- 2 days ago
Pallabi Ghosh Interview : ఆధునిక ప్రపంచపు అమానుష క్రీడ "బాలికల అదృశ్యం". ఇది మహా మాయగాళ్ల అరాచకపర్వం. బాలికలను బానిసలుగా మార్చే మానవ మృగాల దుర్మార్గం. కాలనాగుల విషవలయాన్ని ఛేదించేందుకు ప్రాణాలకు తెగించి పోరాడుతున్న ధీరవనితలు ఎందరో. అలాంటి వారిలో ముందుంటారు పల్లబి ఘోష్. బాలికలను విముక్తుల్ని చేయడంతో సరిపెట్టడం లేదు. తోడూనీడగా ఉంటున్నారు. జీవితానికి కొత్తదారి చూపుతున్నారు. అసోం రాష్ట్రం హోజోయ్ జిల్లా లుమ్దింగ్ ఈశాన్య రైల్వే ప్రధాన కేంద్రం. అక్కడే పుట్టి పెరిగారు పల్లబి ఘోష్. చిన్న వయసులో ఓ యువతి అదృశ్యం పల్లబి మనసుపై చెరగని ముద్ర వేసింది. బాలికలు, యువతుల అదృశ్యంపై వచ్చే మీడియా కథనాలు కదిలించాయి. దిల్లీలో గ్రాడ్యుయేషన్, చెన్నైలో పోస్టు గ్రాడ్యుయేషన్ పూర్తిచేశారు. బాలికలు, యువతుల అదృశ్యాలన్నీ అపహరణలే అన్నది పల్లబి ప్రగాఢ విశ్వాసం. ఈ దురాగతాలకు పోరాటమే ఏకైక మార్గమనే నిర్ణయానికొచ్చారు. 2020 సంవత్సరంలో "ఇంపాక్ట్ అండ్ డైలాగ్ ఫౌండేషన్" స్థాపించారు.ఐదేళ్ల పోరాటంలో ఆటుపోట్లను తట్టుకుని నిలబడ్డారు. అపహరణ ముఠాల బెదిరింపులను లెక్కచేయలేదు. గుండెల నిండా బలమైన కాంక్షతో ఆశయ సాఫల్యానికి అలుపెరగని కృషి చేస్తున్నారు. ఆమె సేవలను గుర్తించిన ఐఐఎం - లఖనవూ, 2025 ఎల్పీఎస్ - ఐఐఎం అవార్డుతో సత్కరించింది. పల్లబి ఘోష్‌ను ' రామోజీ ఎక్సలెన్స్‌' అవార్డుతో రామోజీ గ్రూప్‌ సత్కరించింది.
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NewsTranscript
00:01Hello and welcome to ETV Bharat. My name is Nisar Dharma.
00:04Today we have with us a very special guest, a human trafficking activist
00:08and the founder of Impact and Dialogue Foundation
00:10who is now also a recipient of Ramoji Award of Excellence,
00:15Ms. Pallavi Ghosh. Welcome Pallavi and congratulations.
00:19Thank you so much.
00:20Pallavi, I was just going through the field of work that you have.
00:23It is a very unique field that you have chosen and at the same time
00:26it is something that is, you know, a little fraught with dangers.
00:29So, beginning your journey as a human trafficking activist
00:33at the age of 12, I mean, how did you take this decision?
00:39It is not like I decided to be an activist at the age of 12.
00:42I saw an incident that sowed a seed inside me.
00:47So, after that, multiple incidents happened one after another.
00:51So, it was a missing child who went missing from somewhere in West Bengal
00:54and the father was searching for this child
00:58and he kept coming to me all the time.
01:00I am basically a Bengali, but I am from Assam.
01:03So, he was continuously coming to me and telling me and asking me where his child was.
01:07My only query was like, a girl goes missing from a village
01:12which has just one entry and exit and how is it that nobody knows about it?
01:16So, from 12 till the age of 19, multiple incidents happened one after another
01:22and those were incidents that happened organically.
01:25Nothing was planned.
01:26And finally, I got to know on my first year of graduation
01:30that one of the reasons of missing children is trafficking.
01:34And that's when I decided that I want to work in trafficking
01:36and then after that, one after another incidents happened.
01:39I joined an organization.
01:40I started working in trafficking.
01:42So, yeah, so that's how it is.
01:44So, you were primarily based in Bengal
01:46or you moved and, you know, started working in other states as well?
01:49So, I was born in Assam.
