Trafficking risk rises as tens of thousands flee villages
The worst drought in decades across several states in India is forcing tens of thousands of people to migrate from rural areas in search of water, food and jobs, increasing the risk that they may be trafficked or exploited, activists said.
About 330 million people, almost a quarter of the country's population, are now affected by drought, the government estimates. Destitute women, children and older family members left behind in the villages are most at risk of exploitation.
"People in the rural areas have always been vulnerable because they want better jobs, better lives," said Mangala Daithankar at non-profit Social Action for Association and Development in Pune, in western Maharashtra state.
"The drought has aggravated the situation because they are so desperate now. They have absolutely nothing," said Daithankar, who has worked in the state's drought-hit Marathwada region for about two decades.
Maharashtra is one of the worst affected states, with successive years of poor rainfall ravaging crops, killing livestock, drying up reservoirs and forcing farmers into indebtedness that has led to thousands of suicides.
In the state's Jalna district, scores of villages house only destitute women and children left in the care of older relatives who keep an eye on their homes and parched fields.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has pledged a nationwide drive to conserve water, but activists and economists have slammed the government's lack of "compassion" on the issue.
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