Free diabetes camp
IMPHAL, May 23: A one-day diabetes free health camp was held today at Lecture Hall-2 of Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Medical Sciences, Porompat. As chief guest of the event, North East Elderly Women chief editor RK Nayansana Devi noting that diabetes.....
Senapati prepares for Exchange programme
KANGGUI, May 22: Everything is set in order for the one day Cultural and Musical Exchange programme jointly organised by Senapati District Students Association and Kuki Students' Organization, Sadar Hills in association with Student Mobilization Initiati.....
JAC demands exemplary punishment against rapists
IMPHAL, May 23: JAC against the rape of a student of TG Hr Sec School on Oct 20, 2012 has urged the concerned authority to conduct the trial against the rapists fairly. A statement issued by the JAC today reminded that the number of crimes rises due to.....
Raphei Katamnao Long hails ADC
Ukhrul, May 23: The Northern Students’ Union (Raphei Katamnao Long), Ukhrul District has appreciated the ADC, Ukhrul for timely implementation of developmental projects in various departments particularly in the field of Education in the Northern area o.....
Sunday Sentiments
By : Urmila Chanam
A woman is not for sale! A march to say 'no' to human trafficking
If only we knew that a large section of girls and children in the brothels have been forced to sexual slavery, are not paid for their services and have been kidnapped from unknowing parents and sold off to gigolos and pimps, would we still turn a blind eye to these victims of flesh trade? Children are best seen in their homes and not in brothels pacifying psychologically sick men who buy services of children as young as ten! What’s more there is information that small girls as small as eleven years of age are increasingly being injected with a steriod that is generally meant for cows, just so that they develop more mature physical attributes and land more clients! They’re locked up for days, starved, beaten, and burned with cigarettes until they learn how to service up to twenty-five clients a day. Some girls go through ‘training’ before being initiated into prostitution, which can include constant exposure to pornographic films, tutorials in how to ‘please’ customers, repeated rapes. The procurer-pimp-police network makes the process even smoother. Bought for as little as Rs (Nepalese) 1,000, girls have been known to fetch up to Rs 30,000 in later transactions. Police are paid by brothel owners to ignore the situation. Girls may not leave the brothels until they have repaid their debt, at which time they are sick, with HIV and/or tuberculosis, and often have children of their own. Simply put, all doors close for trafficked women and children who find themselves forced into sexual slavery.
Trafficking is one of the hardest crimes to track and investigate hence data is hard to obtain. A multimillion dollar business which has become a massive organized crime is one of the most lucrative criminal trades, next to arms and drug smuggling undertaken by highly organized criminals. India is a source, destination, and transit country for trafficking for many purposes such as commercial sexual exploitation. There are no national or regional estimates for the number of children trafficked every year. But 40% of prostitutes are children, and there is a growing demand for young girls in the industry. In India Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Tamil Nadu are considered “high supply zones” for women in prostitution as part of an organized trafficking network.Unless a public opinion is built laws are effectively designed and implemented, the situation is constantly monitored and the nexus of traffickers is exposed, children will continue to be trafficked. Coordinated efforts are required to stop and prevent child trafficking.
On 2nd December, 2012 hundreds living in India’s IT hub, Bangalore thronged to the Holy Trinity Church to take up the torch in the city’s first Anti-Trafficking Vigil. The march began from Trinity Circle in MG road and went all the way up to Cubbon Park to end in a quiet candle ceremony followed by an oath to do all that we can in our capacity to end this cycle of bonded slavery.It was just about to be sun set.Many people said a ‘no’ to trafficking today as they walked solemnly the streets of Bangalore . When your voice merges with hundreds of others , look how loud your voice gets.That’s just how you must view your seemingly small contribution to end this evil against our women and children. I am truly happy to have taken the march too.
There were girls, there were boys, senior citizens, Christian leaders, members of NGOs, musicians, working professionals, just about everyone! I was thrilled to see young girls studying in colleges take the lead in the march. It’s truly empowering to see the younger generation sensitive to the cause. One 14-year old girl volunteer carrying a banner said, “I don’t need to be older to be a part of the march today to raise my voice against human trafficking. It just needs a heart to see what’s happening to children in this country!!” Another 20-year old girl volunteer distributing water bottles to people before the march beamed and said, “ My friends wanted to go for Amir Khan’s movie , Talaash, that has just released but I wanted to come here and do whatever I could, no matter how small, to support the cause to stop trafficking.” Benny Prasad, the most travelled Indian musician (Limca Book of records 2007) was there to lend his support to the cause. Narendra Kumar (25) a management student said, “These people who are forced into sex work and labor are also human beings and the people who traffic them have no right to use them for their own gain.” Rakhi Mathai (30), a social development professional told me, “I had really wanted my two children to be here today and see how the real world is but they had exams tomorrow. Children need to be taught the real problems of our society- trafficking is one of them.” A very disillusioned volunteer, Amit (22) commented, “How is India a developing country I wonder, look around you- how many children are laborers!
Anti-Human Trafficking Network Bangalore which organized the event collected 5,000 signatures on the occasion and the Network is planning to submit a memorandum to the Governor after collecting over 10,000 signatures to demand strengthening the hands of law enforcement authorities to fight human trafficking and spread awareness amongst various sections of society.
Today I met and talked to many people who had come to take the march. The educated from the cosmopolitan city share concerns on the way women and child are being trafficked and their rights to a normal fulfilling life is being denied just because we are not doing anything profound and effective to curb it. There is a great potential in people’s movement to fight this evil. The solution could lie with social action besides the present legislative, executive and judicial measures. I am glad I took an oath today to be able to carry information on trafficking through my social media page and every possible forum, to anyone who wants to listen and anyone who has a heart. Please play your part in whichever way you can. You never know how many are waiting to be freed out there!
The writer is a humanitarian, campaigner and journalist with World Pulse & Voices for Human Rights and she can be reached at - urmila.chanam@gmail.com
kunal saini
I would simply want to say THANKS for bringing in light such serious problem out in picture, since i have myself seen such exploitation from very close here in delhi. i know d pain d lost identities the trauma which the trafficked person faces. Support and strength for all the peole working for this issue, as its a long battle against not only the traffickers but govt who has Blinded themselves and being deaf for so lonngg!!