01:52I did my studies in Delhi,
01:54but I got introduced to this whole thing of trafficking in Haryana and Rajasthan.
01:59And then I started working.
02:00So, I was working in destinations.
02:01So, in trafficking, there is source, transit and destinations.
02:04So, I started working in Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan and all.
02:07But finally, I figured it out as a young activist
02:09that everyone who was working in trafficking
02:11were working only in destinations.
02:13So, if you want to end the crime,
02:16then you have to go to the source from where it originates.
02:18So, that's when I decided that, you know,
02:20I should go to the source.
02:22So, that's how I started working in West Bengal,
02:24Orissa, Andhra Pradesh.
02:26The first girl I rescued was from Guntur.
02:28So, and then that's how I went to Northeast.
02:31You have around 10,000 survivors whom you have rescued
02:34and impacted 75,000 women and girls.
02:37It is a very strong, emotionally strong atmosphere it would be.
02:41So, how do you keep up with it?
02:42And, you know, how do you maintain the temper
02:44and ensure that, you know, you keep on going and doing this work?
02:47So, to be very honest, you have to work with police.
02:50So, I get an information
02:52and then I have to go to the local police station.
02:54I have to convince them
02:55and then with them only I can go for rescue
02:57because we are not authorized,
02:59because we are not law enforcement.
03:00So, there are times I remember that, you know,
03:04it's mentally very traumatizing and exhausting.
03:07But, like, I remember my first rescue,
03:10the girl I had rescued.
03:11So, I remember her mother traveling like 10 hours
03:15with a watermelon
03:16because she did not have anything to give me.
03:18And then, after her deposition in front of the court,
03:23she told me something.
03:24She was elder to me.
03:25I was younger to her.
03:27But the statement that she told
03:29has stayed with me till now.
03:30She told, in front of the magistrate,
03:33you know, my mother gave me birth,
03:35but she is the mother who saved me.
03:37So, I think, I don't know,
03:39like, maybe because at a very early age,
03:41I saw all this.
03:42So, this, and incidents like this has happened.
03:45There are people, those who don't have anything.
03:48But, you know, they travel all the way
03:49getting maybe a jaggery for me.
03:51Or maybe, there is this girl
03:54who sends me cards in New Year
03:56with the flowers from a garden.
03:59So, I think this, all these things,
04:02money somewhere can't buy.
04:04And maybe because I was exposed to this
04:05at a very young age,
04:07so that is the reason that emotional,
04:09sentimental thing always has been stayed.
04:10So, that's how I keep it up.
04:12I was also going through the work that you have.
04:15You talk about three Ps,
04:16prevention, protection, and prosecution.
04:18And they seem to be central to your mission.
04:20You know, your work revolves around them.
04:23So, which of these, in your experience,
04:25you know, it's the toughest one to achieve?
04:27And why?
04:28The toughest is prosecution.
04:30Because you can say,
04:32like, thousands have rescued.
04:33But there has been only seven convictions.
04:36The problem is that starting,
04:40everybody thinks that rescue is easy.
04:43But the main struggle starts post-rescue.
04:46What happens, I'll tell you about
04:47this girl only had rescued from Guntur.
04:49So, it was such a strong case.
04:50And we were convinced that there will be conviction.
04:54But what happened, because of Indian judiciary,
04:56unfortunately, the case continued for 10 years.
04:59And after a point of time,
05:00the victims turned hostile.
05:02So, everybody was like,
05:03why the victims turned hostile?
05:04Now, tell me something.
05:05Some crime happened with me 10 years back.
05:09Every year, I have been called to the court.
05:11And I have been asked the same thing.
05:13So, I am reliving the trauma again and again and again.
05:16At some point, they are like,
05:17whatever happened, happened.
05:19I want to let go of it.
05:21So, that's the problem.
05:22And then, this is one of the main reasons,
05:24you know, prosecution is tough.
05:26But if you talk about prevention,
05:28prevention is equally tough.
05:29Because I work in Northeast now.
05:31So, where,
05:32when you don't have two square meals a day,
05:34a lot of people tell me
05:35that they come by their own choice.
05:39It's very easy to say for somebody
05:40who is staying in Bangalore, Delhi or Hyderabad,
05:42because you don't have to worry about your second meal.
05:45The place where I work,
05:46you will not believe,
05:47people literally boil leaves.
05:50And the water they get from there,
05:52with that, they eat rice.
