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Vulnerability, Forced Migration and Trafficking

in Children and Women
A Field View from the Plantation Industry in West Bengal
Biswajit Ghosh

Since economic globalisation, the plantation industry in

West Bengal has witnessed extensive sickness and
closure. The brunt of this is borne by workers and their
families belonging to marginalised tribal communities.
This gives space to organised crime to lure a large
number of women and children to distant places on the
pretext of providing them with jobs, which almost
invariably leads to exploitation at a later stage. The
findings of this study, done in 12 sick and closed tea
gardens in Jalpaiguri district, demonstrate the close link
between vulnerabilities, migration, and trafficking in
children and women. It also suggests there have been
changes in the nature of human trafficking in the
country, calling for a new policy perspective on the issue.

he problem of human trafficking, particularly trafficking in children and women, has emerged as an important social issue in recent times in many parts of the
world. It is widely recognised that many countries in Asia serve
as places of origin, transit and destination of human trafficking, and that there has been a steady rise in the last two decades, following increased transborder mobility of people. In
contrast to this popular perception, data provided by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) show a steady decline in
the number of cases under the Immoral Traffic (Prevention)
Act (ITPA) in the last few years. The same agency, however,
notes a steady rise in the number of cases under Sections 366A
(procuration of minor girl) and 372 (selling of girl for prostitution) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).1
It may be argued that trafficking for the sex industry is
now being largely replaced by trafficking for the domestic
and commercial sectors of the Indian urban economy. In a
context when there is enormous international pressure to
combat sex trafficking, human trafficking in the guise of
labour migration now appears to be a safe route for those
who survive on this crime. The possibility for this looms
large in West Bengal, a state that shares boundaries with the
north-eastern states and Odisha, Bihar, Jharkhand and
Sikkim. It also shares international boundaries with Bhutan,
Nepal and Bangladesh. The states geographical location as
well as its demographic and social constraints makes it vulnerable to trafficking (Ghosh 2009: 728). A study conducted by
the UNICEF and the Government of West Bengal identified certain districts in the state as being endemic to child trafficking (Ghosh 2007: 55). It is in this context that an attempt is
made here to study the issue of child trafficking in 12 sick and
closed tea gardens in Jalpaiguri.
Research Location and Methodology

This study was sponsored by Save the Children and UNICEF in 2011.
I am grateful to them and the volunteers of two peer teams, Rural Aid
and Life Line Foundation, for cooperation and help in conducting the
research. Amit Hazra of Visva-Bharati University helped in analysing
participatory rural appraisal data. I greatly appreciate the comments
of an anonymous referee on an earlier version of this paper.
Biswajit Ghosh (bghoshbu@gmail.com) is with the University of
Burdwan, West Bengal.

Research was carried out during May to July 2011 to assess the
extent of marginalisation of workers and the vulnerabilities of
children and women. Table 1 (p 59) shows the names, location
and status of these gardens. They were selected after discussions with members of research teams and experts, and
finalised on the basis of accessibility and initial status reports
after field visits.
As the objective of the research was to collect qualitative
data about the nature, extent and dimensions of the different

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3,000 workers of abandoned tea gardens in north Bengal have

