'All of our cultural ethos is going down the drain', says the Indian Supreme Court - James Varghese

INDIA -- “Incredible India,” is the name given to the land of my birth, because everything here is incredible -- the wide variety of people, culture, arts monuments, and architecture.

In a country as diverse and complex as India, with 5,000 years of recorded history, it is not surprising to find that the people reflect the rich glories of the past, the culture, traditions and values relative to geographic locations and the numerous distinctive manners, habits and food that will always remain truly Indian.

From the eternal snows of the Himalayas to the cultivated peninsula of the far South, from the deserts of the West to the humid deltas of the East, from the dry heat and cold of the Central Plateau to the cool forest foothills, Indian lifestyles clearly glorify the geography.

But sadly, Indian has a dark secret which was recently revealed on January 29, 2010, when the Supreme Court of India said, “India is becoming a hub for large-scale child prostitution rackets.”

The Court suggested the need to set up a “special investigating agency” to tackle this menace in the world's second most densely

Inhabited nation. The World Bank, World Development Indicators says that in 2008 the

country had a population of 1,139,964,932, so by now it is probably way above that.

According to the BBC, India is set to overtake China as the world's most populous nation by 2050, while some countries will shrink by nearly 40%, according to new research.

Sadly, despite all the incredible growth of the Indian economy, prostitution is currently a contentious issue in the country with and child trafficking and prostitution rampant throughout the land.

In 2007, the Ministry of Women and Child Development reported presence of 2.8 million sex workers in India, with 35.47 percent of them entering the trade before the age of 18 years. The number of prostitutes has also doubled in the recent decade.

More recent figures have reported that sex workers in India are now around 15 million, with Mumbai alone, being home to 100,000 sex workers, the largest sex industry center in Asia.

Some infamous red light centers in India are Sonagachi in Kolkata (Calcutta), West Bengal State; Kamathipura in Mumbai (Bombay), Maharastra State; G. B. Road in the capital city of New Delhi, Reshampura in Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh; and Budhwar

Peth in Pune, Maharastra State, where often under-age minors ply their trade.

The majority of sex workers in India do so because they are lacking resources to support themselves or their children. Most do not choose this profession out of preference, but out of necessity, often after the breakup of a marriage or after being disowned and thrown out of their homes by their families. The children of sex workers are much more likely to get involved in this kind of work as well.

A survey completed in 1988 by the All Bengal Women's Union interviewed a random sample of 160 sex workers in Kolkota and of those, 23 claimed that they had come of their own accord, whereas the remaining 137 women claimed to have been introduced into the sex trade by pimps or agents of various sorts.

A surprising breakdown of the agents by sex, were as follows: 76% were female and only 24% were males. Over 80% of the agents had brought young women into the profession were known people and not traffickers: neighbors, relatives, etc.

Over 40% of 484 prostitute girls rescued during major raids of brothels in Mumbai in 1996 were from Nepal. In India as many as 200,000 Nepalese girls, many under the age of 14, have been sold into sexual slavery. Nepalese women and girls, especially virgins, are favored in India.

According to a 1994 report in the newspaper Asian Age, 30% of these women are under 20 years of age, 40% are 20-30 years of age, and approximately 15% of them became prostitutes as children under the age of 12.

In its recent report, the Indian Supreme Court said, “Child prostitution is happening because of abject poverty in the country. This is also because of the very high large-scale unemployment. All of our cultural ethos is going down the drain”.

The Court also wanted to know why the government is not “invoking rape cases” against those exploiting the children in such prostitution rackets.

Working in this field, I realize that the Government of India is taking every step to curb and eliminate prostitution in India, but definitely somewhere down the line, they are not able to implement these actions strictly in many of these cases. Somewhere along the way there appears to be a loophole.

I run an organization in my homeland called the Indian Rescue Mission and already we have rescued hundreds of girls, may of them minors, from forced prostitution.

I have found out that a huge demand for sex and a relaxed law enforcement system has resulted in the thriving trade of buying and selling women and girls. Young girls from poor areas are particularly vulnerable and are often lured, kidnapped, or tricked into prostitution. Once the girl is sold to a particular brothel keeper, she becomes a virtual slave of the industry. She is beaten, threatened, verbally abused, and forced to sleep with many men every day. She will remain a slave until she is able to pay back the money the brothel keeper paid for her.

I have personally gone on several raids on these brothels and am convinced that an axe needs to be laid at the root of this problem. Many of the organizations, including mine, that work for the rescue and rehabilitation of these victim girls are only trying to arrest the brothel keepers or managers of the brothels who are the last players of the whole trafficking game. But I also feel that organizations need to trace the locations of the main pimps and traffickers and then they should be arrested and be put behind bars and that's how we can bring an end to this issue.

Child prostitution is growing so rapidly that, even with all the efforts made by different organizations, plays just a small part. Definitely we feel that we should make a big impact to eliminate and eradicate child prostitution in “Incredible India”.

Come let's make this world a beautiful place. Let's be the mouthpiece for those who cannot speak out. Join with us as we rescue and serve these victims and make this nation free from shackles of child prostitution.

We can make this Possible. Rise up and join us to fight this blight.

To find out more, please go to our new website which is:

http://rescuemissionindia.weebly.com

Your comments and suggestions are welcome. Please mail me at:

jamesvarghese@sify.com or
indianrescuemission@gmail.com