05:53When there is so much of poverty,
05:55the moment you say that,
05:56come, let's go to Bangalore or Delhi,
05:58you will have a better life.
06:00People will go.
06:01And that's how this trafficking thing has started,
06:04you know,
06:04increasing so much.
06:06Could you talk to us about one of the rescue operations
06:11or a survivor story that stayed with you?
06:14There are hundreds of stories,
06:15but this particular story,
06:16because this is the youngest child I had rescued.
06:17It was a four-month-old baby.
06:19And this was a case of 2013,
06:22I remember.
06:23So, I went as a decoy with crime branch.
06:26So, this child was to be sold in Middle East.
06:30And, of course,
06:31my appearance doesn't look like,
06:33you know,
06:33someone from the Middle East.
06:34So, I went as the maidservant
06:37of the person who's going.
06:40And we had like 10 lakh counterfeit currencies.
06:43And I went as a decoy
06:44and I rescued the child.
06:46It was a four-month child.
06:47And so,
06:49there was a big trafficking racket
06:51going in the NCR,
06:53Delhi NCR.
06:54And there was this compounder
06:56who had,
06:58you know,
06:59told everybody that he's a doctor.
07:01He and the midwife,
07:03as nurse,
07:03they were running this business.
07:04That child stayed with me for two days.
07:06And then,
07:07this was 2013.
07:08Till now,
07:09I'm going for witness in this case.
07:12Till now,
07:13the child is now 12 years old.
07:15A family has adopted her.
07:17Sad part is that,
07:18the child's mother had trafficked her.
07:20But when I heard the story of the mother,
07:22in one way,
07:23I also realized that
07:24she was also a victim of the system.
07:26Because the father used to,
07:28you know,
07:29sexually exploit the mother every day.
07:31The mother,
07:31this was the third child
07:32that the mother was selling.
07:33So,
07:33the mother told that
07:35she was selling this child
07:36because she did not want to see
07:37what will happen to the child.
07:38So,
07:39this case remained with me.
07:40This has actually motivated me a lot.
07:42And then,
07:42there are other survivors also.
07:44There are multiple other stories also
07:45that has remained with me.
07:46There is another woman I had rescued from,
07:48who was 56-year-old woman.
07:50She was rescued from Haryana.
07:52It was such a sad story
07:53because
07:53she was going to be married to a young man
07:57who was younger than her son.
07:59Because she looked short.
08:00And that guy was intellectually disabled.
08:04The entire village had bought her
08:06by selling a cow and a land.
08:07And I rescued that woman.
08:08She was a 56-year-old lady.
08:10But she looked like,
08:10you know,
08:11people thought that.
08:12So,
08:12these two cases,
08:13I can recollect now.
08:14There are hundreds of stories like this.
08:15We understand that
08:18traffic is not something new.
08:19It has been happening
08:20several decades ago.
08:22We could say
08:22it happened in the past century as well.
08:25But now,
08:25with the age of internet and technology,
08:28do you think it has impacted
08:29trafficking in what ways?
08:30Yeah,
08:31absolutely.
08:32You will not believe it.
08:33Earlier,
08:33it was so easy for us
08:34to find the traffickers.
08:36Now,
08:37it is impossible.
08:38It has kind of become impossible
08:39because
08:39with
08:40Aadhaar card,
08:42with one Aadhaar card,
08:44you can get
08:45eight to ten SIM.
08:45SIM cards.
08:47Like,
08:47if you have one ID card,
08:48you can,
08:48after making one call,
08:50they just,
08:50you know,
08:51what you call,
08:51they break the SIM
08:52and they throw away.
08:53So,
08:53with internet,
08:54it has become more risky
08:55and also with dark web.
08:57Because dark web,
08:58you can,
08:58and then with satellite system,
08:59like for example,
09:00maybe you are in Hyderabad,
09:01but you are showing
09:02that you are somewhere in Afghanistan
09:03or maybe you are somewhere
09:04in Middle East.
09:05Two years back,
09:06no?
09:062024,
09:07January,
09:08I get a call
09:09from my very good friend
09:10in US
09:10that her
09:12friend's,
09:14sister's daughter
09:14was missing.
09:15from somewhere
09:16in East India.
09:17I cannot disclose
09:18the details of the case.
09:19And the child's parents
09:21were civil servants.
09:22I just told them,
09:23start scouting
09:24her social media.
09:25They started scouting
09:26her social media.
09:26They were not able
09:27to find anything.
