Human Trafficking: A Sociological Study on Tribal Women of Jharkhand

Abstract

Trafficking of women and girls is a gross violation of human rights of human rights, which 8 needs to be addressed. Trafficking assaults human dignity, flagrantly violates fundamental 9 human rights, erodes consciences, thus fomenting corruption. It is also called modern-day 10 slavery, whereby the victim him / herself ?”accepts?” his / her situation due to the lack of substantial choices and ways out of poverty. Key social determinants that facilitate selling of 12 the women?s and girls and their exploitation include poverty, female gender, lack of policy and 13 enforcement, age, migration, displacement and ethnicity, culture, ignorance of trafficking 14 methods, and caste status. Therefore the need of the hour is a serious reflection on the social, 15 ethical, and religious implications of this inhuman issue. The State?s responsibilities to these 16 challenges and how to make use of its various resources for combating trafficking is a serious 17 concern of this research. Therefore this paper also investigates the proximate explanatory 18 factors behind modern-day slavery and issue of the region and will serve as a tool in bridging 19 the gap and shaping the future of the women and children of this reign. Since the issue of 20 human trafficking in Jharkhand is a wide phenomenon, the research is exclusively focusing on 21 cause of trafficking of the adivasi (tribal) women and girls of Sahibganj district, Jharkhand. 22 This research is concentrated on two blocks of Sahibganj district of Jharkhand. 23 This paper is an outcome of empirical research which is explanatory in nature. The research involves both 43 qualitative and quantitative methods. It tries to analyze the problems and at the same time find out the factors 44 leading to the trafficking of women and the girls. Empirical study is based on questionnaires with the government 45 officers, victims of trafficking, and village heads, local community. Various books from different libraries, articles, 46 journals, newspaper cutting have been used as secondary sources for data collection. Sahibganj district is one of 47 the twenty-four districts of Jharkhand state. Set within the lush green region, the district of Sahibganj with a 48 predominantly tribal population, is one of the six districts comprising Santhal Pargana division. It is considered 49 as one of the backward district of India. Sahibganj have a history of being among the least -developed in the whole 50 country. The vast tract of land enclosed between the hills ranges had been assigned these names; Damin-I-Koh is 51 a Persian word and means ’skirt of the hills”. The district may be divided into three natural divisions. One is the 52 hilly portion, consists of the uplands, undulations long ridges and depressions which is inhabited by the tribal. 53 Second portion, this area has plenty of fertile lands and is richly cultivates and majority inhabited by non-tribals 54 ?? Banerji,1986). The third region is a narrow strip of low, fertile, alluvial plain lying between the Ganges and the 55 hills running along the loop line of the Eastern Railway inhabited by majority non-tribal constituencies, Census 56 2011 figures indicated that the percentage share of scheduled caste population to total population was 6.29 per 57 cent while that of Scheduled tribes was 26.80 per cent. The total number of villages in the district is 1,819.Of 58 these, 1,307 are inhabited and 512 uninhabited. Males constitute 51.33% of the population and females 48.66%. 59 Among the tribes the Santhals are in the majority. 60