A three-day workshop on above subject was held during 2-4 June 04 at Nishamukti Kendra of Project Swarajya at Kendrapada. This programme was organised jointly by ANIRBANA and PROJECT SWARAJYA. Mr. Pravat Ku Singh, Secretary of "ANIRBANA" welcomed the guests and participants. After giving the introduction of the guests he proposed to other participants for self-introduction of themselves. He also presented the objectives of the said prgramme. The programme started at 11 AM and continued upto 5 PM on the same day.
FIRST DAY
The 1st session was monitored by Mr.Pravat Ku. Singh.
The resource persons of the 1st day were Ms. Abanti Behera Social Activist and Member Marshaghai Panchayat Samiti, Ms Tamasa Patra Advocate, Ms Snehanjali Pattanaik Programme Officer Collectorate Kendrapada and Mr. Prafulla Naik, a Social Worker among others.
On the request of Mr Singh the 2nd session was facilitated by Ms. Abanti Behera. She asked the participants to share their experiences on women and child trafficking as occurring in the interior areas of the district where they hailed from.
Ms Minakshi Das senior staff of GARRVO described some case studies of trafficking. She also spoke about her own childhood life and how her relatives were biased against her study. Only her father encouraged her for higher study so that she could reach the level where she was at present.
Mr.Ananta Ku. Naik of GUCC said, a number of adolescent girls of the age of 13-20 years used to indulge in premature romantic affairs with some persons of their area and then they were cajoled by them to leave the family and home. Ultimately the parents lost their daughters. So in such cases parents should guide their children properly and responsibly.
Ms Rebati Mishra of Jana Seva Parishada told that her organization was running a short stay home in Kendrapada district. She thus gathered some experiences from her clients who were victims of trafficking. She presented some case studies. The entire discussion was compiled by the facilitator.
In the 3rd session Ms Tamasa Patra presented some laws concerning trafficking. She told, if a parent is giving marriage of her minor daughter, any body can lodge an FIR against the parent. Presenting the incident of Sex Racket that recently took place in Kendrapada Town, she told that the accused was arrested with the charge of PITA-2000 on the basis of the evidences supplied. So collection of evidences is most important in nabbing the culprit.
Ms Snehanjali Pattanaik said, the factors behind the trafficking are poverty, illiteracy and unemployment and the like. As to how could the trafficking be prevented, she informed about some govt schemes by which the women and children in distress could be rehabilitated. But here the role of NGOs becomes very important. They should facilitate to implement the schemes in favour of the beneficiaries proper. In this way the trafficked victims or unemployed girls who are the potential victims could avail the opportunity of self-employment. This session was facilitated by Mr. Prafulla Naik and it lasted upto 4 PM.
SECOND DAY
On the 2nd day the morning session started at 10 AM. It was facilitated by Ms Dolli Dash Secretary Project Swarajya. The resource persons were Mr. Raghu Nandan Padhi, ADM Kendrapada, Ms Abanti Behera and Ms Ruksana Khan among others. To start with, the 1st day's discussions were recaptured for the participants.
Then Ms.Ruksana Khan Project Director, Project Swarajya Cuttack presented a paper on the basics of trafficking. This paper dealt with what is trafficking, forms of trafficking, how they happen, by whom they happen, who are the victims, key persons involved in trafficking, what precaution to be taken up and the like. A brief but exhaustive account of information was presented in that paper by Ms.Khan.
Then group exercise was held on understanding the forms of trafficking. 4 groups were formed out of the total participants. The output from the groups focused on issues like false marriage, fake assurances for marriage and job placement, forced marriage of the daughters with persons against the will of the girl, forcing the girls for sex work and other means of force and deception.
Mr. Padhi said, the state of grinding poverty of the parents is the main factor responsible for trafficking. Just as the proverb 'a starving man knows no sin', a starving family can go to any extent for their bare survival. So the NGOs should come forward with anti- poverty packages. Many activities can be done for poor unemployed people. Now the schemes of the govt are inadequate to meet the growing needs of the people. In this situation the role of SHGs is very important. The SHG groups can take help from the NGOs like Project Swarajya. He suggested for instance, one woman could grow a kitchen vegetable namely Kunduri plant in her kitchen garden and she can produce 3-4 kgs every day that could fetch about Rs20/-. So the NGOs should motivate the rural poor women to undertake small, small enterprises like this. The entire discussion was summed up by the facilitator. Then the lunch break was declared. And the ADM was requested to remain present in the post-lunch session for an interface with the participants.
In the afternoon session, the interface of the ADM with the participants was held. This session was facilitated by Mr. Prafulla Naik. In response to Mr. Padhi's earlier talk on the kitchen garden, one member of Sibasena Mahila Samiti asked a question, why the govt was not taking interest to protect farmers from the menace of wild monkeys in Kendrapada area?. As per the wild animal protection act the govt could not do anything to kill the monkeys. Then how do we do the kitchen garden?, asked the said participant. To this the ADM remained silent. Then one of the members of Jagriti Mahila Samiti told that they have been producing Badi, Pampad etc. But those couldn't be marketed. The ADM said, one should visit the DRDA and he would personally discuss the matter with the PD DRDA. Another member asked, Municipality staffs told us to build up SHG Groups in our ward. The SHGs have been formed for last one year. Money has been deposited in Bank. But when we went for loan they denied to grant us the same. The ADM told that he would look into the matter. Thus many questions were asked by the participants representing various regions of the district.
Ms Abanti Behera spoke how to build up networking with the NGOs, SHGs, PRIs, Police and Government Departments. If you successfully do the lobbying with the government then you can avail the facilities of government, she advised.. So we have to follow some strategy to work with all these agencies. We have to meet and visit them regularly. And that would be possible on the part of the dedicated social workers only.
The discussion of the entire day was compiled by the facilitator. The programme was over by 5 PM for that day.
THIRD DAY
On the 3rd day the programme started at 10 AM. This was facilitated By Mr. Singh. Last 2 days' presentations, discussions and exercises were recaptured for the benefit of the participants. Mr Prafulla Naik asked, what did the participants learn from this programme? Each and every participants spoke about their learning experience and gave their respective feedback on the programme. They opined that so little time was not adequate for a serious topic like trafficking. They felt that something more could have been achieved. In future more time should be allotted for a programme like this. Mr. Singh said, we would approach the Secretary of Project Swarajya to hold another workshop of the kind in future.
The programme was over at 1 PM. The vote of thanks was given by Mr. Saroj Ku Prusty of ANIRBANA to all the guesta and participants.