09:28But after doing
09:30a lot of hunting,
09:31because there was
09:31a lot of pressure
09:32from the government,
09:33civil service servants,
09:34they found that the girl
09:35was chatting
09:35with somebody in Discord.
09:37And then,
09:38we have never done
09:39a rescue like this.
09:40We literally were,
09:41you know,
09:42opening people's faces
09:43from blankets.
09:43And then,
09:44we rescued the girl.
09:45After the girl
09:45was rescued,
09:46when she was asked,
09:47like,
09:47what is the thing
09:48that you are missing?
09:48Because generally,
09:49trafficking,
09:49poverty,
09:50she told something
09:51which remained with me.
09:52She was like,
09:53my parents are very rich,
09:54but my parents
09:54don't give me time.
09:55Parents think that,
09:56you know,
09:56putting their children
09:57in IB schools
09:58and giving everything.
10:00That is the reason
10:01now trafficking
10:02has increased
10:03to the,
10:04you know,
10:05elite society also.
10:06Recently,
10:06somebody told me
10:07that she was
10:08allowing her child
10:10play with all these games.
10:12And then,
10:12suddenly,
10:12somebody told her
10:13that child's photo
10:15was in a porn channel.
10:17And then,
10:18they figured it out,
10:18the child was playing
10:19with all those phones
10:20and with that camera,
10:21the child's photo
10:23was clicked.
10:23So,
10:24with internet,
10:25it has become much more
10:26and there is no limit.
10:27You can't control
10:28because all your data
10:29is out.
10:30How do you make sure
10:31that the training part,
10:33you know,
10:33in Impact and Dialogue
10:35Foundation,
10:35how do you provide
10:36skill training
10:36and counselling?
10:37How does your training
10:39impact it,
10:40the overall work?
10:40So,
10:41what we do is that,
10:42I have realized one thing
10:43that, you know,
10:43prevention is better than cure.
10:45What we do,
10:46we train the girls.
10:48So,
10:48we have three categories
10:49of girls.
10:50One is girls,
10:52those who don't want
10:53to do the conventional education.
10:54So,
10:55we give them
10:55one year of training
10:56and then,
10:57we send them back
10:59to the village
10:59where they can,
11:00like,
11:00I am trafficked,
11:02now,
11:02this is my experience,
11:04now,
11:05my village will know
11:06that no more girls
11:06get trafficked.
11:07This is one category
11:08of girls.
11:08Second category of girls
11:10is like,
11:10we have memorandum
11:11of understanding
11:12with different organizations
11:13who teach the girls,
11:15like,
11:16maybe they want
11:16to do something like
11:17this certification course.
11:19And third is the category
11:20of girls who want
11:20to do conventional education
11:21because everybody
11:22say like,
11:23sabko padao,
11:23but you know,
11:24honestly speaking,
11:24not everybody wants
11:25to study.
11:26So,
11:26these are the three
11:27categoricals
11:27and what we do,
11:28we don't go to the village.
11:29Like,
11:30our objective,
11:31so that is the primary reason
11:32we don't want to open
11:34a branch of the organization
11:35everywhere.
11:36The community should be,
11:37you know,
11:38empowered enough.
11:39So,
11:39that's the reason
11:39our focus is on
11:41empowering the community
11:42and it has helped us a lot.
11:43What we do is that
11:44we take one didi,
11:45we train the didi,
11:47under the didi,
11:47we keep 10 other girls,
11:49tell the girls,
11:50teach the girls
11:50and then they go
11:51to 10 other.
11:52So,
11:52that's the approach
11:53and that has really helped.
11:54Has local panchayats also
11:56been a,
11:57you know,
11:57local panchayats,
11:58yes,
11:58because you have to,
11:59we have created this thing
12:00known as village
12:01response committees
12:03where you should know
12:04that if your child
12:05has gone to Hyderabad,
12:07is the child calling you
12:08or how much of money
12:09is the child getting?
12:10Is the child being exploited?
12:11So,
12:12you have to make
12:12that village responsible.
12:14NGO will come,
12:15NGO will make police,
12:16that's not like that.
12:17Aren't you worried
12:17about your personal safety?
12:19I mean,
12:19that's one of the reasons
12:20I don't stay in Delhi anymore.
12:21like I don't go
12:22for any interviews.
