Ranchi: Considering the high incidence of trafficking in Jharkhand, particularly in the last one year because of the Covid-19 pandemic, the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) along with the Union tribal affairs ministry and a non-government organisation (NGO) has conducted vulnerability mapping of children in Khunti district.
Similar exercises would be conducted in East Singhbhum and Dumka in the second phase of the programme.
During the exercise in Khunti, the commission has identified 4,725 children in the district as vulnerable for various reasons, including violence, labour, homelessness, abandonment, orphan, single parent, incapable parents, serious illnesses, disability, disaster, extremism, dropping out from schools, drug addiction, malnourishment, gambling, elderly parents, being transgenders and conviction in crimes.
Sanjay Mishra, a member of the standing committee on community social organisation in Niti Aayog, said, “The children identified as vulnerable are likely to fall prey to trafficking in future. NCPCR, tribal ministry and NGO Bal Kalyan Sangh aim to map and link these children and their families to various government schemes in a bid to help them face the adversities. These children and their families could be linked to around 40 government welfare schemes.”
Mishra further said after mapping of the children in extremist-affected Khunti, similar exercises would be undertaken in the industrial district of East Singhbhum and the tribal-dominated Dumka to get an overview of the situation in the state.
Stating that the possibility of human trafficking in Jharkhand has increased because of the Covid pandemic and the loss of job opportunities, he said the number of trafficking-related calls received at the integrated rescue rehabilitation cum resource centre (IRRC), Delhi, and the state resource centre (SRC) increased in 2020 compared to 2019. He added that there may be many cases which have not been reported.
According to official figures, the IRRC received 1,948 calls in 2020 compared to 1,864 in 2019 and the SRC got 2,195 calls as against 2,168 in 2019. The SRC has rescued 114 children while the IRRC has rescued and rehabilitated 47 children.