succumbed to starvation between 2002 and 2006. Studies also
show that 70% of the people in closed tea gardens are in an
advanced stage of chronic energy deficiency (Biswas et al
2005). A survey conducted in the closed gardens revealed that
welfare schemes, the public distribution system, and basic
amenities such as safe drinking water, healthcare, primary
education, and electricity were practically non-existent
(Chaudhury et al 2007). The condition of workers in the
so-called good tea gardens is no different as the poverty
regime is ubiquitous under a low-wage system. Consequently,
the strength of the permanent workforce in tea gardens
has declined in Jalpaiguri and Darjeeling districts, though
Industry Challenges and Vulnerability
there has been an increase in the number of casual workers
North Bengal has about 450 tea gardens spread out over the (Roy 2009a).
Issues related to unfair wages and non-fulfilment of statuDarjeeling hills and the Dooars-Terai region. A large number
of tea gardens in Jalpaiguri and Darjeeling districts produce tory benefits are matters of great concern in the plantation
industry (NTUI 2011). It has been
Table 1: Names, Location, and Status of Tea Gardens Studied
claimed that employment condiName of Tea Gardens
Location
Status as on 31 July 2011
Date of Closure
Date of Reopening
tions in the tea industry in West
Indong tea garden
Matelli
Sick
23 November 2007
8 January 2008
Bengal are highly exploitative as
Grassmore tea garden
Nagrakata
Sick
Closed for three days in August 2003 Not applicable
the wages of workers in the state
Red Bank tea estate
Dhupguri
Sick
Abandoned in March 2003
13 Mar 2011
and Assam are the lowest among
Chulsa tea garden
Matelli
Good
Not applicable
Not applicable
all tea-growing states in the counNayasaili tea garden
Nagrakata
Sick
Not applicable
Not applicable
try (Bhowmik 1981). To compenSamsing tea estate
Matelli
Sick
23 September 2005
17 August 2009
Bharnobari tea garden
Kalchini
Sick
30 December 2005
28 April 2008
sate for low wages, employers are
Dheklapara tea estate
Madarihat
Closed
22 August 2002
Not applicable
supposed to ensure non-cash proRadharani tea estate
Kalchini
Sick
18 March 2009
23 March 2011
visions such as (a) subsidised
Rahimabad tea garden
Kumargram
Sick
17 April 2002
4 May 2004
rations for wife and two dependRaimatang tea estate
Kalchini
Sick
28 January 2005
13 Aug 2010
ent children; (b) two and half
Satali tea garden
Kalchini
Good
Not applicable
Not applicable
piles of firewood for each permaSource: Field study, July 2011.
nent worker per year; and
the famous Dooars tea, and Jalpaiguri itself has nearly 150 tea (c) pucca or non-pucca houses. Additionally, a worker is entigardens. The economy of the district is centred on the tea in- tled to free medical care, safe drinking water, electricity,
dustry. But, following the economic liberalisation of the 1990s, transport, support for childrens education, crches, house
the tea industry in the region has witnessed major crises. Jal- repairs, and so on, according to the Plantations Labour Act
paiguri gardens producing average tea could not compete with of 1951.
The major point to be noted here is that even though the
cheap exports from Sri Lanka and Kenya. Along with this
external reason, there were many internal factors as well. minimum daily wage is paid to all workers in running tea
Most of the gardens that became sick and closed after 2001 gardens, the owners mostly do not provide non-cash benefits
had seen production fall, with ageing tea bushes yielding less or do so only occasionally. The problem becomes acute when
a garden closes and stops providing whatever employment it
tea and of inferior quality.
According to an estimate, more than 50 gardens closed be- does. The vulnerability of children is more if their parents are
tween 2000 and 2007, affecting a huge section of the work- alcoholic, the family is large, if someone is very sick, or if the
force (New Trade Union Initiative (NTUI 2011)). Despite several family has only one earner.
Along with economic hardship, there are several other isattempts by the central and state governments, owners have
continued to abandon tea gardens. They leave behind huge un- sues facing children. The educational infrastructure in the
paid salary/wage bills, and provident fund and gratuity claims gardens is very poor. Thus, five out of the 12 gardens studied
due mainly to the tribal workers. A few such gardens are run by had secondary schools, while only two had higher secondary
operative management committees (OMCs) as a stop-gap schools. Given the economic conditions of workers families,
arrangement. The closure of tea gardens has led to many
starvation deaths in the past (Chaudhury 2011; Chaudhury et
EPW is grateful to the external advisory group for help in putting
al 2007; Gupta 2008), and it continues to do so now (The Times
together this issue of the Review of Rural Affairs. The members of
of India 2011; Bhattacharyya 2013; Yengkhom 2013;
the group are Ramesh Chand, Surinder Jodhka, D Narasimha Reddy
Chakraborty 2013). It has been estimated by the Centre for Deand P S Vijayshankar.
velopment and Human Rights (2006: 26) that more than
types of vulnerabilities of children in particular, research tools
such as in-depth key informants interviews, participatory
rural appraisals (PRAs), focus group discussions (FGDs), and
case studies were used to collect data. A total of 36 PRAs were
conducted, involving 310 participants (schoolgirls constituted
80% of them). For the FDGs, four groups of stakeholders
fathers, mothers, elders and children were selected from
each tea garden to debate and discuss critical and sensitive
issues such as trafficking. Case studies of trafficked victims
were also collected, from victims, their family members,
neighbours, schoolteachers, friends and others. The total
number of formal informants in this study was 874.

