September 15th, 2007 
Deepak A World Tourism Organisation study reports that India is the seventh largest country in the world with a population of 1,095 million, which accounts for 16.7 per cent of the world population. There are reportedly over 28 million passport holders in India and 25 million non-resident Indians living in 110 countries abroad, which constitute the largest segment of overseas population of any country. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), which is committed to combating human trafficking globally estimates that about two million migrants cross international borders without authorization every year. According to an Interpol study – Project Marco Polo, India is one of the countries accounting for the largest number of illegal immigrants coming to Western Europe. No doubt, UNODC is commissioning a full-fledged study on the nature and extent of illegal migration from Punjab to Europe. A multi-million dollar racket in which $20,000-30,000 are charged by unscrupulous agents to send gullible Punjabis abroad continues unabated. There is no dearth of candidates willing to spend Rs 10 to 25 lakh to reach Europe or America via the illegal route. Three startling examples as follows reveal it all. In 1996, in the Malta Boat tragedy; 289 South Asians, Including 170 Indians from Punjab, found a watery grave in the Ionian Sea in their treacherous voyage of illegal immigration to Europe. UNODC recently quoted the Indian American Centre for Political Awareness in the US to inform that 73 men from Punjab who were duped by employment agents landed in a gurdwara in Tehran after a 1,500-mile journey on foot. Some were so badly frostbitten that their toes had to be amputated. A recent media report highlighted that on June 24 this year, the Delhi Police arrested one Bhupinder Singh with fake visas and passports. Upon questioning, it transpired that he was on his way to Punjab for delivering 300 fake travel documents, including 25 forged passports, 114 fake Visas of Schengen countries, which included seven each of UK, Slovenia, Malaysia and Switzerland, 12 of Korea, three each of Japan and Mexico, 25 of US and nine of Senegal were seized by the police. Why is illegal migration preferred to the right way? What prompts adoption of the wrong path? Who aids and abets it? Why is it repeated unflinchingly without abandon? Why do horror stories not deter fellow countrymen? Why do not the mindsets of rural folk change? Why [...]
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