Just what his expertise on the subject, or experience thereof, we do not know. But Mysore’s new police commissioner Bhaskar Rao has thrown a nice little pebble in the placid pond of tech, and said, “IT-BT has become a pretext for human trafficking” and that the police need to be on their guard constantly.
At a workshop on the role of the police in human trafficking on Sunday, Rao said in the past women used to be abducted by dangling the carrot of domestic work. “Now they are being wooed with promises of jobs in IT, BT and BPO sectors,” he is quoted as saying by the Mysore editions of Praja Vani and Deccan Herald.
“Earlier it [human trafficking] would take place usually under the pretext of getting jobs for women as domestic aids, but the fact that the menace has made its entry into the advanced sectors too is worrisome.
“Womenfolk who are deprived of love and respect will obviously have an inclination to move towards where they can get them, and it comes handy to the people who take undue advantage of the same in pursuit of quick bucks,” the police chief said.
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Is the police chief confusing “human trafficking” for “body shopping“? Or is human trafficking—a term used to describe the recruitment, transportation or transfer of people for the purpose of exploitation using force, deception or fraud—taking place? Is force being used to woo women? Only women? Or is Rao speaking through his metaphorical hat?
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oɐɹ ɹɐʞsɐɥq ɟǝıɥɔ ǝɔı1od ǝɹosʎɯ ɥʇıʍ ‘pǝuıbɐɯı ɹo 1ɐǝɹ ‘dıɥsuoıʇɐ1ǝɹ ʎuɐ ǝʌɐɥ ɟɟɐʇs 1ɐɔıuɥɔǝʇ ɹo sɹoʇnqıɹʇuoɔ ‘sɹoʇıpǝ ‘sɹǝʇoɯoɹd sʇı ɹou ɯoɔ.ıɹnɯnɹnɥɔ ɹǝɥʇıǝu :ɹǝɯıɐ1ɔsıp
Mr.Rao is right. How can a company (for example asy MurthyAngadi or LovelyAngadi or Sullinangadi) send somebody with no work visa to US and make them work there? Human trafficking by any other name is human trafficking only.
Respected sirs, what about the politicians who were recently caught in this sort of human trafficking? No doubt they may be professionals, but …Branding one sector or other like that doesn’t seem to be logical. It is not only the police are to be alert but every citizen should be made aware of this.
“Human trafficking” as the post points out is clearly different from “body shopping”… NO evidence has been presented as to any IT or BT company engaging in the same. However, we know the areas where human trafficking occurs, in cahoots with the police, and as we found out recently, our MPs as well. What have the police done to plug these holes before raising such random charges just because its the flavour of the month to blame EVERYTHING on IT companies.
It is very hard to decipher what exactly our police commissioner of Mysore had in his mind when he referred to the possibility of human trafficking in IT, BT and BPO sectors. If it has come to the notice of the police department, really it is a serious issue. Human trafficking is nothing but dangling a carrort of job offer before the eyes of the gullible girls who are in desperate need of money to maintain the family. It is nothing but the exploitation of innocent girls and ignorant parents for their own monitory gain. In most of the cases the girl in question is not a willing partner. They may rot in the red light area because of the social stigma when once they are thrust into flesh trade. Most of them are victims of circumstances and yearning to get out of the red light area at an earliest opportunity to lead a normal life. Money rules the roost in almost all the cases. The age old cause of human trafficking is the Devadasi system that ruins the life of young girls in the name of tradition. Devadasi system is almost extinct with the spread education and persistent efforts of the government to create awareness.
Persons who aspire to join IT, BT, and BPO sectors are neither ignorant nor innocent at the out set. They do have minimum college education. Most of them are from middle class family and not that hard pressed for cash. More ever social taboos are gradually fading. The society is slowly becoming more and more permissive .The allegation of cheating and exploiting the woman holds no water in the present context.
Of course the parents are more liberal now a days. Sending a young sibling to mid night shift raises no eye brows , in spite of one or two bizarre incidents .Concerned companies and government are taking proper precaution to protect the woman employees. So his observations must have been based on some other factors.
It is true that interpersonal relationships have undergone a sea change in the past one decade. One can find young cuties sipping the beer in the company of boy friends at pubs and night hot spots. It is no more a strange thing to find young girls going on picnic sponsored by their company after the completion of projects. An average girl working in these prime sectors earns between 10 to 20 thousand bucks on her entry in to service itself. Persons working in these sectors do have financial stability, job security and social status. There is no chance to exploit them as they can not be lured away from their path by any lucrative offers.
Not that all of them tread the path of Sitha and Savitri of our legends, of course they need not do so and also one should not expect them to take them as role models. It is difficult to understand how they become victims of circumstances to be a part of age old profession of human traffic. It is up to our police officer to spell out the cause of this menace and suggest ways and means to contain the human trafficking in these prestigious sectors that promise to usher in an era of peace and prosperity, to clear the dark clouds of doubts in the minds of parents whose wards work in these sectors.