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the distance to schools and cost of transportation appear to be

very difficult barriers for children to overcome. In addition,
the non-availability of health facilities is a prime issue among
stakeholders. For an estimated population of 70,000, there
were only two doctors in an equal number of gardens in 2011.
Only four gardens had ambulances to take seriously ill patients to hospital. There are serious complains about the quality of health services provided, including the medicines given.
Considering that tea garden workers are exposed to several
occupational diseases such as tuberculosis and that they are
far away from government hospitals, the absence of proper
medical facilities, including qualified doctors, is a matter of
major concern to workers and their family members.
It is obvious that if basic and life-supporting facilities are not
available in the tea gardens, other facilities like crches, proper
sanitation, or conservancy will be non-existent. Among others, the most contentious issue for stakeholders is the absence
of safe drinking water and electricity. Parents and children
cutting across labour lines complain about the insufficient and
poor quality of drinking water provided to them by company
managements. Similarly, electricity is available only to the
workers in a few gardens. Even those few consumers have to
pay a huge monthly bill from their wages as individual metres
are not provided.
The overall impact of such destitution is clearly visible. A
cursory visit to any tea garden reveals that along with hunger,
poverty, and unemployment, problems such as illiteracy,
malnutrition, and diseases are rampant. Evidently, the enclave economy of Jalpaiguri tea gardens provides very few
alternatives to unskilled and semi-literate boys and girls. Such
vulnerability exposes them to the well-built networks of trafficking agents working openly as placement agents in and
outside gardens. One stumbles across countless stories of brutal exploitation of migrant and missing children, including
rape and death, by unscrupulous agents and employers in faroff places. Surveys conducted in the tea gardens earlier (Talwar et al 2005; Dacholia et al 2006) reveal a very grim picture
of child and women trafficking, particularly from sick and
closed tea gardens. Parents and members of the community
are, however, yet to launch a powerful protest movement over
the issue. This has allowed traffickers to strengthen their networks across different gardens and localities, thereby making
north Bengal a major source and transit zone for human trafficking in the region (Ghosh 2012). The issue is yet to draw the
attention of the authorities despite the media frequently
reporting on it.
(a) Forced Migration and Trafficking Magnitude of Migrating and Missing Children: Economic hardship, social exclusion, the absence of life-supporting facilities, the dearth of
alternative employment opportunities, and geographical isolation have collectively created an atmosphere of dread in the
plantation industry. One direct consequence of this is the
large-scale exodus of adolescents to faraway destinations, often with the knowledge and support of their parents. Interestingly, such migration/emigration is neither illegal nor does it

result in trafficking in all cases. But it also obscures trafficking, making it difficult for anyone to provide a realistic estimate. PRA participants in this study (Table 2) said that nearly
Table 2: Children Migrating and Children Missing by Sex from 12 Tea
Gardens in 2010, Perception of PRA Participants
Places
Boys

Delhi
Kerala
Sikkim
Punjab
Bangalore
Bhutan
Siliguri
Jalgaon
Chandigarh
Pune
Ooty
Nagaland
Kalimpong
Rahimpur
Kashmir
Mumbai
Hyderabad
Kolkata
Indore
Lucknow
Saudi Arabia

307
515
230
302
275
225
108
110
57
80
45
15
20
20
45
10
30
15
20
5
10
2,444

Number of Children by Sex

Children Migrating
Girls
Total
Boys

406
31
180
100
80
42
45
40
25
0
15
45
40
40
5
35
0
10
0
3
3
1,145

713
546
410
402
355
267
153
150
82
80
60
60
60
60
50
45
30
25
20
8
13
3,589

38
10
15
12
10
18
1
0
1
3
2
1
3
0
5
1
3
1
1
1
5
131

Children Missing
Girls

Total

94
4
25
10
12
12
1
0
2
2
1
4
6
0
2
5
0
1
1
1
3
186

132
14
40
22
22
30
2
0
3
5
3
5
9
0
7
6
3
2
2
2
8
317

Source: Data collected through 36 PRAs in May-July 2011.

