On Independence Day, this article reveals the stark reality of modern slavery and exploitation that continues to affect millions of Indians, alongside new forms of digital fraud, urging a reflection on the true meaning of freedom and a renewed commitment to national well-being.

On Independence Day, this article reveals the stark reality of modern slavery and exploitation that continues to affect millions of Indians, alongside new forms of digital fraud, urging a reflection on the true meaning of freedom and a renewed commitment to national well-being.

On Independence Day, this article reveals the stark reality of modern slavery and exploitation that continues to affect millions of Indians, alongside new forms of digital fraud, urging a reflection on the true meaning of freedom and a renewed commitment to national well-being.

FOR THOSE WHO LIKE American Civil War lore, the Underground Railroad holds great mystique. That network of safe houses, farms and churches gave fleeing slaves sanctuary until they crossed over into the abolitionist northern states and Canada.

Harriet Tubman was known as the “conductor” on the Underground Railroad. The American Civil War Museum confirms that after she fled Maryland to freedom, she made around 19 trips back south to guide fleeing slaves down the same railroad. Hence, the nickname. Recounting Tubman’s storied life would take this entire magazine and more.

I refer to her just to link this week’s cover image with what she said when she crossed over into the free north for the first time. “I had crossed the line. I was free; but there was no one to welcome me to the land of freedom. I was a stranger in a strange land…,” she said. This week’s Independence Day Special Issue of your favourite newsweekly emphasises that truth, dear reader, that there are many Indias. You and I live in an India very different from the one inhabited by the boy on cover.

Senior Writer and Photo Editor Bhanu Prakash Chandra has captured Santosh Rishidev from Bihar’s Kishanganj district in full sprint, grinning away. You would be forgiven for thinking that he was an athlete who is just about to breast the tape. And then you notice the missing arm. Principal Correspondent Nirmal Jovial’s cover story brings you the tale behind a soul that had once been chained but now refuses to be cowed.

Sunita Devi of Gaya district told Nirmal that she, her mother-in-law and sisters-in-law were forced to relieve themselves within sight of their owner’s office. They bathed under the watch of male supervisors. All to ensure that the family did not escape.

Santosh and Sunita are not exceptions. We are celebrating another Independence Day in a country where our brothers and sisters still continue to be exploited by people who have no qualms about chaining and maiming another human being for their profit. The numbers are not small. In 2016, the government estimated that at least 1.86 crore Indians were in bondage. It is a grim story, and a story that must be told.

Exploitation happens in many forms, old and new, emphasises Special Correspondent K. Vijaya Bhaskara Reddy. His article is on online fraud and the money mules who move the cash. Most of them are enticed by the offer—2 per cent of the amount that passes through their account. They think nothing of the victim who is being scammed. I think they see them just as account numbers, and not as a name or a face. Or, a life.

Now that the national song, Vande Mataram, is on every front page, it would be good to remember that the national pledge celebrated its shashtipoorthi (60th birthday) three years ago. It is a pledge that we recited every morning in school, but seem to have forgotten when we grew up. In a world of slaves and money mules, I leave you with the last lines of the pledge:

“To my country and my people, I pledge my devotion.

In their well-being and prosperity alone lies my happiness.”

Happy Independence Day.

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