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While IPLgate hogs the limelight I wonder where the following will be published in tomorrow's newspaper. Can you guess? My guess is page 9 or so for those papers where it exists. If we really love our country or humanity, we need to take note of the following and do not leave as just another question answered in Rajya Sabha. Just now came across a Press Trust of India report (at TOI web edition) where Minister of State for woman and child welfare provides this information.

"There are about 2.8 million prostitutes in India out of which 36 per cent are children....The common factors for entry into prostitution have been economic distress, growing consumerism, illiteracy, lack of vocational skills, migration, ill-treatment by parents and desertion by spouse, according to a study on girls and women in prostitution conducted between 2002-2004 by the Ministry of Women and Child Development....The village panchayats have not been assigned any direct role in prevention of trafficking, but under a special scheme called 'Ujjwala', financial assistance is provided for formation of community vigilance groups for its prevention...as per the National Crime Records Bureau, the number of persons convicted under the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act in the year 2007-08 is 2,884....nine integrated anti-human trafficking units have been established in the states of Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, Goa and West Bengal under the joint project capacity building of law enforcement etc."

While the report focuses it as a law and order problem, there are more that cannot evade the eye ... what we can do to remove the very cause of it. Can we take up few villages around IITKGP and convert it to model villages without these vices. Don't kids in our neighbourhood deserve this? Yesterday, I attended a nice function organized by 5 NSS volunteers where they are teaching 22 kids of a slum. This was the last day for this team for this session as end-sem starts this week followed by vacation. What I liked most is the love and affection between these kids and the IITKGP student-teachers. They showed me Math Table and other works and then there was prize distribution. It was great to see the support of the parents and local youth. While the kids were working a man drunk even in broad daylight appeared. A girl student who was doing sums lifted her head and lowered it immediately with a murmur in native language - "My father, I am scared of him." NSS IITKGP is beginning to make inroads. But miles to go and it needs a united effort. With a student strength as large as ours, we have the numbers but do we have the will?