3,500 children had migrated from the 12 tea gardens in 2010

alone. This means that on an average nearly 300 children
leave each tea garden a year, nearly one-third of them girls, to
go to different destinations. More importantly, our findings
disclose that not all migrants return home and nearly eight to
10 children out of 100 go missing every year. It may be that a
few of the missing children have settled in their places of
work. But the stories of missing children corroborate links
between missing and trafficked children. The experience of
local non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and other
stakeholders also supports this. A recent study done in 14 tea
estates in the region shows a very high rate of human trafficking (Chakraborty 2013: 18). Hence, it may be argued that
a large number of those missing are actually trafficked.
(b) Perception of Stakeholders about the Magnitude of
Child Trafficking: Trafficking refers to the movement of men,
women, and children from one place to another through force,
coercion, or deception in situations of economic and sexual exploitation (United Nations 2000). It is very difficult to precisely
estimate the number of trafficked people, though stakeholders, particularly children, are able to name many. FGD participants felt that nine to 11 children are trafficked from each garden
every year, more than half of whom are girls (Table 3, p 61). It
may be noted that child participants in this exercise could
name many of those trafficked in 2010 because of their closeness to the victims. The perceptions of local key informants

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and PRA participants about the magnitude of missing children

also come close to this.
Field experience reveals that many of the migrants who
have returned home safely complain about money not paid
as promised or other types of exploitation such as denial of
food, clothing, and shelter,
Table 3: Number of Missing/
Trafficked Children from Tea
physical assaults, verbal abuse,
Gardens in 2010
and excessive work pressure.
Tea garden
Status Girls Boys Total
Technically speaking, these
Indong
Sick
5
6
11
cases come under trafficking as
Grassmore Sick
5
4
9
the
end purpose of such transRed Bank
Sick
7
5
12
por
tation
is exploitation. It
Chulsa
Good 5
4
9
Nayasaili
Sick
5
5
10 may, therefore, be concluded
Samsing
Sick
5
4
9 that the volume of actual trafBharnobari Sick
5
1
6 ficking is much larger than that
Dheklapara Closed 6
3
9 perceived by stakeholders. InRadharani Sick
4
3
7 terestingly, good tea gardens
Rahimabad Sick
2
1
3 such as Chulsa and Satali have
Raimatang Sick
5
4
9
witnessed a lower degree of
Satali
Good 2
5
7
child trafficking than closed or
Total
56 45 101
just
opened tea gardens.
Source: Field survey.
The state agency has few
cases of trafficking in its records. Most incidences of trafficking
remain secret, and the NCRB reported only about 180 cases of
human trafficking from West Bengal in 2012 (GOI 2012). But, at
the rate of nine children on an average trafficked every year
from each of 75-odd sick tea gardens in Jalpaiguri, the volume
from the district alone may be close to 675. This exposes the limits
of the legal framework. First, while it stresses sex trafficking,
there is no separate legal provision to prevent trafficking using
public transportation. Second, official estimates do not reflect
the real volume of trafficking. We have so far failed to put in
more effort to tackle this large and multidimensional problem.
(c) Prime Targets of Trafficking: The prime targets of trafficking are mostly adivasi children, both boys and girls, belonging mainly to the Oraon, Munda, and Santal tribes. Poverty seems to be the major reason for this. Moreover, the average size of adivasi families being five, pecuniary constraints
force parents to send their children to work from an early age.
The low level of literacy of the tribal boys and girls prevents
them from looking for alternative job options. Agents try to
lure fathers by gifting them alcohol and/or cash as an advance. A family that tacitly accepts money from an agent for
transportation of their child loses the moral right to involve
the community against any misdeed, at least initially.
Compared to the adivasis, Nepalese tea workers are numerically dominant, more articulate, and better placed economically. Many of the Nepalese also hold important positions in
the power hierarchy (called super-staff) of tea gardens. By
virtue of their relatively better position in the Dooars-Terai
region, Nepali workers are on an average socially and politically well-organised, unlike the tribals, whom the Akhil
Bharatiya Adivasi Vikash Parishad (ABAVP) has been trying to
organise. Hence, instances of trafficking Nepali children are
not that many.

