WEEKLY

CURRENT
AFFAIRS
Society,
Security &
Ethics
June 25- July 1
• a renowned physician, an educationist, a
freedom fighter, a social worker and a
politician.
• served West Bengal for 14 years as a
chief minister (1948 – 1962).
• was awarded with the highest Indian
civilian award, THE BHARAT RATNA
• contributed his life for the people, treated
many and inspired millions. Furthermore,
he was also the Mahatma Gandhis‟
personal physician.
• In the year 1976, the B.C. Roy National
Award was instituted in his memory to
recognize the eminent persons working in
the areas of medicine, science, public
affairs, philosophy, arts and literature.
SEIZE THE MAINS – ANSWER WRITING
 Comment on the human trafficking situation
in India. Give solutions to tackle this
problem.
 Answer in 250 words (15 marks)
 Submit your answers at rajiasacademy.com
 INDEX
 1. NCW Organizes Seminar on
Anti-Human Trafficking
Awareness
 2. Guidelines to Regulate
Child Participation in the
Entertainment Industry
 According to the UNODC,
Human Trafficking is “the
recruitment, transportation,
transfer, harbouring or
receipt of people through
force, fraud or deception,
with the aim of exploiting
them for profit.

 Men, women, and children

of all ages and from all
backgrounds can become
victims of this crime, which
occurs in every region of
the world.
 The traffickers often use
violence or fraudulent
employment agencies and
fake promises of
education and job
opportunities to trick and
coerce their victims”.
 Human trafficking Second-largest organized crime in India.
 DATA: (NO ONE REALLY KNOWS!)
 According to a report by Free a Girl Foundation, around 700-
800 children are stuck in the red light area of Nagpur, India.
 According to a study by Reuters out of an estimated 20 million
commercial prostitutes in India, 16 million women and girls are
victims of sex trafficking.
 According to Legal Services in India, every hour, four girls in
India enter into prostitution, three of them against their will.
 As per a survey conducted by the Kailash Satyarthi Foundation
- It was found that 21% of the households are potentially ready
to send their children into child labor due to their increased
economic vulnerability.
Countries kept in tier 2 are those whose governments do
not fully meet the minimum standards but are making
significant efforts to bring themselves into compliance
with those standards, and for which:
• The estimated number of victims of severe forms of
trafficking is very significant or is significantly
increasing and the country is not taking proportional
concrete actions.
• There is a failure to provide evidence of increasing
efforts to combat severe forms of trafficking in persons
from the previous year.
In spite of many laws present in India human trafficking
remains an unspoken problem in the country.
 Legislations in India that Prohibits Human
Trafficking
 Article 23 (1) in the constitution of India prohibits trafficking in
human beings and forced labour.
 The Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, 1956 (ITPA) penalizes
trafficking for commercial sexual exploitation.
 India also prohibits bonded and forced labour through the
Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act 1976, Child Labour
(Prohibition and Abolition) Act 1986, and Juvenile Justice
Act.
 Sections 366(A) and 372 of the Indian Penal Code, prohibits
kidnapping and selling minors into prostitution respectively.
 Apart from this, the Factories Act, 1948 guaranteed the
protection of rights of workers.
Related International Conventions, Protocols
and Campaigns:
 Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons,
especially Women and Children in 2000 as a part of the UN
Convention Against Transnational Organised Crime (Palermo
Convention).
 Protocol against the Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Sea and Air.
 Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948)
 Blue Heart Campaign
 Sustainable Development Goals
 Provisions in the New Bill:

It extends to all citizens inside as well as outside India,

 Persons on any ship or aircraft registered in India

wherever it may be or carrying Indian citizens
wherever they may be,
 A foreign national or a stateless person who has his or
her residence in India at the time of commission of
offence under this Act, and
 The law will apply to every offence of trafficking in
persons with cross-border implications.
 Provisions in the New Bill:
Victims Covered:
 It extends beyond the protection of women and children
as victims to now include transgenders as well as any
person who may be a victim of trafficking.
 It also does away with the provision that a victim
necessarily needs to be transported from one place to
another to be defined as a victim.
Defines „Exploitation‟:
The exploitation of the prostitution of others or other forms of
sexual exploitation including pornography, any act of
physical exploitation, forced labour or services, slavery or
practices similar to slavery, servitude or forced removal of
organs, illegal clinical drug trials or illegal bio-medical
research.
 Provisions in the New Bill:
 Government Officers as Offenders:
Offenders will also include defence personnel and
government servants, doctors and paramedical staff or
anyone in a position of authority.
 Penalty:
 A minimum of seven years which can go up to an
imprisonment of 10 years and a fine of Rs 5 lakh in most
cases of child trafficking.
 In case of the trafficking of more than one child, the
penalty is now life imprisonment.
 Similarity to Money laundering Act:
 Property bought via such income as well as used for
trafficking can now be forfeited with provisions set in
place, similar to that of the money laundering Act.
 Provisions in the New Bill:
Investigation Agency:
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) shall act as the national
investigating and coordinating agency responsible for prevention and
combating of trafficking in persons.
National Anti-Human Trafficking Committee:
 Once the law is enacted, the Centre will notify and establish a
National Anti-Human Trafficking Committee, for ensuring overall
effective implementation of the provisions of this law.
 This committee will have representation from various ministries
with the home secretary as the chairperson and secretary of the
women and child development ministry as co-chair.
 State and district level anti-human trafficking committees will
also be constituted.
 Significance:

 The transgender community, and any other person,

has been included which will automatically bring
under its scope activity such as organ harvesting.
 Also, cases such as forced labour, in which people
lured with jobs end up in other countries where their
passports and documentation is taken away and
they are made to work, will also be covered by this
new law.
SOLUTIONS:
 Generating awareness
 Role of civil society in its prevention
 Focus should be on prevention at source
 NCW has set up its own anti-human
trafficking cell to improve effectiveness in
tackling cases of human trafficking, raising
awareness among women and girls,
capacity building and training of Anti
Trafficking Units and to strengthen &
sensitize law enforcement machineries.
 Creating a synergy between enforcement agencies, Police
and NGOs for combating human trafficking and to take
forward the movement to youth and panchayat level for
effective prevention.
 4Ps for combating human trafficking; Prevention, Protection,
Prosecution and Participation and the role of criminal justice
system and social justice system in trafficking.
 “Trafficking is exploitation of vulnerability and addressing the
causes of vulnerability is important to prevent human
trafficking,”
 Also, reintegration of rescued survivors of trafficking back into
the society. “Everyone does not want to do stitching or sewing.
That is not rehabilitation. We have to understand the aspirations
of rescued survivors and take these aspirations into
consideration. A PPP model in collaboration with government,
NGOs and CSR participation can help in successful
rehabilitation and empowerment of these women”,
2. Guidelines to Regulate Child
Participation in the Entertainment
Industry
What are the Constitutional Provisions
Related to Children?
 The Constitution guarantees to every child the right to live
with dignity (Article 21), the right to personal liberty (Article
21), the right to privacy (Article 21), the right to equality
(Article 14) and/or the right against discrimination (Article
15), the right against exploitation (Article 23 & 24).
 Right to free and compulsory elementary education for
all children in the 6–14-year age group (Article 21 A)
 The Directive Principles of State Policy, and in
particular Article 39(f), cast an obligation on the State to
ensure that children are given opportunities and facilities to
develop in a healthy manner and in conditions of freedom
and dignity and that childhood and youth are protected
against exploitation and against moral and material
abandonment.
 Guidelines to Regulate Child
Participation in the
Entertainment Industry
 National Commission for the Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) has published
draft guidelines.
 Purpose: To ensure a healthy work environment for children in the
Entertainment Industry with minimal physical and psychological stress.
 Coverage
The guidelines will cover TV programmes including reality shows, serials, news
and informative media, movies, content on OTT platforms, content on social
media and any other kind of involvement of children in commercial
entertainment activities.
Key provisions of the guidelines
1. Accountability : Parents, who are using children to
make money, have to be held accountable. At least
one parent or legal guardian or a known person has to
be present during a shoot, and for infants, a registered
nurse needs to be present along with the parent or
legal guardian.
2. Focus on child education : The producer also needs to
ensure the child‟s education under the RTE Act, to
ensure no discontinuity from school or lessons as well
as adequate and nutritious food, and water for the
children.
3. Mandatory registration : The guidelines mandated child
artists and children being used in entertainment need
to be registered with District Magistrates.
4. Inclusion of different Acts protecting children : Provisions
under the Juvenile Justice Act, 2015, Child Labour
Amendment Act, 2016, Protection of Children from Sexual
Offences Act, 2012, Information Technology (Intermediary
Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, etc.,
have been included in the guidelines. The guidelines include
stringent penal provisions for violating the guidelines,
including imprisonment.
5. Prohibited activities : Children cannot be shown imbibing
alcohol, smoking or using any other substance or shown to
be indulging in any sort of antisocial activity. Further, no child
can be engaged in any situation involving nudity.
6. Salary-related norms: At least 20% of the income earned
by the child shall be directly deposited in a fixed deposit
account which may be credited to the child on attaining the
majority.