Pandemic-hit human trafficking survivors face livelihood question

A recent analysis by a group of NGOs under Tafteesh - a coalition of survivors, professionals and activists - shows that the lockdown has severely impacted the economic lives of women survivors

The lockdown forced Anupama Mondal to shut shop at her village in South 24 Parganas, West Bengal. The 18-year-old has been to hell and back before. In 2016, she was rescued from Delhi after being forced into sex trade for a year.

A couple of years after returning home, she managed to set up a grocery store. But after the Covid-19 pandemic induced a nationwide lockdown in March, it became unviable. In her village, people were hit by a double whammy — the pandemic followed by the catastrophic Amphan cyclone. Her neighbours could no longer afford to buy goods, which she