As if the misery of the poor affected by the floods in Bihar isn't bad enough, comes horrifying news of how the human trafficking vultures have descended on the blighted state. There have been a few stories on the subject largely in the international press (http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/news/stories/200809/s2355277.htm?tab=latest) but the Indian media is yet to take too much notice. Guess it's old news for them and there are more graphic horrors to report. 12-year old girls being pushed into prostitution by their mothers to buy food for the rest of the family, is too old a story in India to get any reader or viewer overtly worried. And if the audience isn't interested, the media couldn't be bothered.
It's also a convenient alibi for when you want to shut your eyes to the sad state of real India, far removed from the hype of the rising middle class and its obscenely unctuous avarice. But it's one thing to accept that there are two Indias, quite another to actually superimpose 10% of the population onto the remaining 90% and pretend we are all fine here. Check the scandalous fashion spread in the latest issue of Vogue India, in which poor, nameless people sport $10,000 handbags and $100 bibs. Talk of exploitation and apathy.
2 comments:
Well, Sandip, that's the way the cookie crumbles and I thought it best to be on the other side of the media where this was all happening. Am bringing out a newsletter and e-alert for Ashoka next week. Can I carry an excerpt from your post?
The media has better things to worry about including Kareena's size zero status...who cares about impoverished girls in Bihar! It's just not happening enough in an emerging economy that boasts of a 9% GDP growth rate! After all, we have to sustain the myth, right?
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