(d) Lack of Protest against Trafficking: Despite large-scale

trafficking in children and women from the tea gardens of
north Bengal, not all parents are fully aware of the illegal networks that exist and the consequences of migration. This also
speaks about the quality of social life in the gardens. Our field
studies revealed several trajectories. First, most parents being
illiterate and unaware of the world outside fall for the agents
promises easily. When a child stops contacting its parents and
goes missing, the local agent makes up different stories to
fool them again. Often, it is argued that the boy/girl is not calling
because he or she does not want to return. Second, parents do
not share their experiences in public, particularly if a daughter
who has been exploited returns. There are historical, social
and economic reasons for this. Scholars (Xaxa 2004; Roy
2009b) have found patriarchal domination and subjugation
of tribal women in the tea gardens of Jalpaiguri. The social
exclusion of tribals from their surroundings also makes them
afraid of the police and members of the dominant community.
If an agent happens to be a member of the dominant community, the tribals fear a backlash. So, protest movements
against trafficking have not gained strength in the gardens.
Table 4: Reasons for Parents Not Protesting against Trafficking,
Perception of Focus Group Discussion Participants
Responses

Father

Elder

Children

Reason 1 Lack of
awareness
Reason 2 Illiteracy

Mother

Lack of
awareness
Illiteracy

Illiteracy

Illiteracy

Reason 3 Lack of
social support
Reason 4 Any other*
Reason 5 Lack of police
support

Lack of
social support
Any other*
Lack of police
support

Lack of
awareness
Lack of
social support
Any other*
Lack of police
support

Lack of
awareness
Lack of
social support
Any other*
Lack of police
support

* Any other includes poverty, alcoholism, fear of agents, a casual attitude, and parents not
sharing their problems.
Source: Field study, July 2011.

Table 5: Reasons for Parents Not

Protesting against Trafficking,
Perception of Local Key Informants
Rank

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11

Reasons

Ignorance
Poverty
No social support
Alcoholism
Fear of police
Demanding parents
Fear of agent
Domestic violence
Advance taken
Less concerned
Losing prestige

Total Responses

38
35
20
19
17
10
9
4
4
2
1

Source: Data collected through interviews,

May-July 2011.

FGD participants and local key informants attempted to identify the

reasons for the lack of protests against trafficking
(Tables 4 and 5). Along
with illiteracy, lack of social and police support
prevented parents from
lodging complains, according to them. Additional reasons such as alcoholism, fear of powerful
agents, and domestic violence were also cited.

(e) Trafficking Routes and Modus Operandi: North Bengals

geographical location aids cross-border trafficking and the
city of Siliguri is an important transit point for the northeast. The remote and secluded tea gardens in Jalpaiguri provide ample scope to agents, both to employ new recruits and
to transport them without any public scrutiny or protest.

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everywhere and this has led to the migration of a large number