12:24I had gone for,
12:25there was a rescue
12:25that I did in Noida
12:26and I went for a podcast
12:28as to give awareness,
12:30information
12:31and that podcast
12:33went viral,
12:33like 10 crore people
12:34saw it
12:35and then
12:36that entire
12:37informatory podcast
12:38was made
12:39as a sensational
12:40reels,
12:41okay,
12:42so,
12:43and I was hounded
12:45for a year.
12:45so,
12:46flight may people
12:47are identifying me,
12:48cannot place me
12:49identifying me,
12:49so,
12:50I am worried
12:51about my safety,
12:52definitely,
12:52but then,
12:53I don't,
12:54I follow certain
12:54protocols
12:55and I try to keep
12:57my life as
12:58discreet as possible.
13:00This moment
13:01that you are here
13:02and you know,
13:02you have been awarded
13:03with Ramoji Award
13:04of Excellence,
13:05what does it mean
13:06to you and you know,
13:07for your work?
13:08To be very honest,
13:09I was not expecting
13:10the award,
13:11first of all.
13:12ETV,
13:12how did you get
13:13to know about it?
13:15So,
13:15the thing is that
13:16ETV has been
13:16following my work
13:17for a long time.
13:18I think ETV,
13:19and not because
13:21I am sitting here,
13:22I would not flatter,
13:24I don't flatter anybody,
13:25but ETV has genuinely
13:26covered my work
13:27in the most honest way
13:29because there are
13:29so many people
13:30who have interviewed me,
13:32either it is an exaggeration
13:34or it is too much
13:35of something
13:36which I don't even know.
13:37So,
13:37then when I got
13:38this message,
13:38initially,
13:39I was like,
13:40there was this message
13:41that there is
13:41a good news for you.
13:42I thought that
13:42maybe another story
13:43will be,
13:44I was in Northeast,
13:45I remember,
13:45and then next morning
13:46I was given calls
13:48from everywhere,
13:48Guwahati,
13:49everyone was calling me
13:50and then when they
13:52said that they will
13:52give me the award,
13:53I was initially,
13:53I was like,
13:54I did not know
13:55how to,
13:56like on what context
13:58and then they said
13:59that they saw the award
14:00and everything.
14:00I think more than
14:01the award,
14:02it is to understand
14:03because my field
14:04is something,
14:05no,
14:05people don't want
14:05to talk about,
14:06I am being very honest.
14:07So,
14:07I think more than
14:09getting the award,
14:10it is also important
14:10to understand
14:11that people
14:12should know
14:12about this issue.
14:13So,
14:13that is what
14:14is the most important
14:15that I feel.
14:15So,
14:16for that reason,
14:17I am really grateful.
14:19Finally,
14:20what would be your message
14:21to the young Indians?
14:23I know the field
14:24is something that,
14:24as you said,
14:25people want to
14:26stay away from it,
14:27even though it is
14:27happening in the society.
14:28But there are people
14:29like yourself,
14:31they would be more
14:31who would want
14:32to work in this field.
14:33So,
14:33what would be your message?
14:34How do they start?
14:35Or where do they start?
14:37I think the first thing
14:38is that,
14:38please be very sure
14:40that you want
14:40to work in this
14:41because many people
14:42started with me,
14:43but they left
14:44because it is
14:45quite triggering,
14:46one.
14:47Second is that,
14:48initially,
14:50my extended family members
14:51and everybody
14:52was really angry
14:53with me.
14:54Like,
14:54such a bright student,
14:56what nonsense
14:57she is doing,
14:57I still remember.
14:59But 10 years
14:59down the line,
15:00it has 180 degree
15:01angle changed.
15:02Now everybody is like,
15:02you know,
15:03she was our student,
15:04she is my relative.
15:05So I think,
15:06if you really want
15:07to work in this sector,
15:07you have to understand
15:08there is no shortcut
15:10to success.
15:11There is no shortcut.
15:12You have to be
15:12consistent,
15:13determined
15:14and
15:15there is this
15:17whole thing
15:18of sincerity
15:18and dedication
15:19important.
15:20I still remember,
15:21I face so much
15:23of issues,
15:23even now I am
15:24shaped,
15:24even now I am facing.
15:25I constantly
15:26have issues
15:27with funding
15:28and support.
15:29But somewhere
15:30from something
15:31happens
15:32and I get
15:33the support.
15:33So I think
15:34if your intent
15:35is good,
15:36the universe
15:36will conspire.
15:37We wish you
15:37all the best
15:38for your work.
15:39Thank you so much.
15:39Thank you for joining
15:40with us
15:40and congratulations
15:41once again.
15:41Thank you so much.
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