Ranchi: The Kailash Satyarthi Children's Foundation will launch Mukti Caravan, a nationwide campaign rally to sensitise people to the issue of child trafficking, in Ranchi on Tuesday.
"The caravan will be flagged off by state chief secretary Sudhir Tripathi and other senior officials from near Government Girls' High School in Bariatu at 11am," the foundation's campaign director Om Prakash told The Telegraph over phone.
He said the campaign would mark the beginning of a movement aimed at bringing people together against the menace of child trafficking that plagues the weaker sections of the society.
The foundation functions under the leadership of child rights activist and Nobel peace prize winner Kailash Satyarthi. It's motto is to create a child-friendly and compassionate world where kids are safe.
"The campaign that begins from Ranchi has been divided into four zones," Prakash said.
The campaign will continue till January 2019 and cover about 5,000 villages in 300 districts across the country that are considered vulnerable.
Besides Ranchi, the caravan will cover Khunti, Simdega, Gumla, Lohardaga, Latehar, Palamau, Garhwa, Chatra, Koderma, Giridih, Dumka, Pakur and Sahebganj by the end of this month before entering Bengal. He said Assam, Bihar and Odisha will also be covered under the east zone.
"The recent brutal killing of Soni Kumari of Jharkhand who was lured away to Delhi in the name of employment has reiterated the urgent need to sensitise people to the sordid reality of trafficking," Prakash said.
He said around 10,000 children were trafficked from this state every year through the so-called placement agencies to end up as forced labourers and even sex workers.
"This caravan will reinforce the combined efforts of government agencies, judiciary, child rights commission, NGOs and people," he said.
Meetings and street plays will be held with the help of local NGOs to raise awareness on trafficking as well as child abuse and child marriage. "People will be urged to lodge police complaints whenever they see such things happening in their locality," Prakash said.