of people in search of jobs. Traffickers have taken advantage of
this to lure poor people into trouble by promising jobs.
The data in Tables 6 and 7 show that apart from poverty and
unemployment, the promise of better jobs and a comfortable
life elsewhere opens the gate to trafficking in children and
women. When a garden is
Table 7: Causes of Trafficking, Views of
Local Key Informants
declared sick, there is a
Rank
Reasons
Total
for Trafficking
Responses mass exodus of job seekers. In closed gardens, the
1
Poverty
155
situation is even worse. It
2
Unemployment
126
is in such conditions that
3
Poor wages
102
agents offer young chil4
Large family
84
5
Lack of awareness
83
dren (and women) lucra6
Illiteracy
70
tive jobs outside. It is very
7
Dream of better life outside
59
difficult for the children
8
Broken family
31
or their parents to resist
9
Closed/sick garden
22
the temptation for long, as
10 Alcoholism
20
the alternative is starva11
False promises
15
tion. Though risky, chil12 Drop-out
13
dren often consider life
13 Earn more money
5
outside the garden to be
14 Demanding parents
4
better than that at home.
14
Peer-group influence
4
Hence, even known sto15 Domestic violence
3
16 No action/protest
2
ries of exploitation, in17 Lack of facilities
1
cluding prostitution, do
17 Any other
1
not deter them from venSource: Data collected through interviews,
turing out. The research
May-July 2011.
team gathered the names
of some girls who openly lead a life of luxury after joining the
flesh trade. In spite of so many instances of children going
missing or even dying while doing jobs outside, the flow of
labour from the gardens does not stop.
Often children belonging to large and broken families are
influenced by their friends and leave the region on their own. A
large family also means more responsibility on parents to meet
the different needs of children belonging to different age
groups. Parents of large families encourage their older sons or
(f) Causes and Consequences of Trafficking: The major daughters to earn something. In the case of broken families,
reasons for child trafficking are poverty and unemployment there is huge pressure to seek any type of employment. Parents
(Tables 6 and 7). These are directly related to the low wage taking cash advances from agents fail to protest when their
structure of tea garden workers and not giving them the children go missing because they did not consult their panchafacilities they are entitled to. Hence, the vulnerabilities of yats or trade unions before sending their children away.
children living in tea gardens are directly linked to the fragThe social exclusion of parents also promotes trafficking.
ile economy of the industry, especially in recent times. It may Poor, illiterate, and maybe alcoholic parents find it difficult to
be noted that the demand for cheap labour has recently risen handle agents when they approach them with incentives and
wonderful dreams. In a few
Table 6: Major Causes of Trafficking, Opinion of Focus Groups
cases, domestic violence by alReasons
Mother
Father
Elder
Children
coholic fathers contributes to
1
Poverty
Unemployment
Poverty
Poverty
young children leaving home.
2
Unemployment
Poverty
Unemployment
Unemployment
A major bottleneck in pre3
Lack of awareness
Lack of awareness
Lack of awareness
Lack of awareness
4
Promise of better job/
Promise of better job/
Promise of better job/
Promise of better job/
venting trafficking is the lack
comfortable life elsewhere comfortable life elsewhere comfortable life elsewhere comfortable life elsewhere
of social support, which leads
5
Broken family
Broken family
Broken family
Broken family
to parents suppressing facts.
6
Other reasons
Other reasons
Dowry/domestic violence Dowry/domestic violence
This allows agents a free hand
7
Dowry/domestic violence Dowry/domestic violence Other reasons
Other reasons
in the post-trafficking period.
Source: 48 FGDs conducted in May-July 2011.

Child trafficking from tea gardens takes place under the

guise of providing jobs in distant locations. Interestingly, traditional modes such as child marriages, fake marriages,
abductions, or kidnappings are now hardly used to traffic
females. This is because the adivasis of the tea gardens do
not marry their daughters early, and marriage, to a large extent, depends on the choices of adult men and women. This is
in sharp contrast to other West Bengal districts such as
Malda, where child marriage is the principal mode of trafficking (Ghosh 2011a, 2011b).
Young boys and girls are taken from tea gardens via trains
and buses to places such as Delhi, Haryana, Punjab, Bangalore, Kerala, Kashmir, Bhutan, and Sikkim for jobs. The route
depends on the destination. Agents recruiting children take
care of their tickets and journey from the gardens. These
placement agents pay cash incentives to their sub-agents for
providing them with information and links. Such incentives
depend on the quality of the recruit (good-looking teenage
girl, for instance) and the number of years (one to three years)
for which the new recruit agrees to work in a house (for girls)
or in a shop/factory/restaurant (for boys). These sub-agents
take new recruits to the nearest bus or railway station and
hand them over to a new agent. After reaching their destination, they are again handed over to a new person for either
placement or redistribution.
In Delhi, a new recruit is usually kept in a placement office for one or two days before he or she is assigned to an
employer. Till such placement, boys and girls face little problems and are unable to imagine the implications of transportation. Some recruits sometimes find a good employer. Stories of sexual exploitation of girls and their forced confinement mostly begin during the first placement. Some of the
stories point to a nexus between placement agents and employers who recruit teenage tribal girls for sexual exploitation only. In the case of recruits to Bhutan or Sikkim, passports are forcefully confiscated by the employer to prevent
the children from leaving.

