NE records highest ever 1,539 trafficking cases in 2015

Minister of State for Home Affairs, Hansraj Gangaram
Ahir, replying to a question by Santiuse Kujur, said in the Rajya Sabha
that according to information collected and compiled by National Crime
Records Bureau (NCRB) from all States during the year 2015, 6877 cases
of human trafficking were reported. Out of this, 1539 cases were
reported from Northeastern States.

According to the Minister,
human trafficking rackets are not maintained by NCRB centrally. However,
according to information compiled by NCRB, of the cases reported under
human trafficking in Northeastern States in the last three years, Assam
has recorded 1,494 cases last year, followed by Meghalaya, which
recorded 20 cases.

What could be a matter of concern the human
trafficking cases in Assam has jumped from 407 recorded in 2014 to 1,494
cases a year later.

Police is a State subject and as such
registration, investigation and prevention of crime of human trafficking
is primarily the responsibility of State Governments concerned.
However, the Government of India has taken various steps in combating
human trafficking and has adopted a multi-pronged approach to combat
human trafficking, and has issued several advisories to States from time
to time. Besides this, the Government of India has also taken the
following measures to check the menace of human trafficking:

Anti
Human Trafficking Units (AHTUs) have been set up at district level in
the States, including in Northeastern States. A National Conference on
Anti-Human Trafficking was convened on October 7, 2015, which was
attended by State Nodal Officers for Anti-Human Trafficking and Women
and Child Development, key stakeholders and representatives of civil
society. This was done with a view to sensitising all concerned agencies
to make coordinated efforts to check the menace of human trafficking.

A
Memorandum of Understanding was signed between India and Bangladesh in
June 2015 for Prevention of Human Trafficking. Task Force meetings
between India and Bangladesh are held regularly to coordinate matters
relating to human trafficking.

DD Arunprabha: Prasar Bharati has
informed that a new 24 X 7 Satellite TV Channel “DD Arunprabha” is
proposed to be launched shortly from Itanagar in addition to the
existing North East Channel at Guwahati, Minister of State for
Information and Broadcasting, Col Rajyavardhan Rathore (retd) said in a
Rajya Sabha reply.

The Government is well aware about the
diversity of the Northeastern States, which has different culture and
languages on practice. Keeping this in view, Government has established
separate Capital DD-Kendras for each of the Northeastern States,
telecasting their local programmes as per the need of the States from 3
pm to 7 pm daily on terrestrial mode. Some States also have one to two
other Programme Generation Facilities (PGF) Centres, the Minister also
said.