A news item which was published in this newspaper on August 20 about child trafficking from North Lakhimpur’s tea gardens is very disturbing. Trafficking of girl child or young girls and women from not only Assam but also from other states of the North East, including Arunachal Pradesh, has been going on for decades unabatedly. However, the maximum number comes from Assam’s impoverished districts like North Lakhimpur, Dhemaji, Nagaon and Hybergaon as well as Nalbari and Barpeta districts. A cursory glance at Assam Police’s missing person’s website stands testimony to this fact. The trafficked are also from mainstream Assamese society. 

On the other hand, girl child trafficking has been going on among the tea garden labour community of Assam since a very long time.  Lack of awareness and the prevailing socio-economic atmosphere among the tea-garden workers are the main reasons for the rise of this menace affecting young girls. Despite earning wages from the tea gardens where they work, these communities are affected by high amount of alcoholism and debt. To cope with these problems affecting their daily lives, most of the parents send their young daughters for work outside. And the touts are always there like a predatory bird waiting for its prey to emerge.

There have been many instances of these girls being sold to work in the houses of the rich in metropolitan cities like Delhi, Mumbai, etc. where they are treated as vermins. At the same time, there are pimps too working to lure girls to the red light  streets of these cities where there is a huge demand for young girls from the North East. They look for girls from poor families, especially after the annual ritual of floods in Assam when families find it hard to make ends meet. Yet, the governments have remained inactive other than police filing a missing person report with some unrecognizable photo. A pro-active and coordinated approach by the police, state social welfare department and NGOs is the need of the hour.