The Indus Valley civilization, one of the oldest in the world, dates back at least 5,000 years. Aryan tribes from the northwest infiltrated onto Indian lands about 1500 B.C.; their merger with the earlier Dravidian inhabitants created the classical Indian culture. Arab incursions starting in the 8th century and Turkish in the 12th were followed by those of European traders, beginning in the late 15th century. By the 19th century, Britain had assumed political control of virtually all Indian lands. Indian armed forces in the British army played a vital role in both World Wars. Nonviolent resistance to British colonialism led by Mohandas GANDHI and Jawaharlal NEHRU brought independence in 1947. The subcontinent was divided into the secular state of India and the smaller Muslim state of Pakistan. A third war between the two countries in 1971 resulted in East Pakistan becoming the separate nation of Bangladesh. Despite impressive gains in economic investment and output, India faces pressing problems such as the ongoing dispute with Pakistan over Kashmir, massive overpopulation, environmental degradation, extensive poverty, and ethnic and religious strife.

- From the CIA World Fact Book Web Site, http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook

The Daywalka Foundation in India is located in Kolkata, West Bengal.  Highlights from our accomplishments in India include:

--Funding retention of experienced private criminal attorneys for our local Indian NGO partners to ensure effective investigation and expeditious prosecution of criminal cases against traffickers at every stage of the proceedings from victim custody adjudication and trafficker bail applications to evidence gathering, trial preparation and even on appeal.  It is noteworthy, that the first conviction of a trafficker for a case brought by a victim sheltered at our partner Sanlaap’s Narendrapur Home was assisted by a private “defacto” lawyer retained under this Daywalka legal services program.

--Reaching agreements with our partner Indian NGOs with access to the largest populations of rescued trafficking victims in their private shelters or in government run shelters, including, but not limited to, the Rescue Foundation, STOP and Sanlaap, to employ Information Officers to develop uniform databases, which will contain all relevant information regarding a victim’s background, trafficker background and methods.  These databases will also allow archiving all pleadings filed in all legal matters, including custody and criminal trials, involving victims of human trafficking. 

Daywalka staff has already piloted our database extensively with Sanlaap, an Indian NGO based in the State of West Bengal in eastern India, and will shortly make it available for data entry to our other Indian NGO partners.  During database development, Daywalka personnel have worked to ensure cross-compatibility with databases developed by other organizations for human trafficking in South Asia, including for example, Planet Enfante’s system in Nepal.

--Developing research partnerships with professors at the Department of Law at the University of Calcutta to access and study all pleadings filed in human trafficking cases in all criminal courts in the State of West Bengal and in consultation with government officials, prosecutors and police and Daywalka staff, to assess the successes and failures in those cases.  Daywalka has also developed a research protocol with Dr. Kamalesh Sarkar of the National Institute of Cholera and Enteric Diseases (NICED) to conduct a public health study to better define through demographic and HIV testing the magnitude and public health impacts of human trafficking in West Bengal and other states of India.

--Expanding counter human trafficking demand projects and media outreach.  Through our partners Apne Aap and CATW, many government officials and police officers in and around Mumbai have been trained in counter trafficking tactics.  Our media outreach efforts to local and national print, radio and television journalists in India and the United States have focused public attention in India and around the world on the scourge of modern slavery in South Asia.  We were extremely fortunate to have N.Y. Times columnist Nicholas Kristof spend several days with our staff and with our local NGO partners, including New Light, to interview victims of trafficking and those individuals fighting trafficking.