The alluring bait

Courtesy: The Sangai Express (editorial)

Over the past few days, a series of disturbing reports have surfaced in connection with rescue of a large number of Manipuri kids who have been taken outside the State by some unscrupulous persons on false promise of providing free and better education but were found abused and their hopes crushed. These reports must have shaken up the conscience of many people. What is even more disturbing in these reports is the fact that these young victims have come from poor families in far and underdeveloped parts of the State. This is not the first time that young boys and girls who were reportedly trafficked from Manipur on false promise of providing job or free education have been rescued from other places of the country and even abroad. Similar incidents have occurred in the past and there is no guarantee that it would not be repeated in the future. So, apart from urgency of identifying the hands and brains behind these trafficking cases and punish them accordingly, there is the need to understand why human trafficking is striving and Manipuri boys and girls are becoming the easy target.
Amidst these disturbing reports, finger of accusation has been raised over the motive of the parents in handing over their children to some people just because they presented a picture of the rosy future of their children. This is a point that needs to be pondered over and understood in its right prespective. Given the financial position of most families in this perpetually resource starved and financially crunched State, naivety and gullibility of the parents in falling over the glib tongue of the unscrupulous elements who promise a bright future for their children is understandable. Howsoever, poor they may be, there would be no parents in this globe who would not like to see their children living well and getting the best that life could offer. It is this weakness of the parents that makes them fallible in entrusting the future of their children to some unknown hands and it is this same weakness of the parents that is being exploited by the traffickers who come assuming the role of saviour of their children. The situation could be even more precarious in remote hill areas of the State where even the basic necessities of life are still considered luxury, forget about modern education or employment. Now the question is, would there be recurrence of child trafficking cases in Manipur, if the financial position of the parents were sound enough and there is easy excess to education ? It is the answer to this simple question that everyone should seek if the recurring problem of human trafficking with the alluring bait of job and education is to be stopped for once and all.