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Parents bring such issues to the notice of their neighbours

and others only when they become very suspicious about
what has happened to their children. It takes many months,
if not years, to come to such a realisation. By that time, vital
clues are lost. The local agent, if still available, denies all
charges or shifts responsibility to somebody else. Delays in
tracing victims add to their misery. There are many instances
of girls returning pregnant or with AIDS, but parents think it
better to keep such matters secret. Even those who return
safely from places of work with some money hesitate to disclose what their experiences were. As a consequence, those
recruited afresh are not aware of the dangers of work outside
the gardens.
Agents are often considered powerful in their locality because they have resources and links to persons in power. People are therefore afraid of even naming agents. In some instances, agents have even married garden girls to develop a
familiarity with local people. Lack of authentic information
about the movement of agents as well as formal complaints
against them ensure that they stay free of legal hassles. Their
expanding powers and networks are certainly a major factor
in the mass trafficking from tea gardens.
The police follow a bureaucratic approach and there are
complaints about them being partial when handling cases. Illiterate parents often do not have the appropriate documents
required for a proper police investigation. The tendency to file
a missing diary instead of a case under the ITPA makes complaints inherently weak. In Tables 6 and 7, factors such as lack
of police support and fear of police are listed as reasons for
parents not protesting against trafficking. The gap between
the adivasis and the administrators, including the police,
could have been reduced to some extent by stakeholders such
as trade unions, political parties, elected representatives,
and NGOs. But, except for some sporadic efforts in recent
times, there is hardly any monitoring of illegal activities
within gardens.
Some Case Studies

This research has been able to document nearly 100 cases of

trafficking in children and women from various tea gardens.
They were collected from sources such as the victims, their
relatives, neighbours, health workers, PRA and FGD participants, and others. The case histories reveal the intricate nuances of the process of trafficking and bring out similarities as
well as differences. They also tell about the consequences of
trafficking. The names and details of the victims have been
changed to protect them from further harassment.
Samita (16) of Bharnobari tea garden belongs to a poor family and the familys condition deteriorated when the garden
closed during 2005-08. With her parents permission, she went
to Delhi with the help of a friend or suspected agent, Johani,
in December 2010. After reaching Delhi, she called her parents. But in a month, she was shifted to Aligarh (Jamuna
Nagar) in Uttar Pradesh. One day, Samita made a desperate
call to her parents from Aligarh and asked them to rescue her
immediately. Like many other victims of trafficking, she had

been shifted to an unknown destination in Aligarh. She could

not share her problems over the phone from a public booth,
but insisted that she was being tortured. Her parents went to
Johanis house. Johani said that she took Samita to a known
placement office in Sakharpur in Delhi and had not talked to
her after that. She said she knew nothing about Samitas new
placement in Aligarh. Johanis parents and relatives put forward a strong case to prove that she could not be held responsible for Samitas problems. Samitas parents did not know
what to do next. No one came forward to suggest alternative
ways to search for the girl and the parents did not have the
courage to go to the police and face an interrogation. They are
still pursuing Johani to rescue Samita. Till the end our stay
there, Samita was untraceable. It appeared that she had probably been sold to a sex racket and Johani was not taking the
risk of saying more than what she should.
Shruti (16) used to live with her family in Dheklapara tea
garden. When it was closed, her father became a daily labourer
doing odd jobs. But he was alcoholic and had to feed five children and his wife. Taking advantage of this, Roshna, a suspected agent, fooled the family by promising a good job for
Shruti in Delhi. Roshna lived in the same garden and was a
sub-agent for a person called Jeetender in Delhi. Roshna took
Shruti along with her on 17 November 2010. Since then, there
has been no trace of her. When Shrutis parents approached
Roshna, she gave them a phone number that did not work. Roshna says she is unable to trace Shruti as she does not know
Jeetenders address. The local people say that Roshna gets a
commission of Rs 2,000 for working as a sub-agent and that
she continues to do so. There has been no local protest or any
effort to file a case, rescue the victim, nab the culprits, or break
the trafficking chain. Shrutis uneducated and poor family
members are afraid of raising their voice. They only hope that
she will come back one day.
Tanu (17) is from the Newlands tea garden, Kumar Gram.
Due to poverty and her fathers unemployment, she decided to
go to Delhi when Sumitra from the same garden promised her
an excellent job in a bungalow. On 25 October 2009, both
boarded a bus to go to Alipurduar Junction to catch a train to
Delhi. During the first few months, Tanu did not face any trouble. She had a room to stay in the bungalow and the food was
okay. But gradually her employer began asking her to accompany him to his garden house. Tanu did not like this as she had
to satisfy the physical needs of her employer there. She brought

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REVIEW OF RURAL AFFAIRS

this to the notice of her landlady, who provided her protection

for some days. But the landladys eldest son soon began fondling her. If she protested, he turned violent. Tanu thought of
running away, but she had no money because her wages had
not been paid. One day, a shopkeeper helped her call her
father. He lodged a first information report (FIR) against the
bungalow owner in Kumar Gram police station. The subinspector contacted the Delhi police and had Tanu rescued
from the bungalow on 6 June 2011. But the network that took
her to Delhi and the persons who exploited her were not arrested. Tanu came back empty-handed, with many terrible
memories and a decision not to venture out again.
Mary (17) was the eldest daughter of a family in Redbank tea
garden. She had four brothers and sisters. Her mother died a
few years ago after a prolonged illness. The family had to face
adversity when the garden closed in March 2003 and Marys
father became unemployed. There was no other alternative
but for Mary to seek employment. Mary first went to Mumbai
with a friend, but could not find any suitable job there. After
returning, she contacted suspected agent Pyare and his wife to
go to Delhi. She went to Delhi with Pyares wife in 2004. Eight
other girls accompanied them in reserved seats. This suggests
that the journey was well-planned. After reaching New Delhi,
Pyares wife brought them to a placement office. At first, Mary
was appointed to a house as a maid, but she left when she did
not get what she expected. She was shifted to a posh bungalow

in another locality. But trouble began when the owner of the

bungalow, Rahul, started sexually harassing her. He then
raped her. Mary went to the placement office and complained
about Rahul to an aunty there. The lady refused to help and
claimed she was busy with other work. Mary then went to the
main agent in the office and told him of her plight. They all
behaved very casually as if nothing serious had happened and
asked her to remain calm. When the discussion heated up, the
agents agreed to send her back because keeping her would
mean additional problems for them. On returning to the garden, Mary could not reveal what had happened to her. She discovered she was pregnant and took some herbal medicines to
get rid of it. But it did not work and she gave birth to a girl
child. Now, she lives with her parent and an eight-year-old
child. Neither Rahul nor the placement agent has ever enquired about her condition and those around her cannot do
much to resolve the issue.
Soma Oran (28) of Chalsa tea garden returned from Delhi
after she had remained untraceable for 12 years. She had gone
to work as a domestic help and came back with AIDS. She died
very soon after coming back to the garden.
Reshma (18) lost her father in 2007. Her mother works in
Raimatang tea garden. Her elder brother does not care about
them and works in another garden. Reshma was introduced
to a smart boy called Binod, a Muslim boy from Bihar. Binod
was a friend of Rabi, a Nepali youth in the same garden, in

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65
REVIEW OF RURAL AFFAIRS

whose house he had been staying for about a month. Binod

was an extrovert, who could easily mix with others and tell
tall tales about himself. He was also very extravagant. He
began interacting with Reshma despite her mothers repeated
warnings. One day, when the mother returned from work,
Reshma was not at home. She came to know that she had fled
with Binod. Later, a panchayat meeting was held and Rabi
pleaded ignorance about the whole issue. Being a Nepali,
Rabi got the support of the Nepalese at the meeting, and an
FIR was lodged against Binod in the Kalchini police station.
But there has been no trace of Reshma and Binod. Neighbours suspect that Binod was a member of a sex trafficking
gang and that he bribed Rabi to manage his elopement
drama. Ethnic antagonism between the adivasis and
Nepalese in the tea gardens has only helped internal and external agents.
Conclusions
This study has highlighted the marginalisation of workers and
vulnerability of women and children following the sickness
and closure of tea gardens in Jalpaiguri district of West Bengal
in the recent past. As market globalism has contributed to the
perceptible growth of structural inequalities in different segments of Indian society, the depressing consequences of these
changes can be observed in all sectors of the Indian economy.
In the case of the tea gardens in Jalpaiguri, the combined effect of economic and social vulnerabilities has led to trafficking in children and women in large numbers. The modus operandi of the operation points to how vulnerable children and
adult women in the region are. Poor adivasi boys and girls are

Note
1

The total number of ITPA cases went down

from 2,659 in 2008 to 2,563 in 2012. Compared
to this, cases under section 366 A of the IPC
(procuration of minor girl) increased from 224
to 809 and those under section 372 (selling of
girl for prostitution) increased from 49 to 108
during this period (GoI 2012).

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