123Pune.com

New Delhi: About $12,000 was all it took JS Bhasin, the owner of Pune-based Preet Mandir, to break all Central Adoption Resource Agency guidelines and offer babies to dollar-rich NRIs.

"Well, earlier it was $6K, $7K, $8K, but now it's $12K." These were the rates Bhasin had quoted for children in a CNN-IBN Special Investigation, which had exposed the rot in inter-country adoptions from India. After the CNN-IBN investigation, there was public outrage and cover-ups.

"We will certainly take action. An inquiry commission will look into the matter," Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh had then said.

Subsequently, the authorities suspended Preet Mandir's license. But just a year later, Central Adoption Resources Agency or CARA has withdrawn the suspension and unscrupulous adoption agencies continue to thrive.

"We did that (withdrawal of suspension of Preet Mandir's license) in the interest of the children. There are 20-21 children in waiting for inter-country adoption. So seeing the condition of the children, we have given them this conditional license so that children can be put up for adoption," JK Mittal, Chairperson of CARA, now says.

However, CARA's failure to take strict action against Preet Mandir has encouraged other adoption agencies to break the law in an effort to make a quick buck.

Recently, the Pune-based Priyadarshini Trust was caught on camera hawking children in US dollars to Danish journalists, which was a massive breach of CARA guidelines.

"Sirf childcare ke liye unha pe rakhowana sahte the, lekin Navrang ke bal guru jo hai Pandherpur mein, woh kaha ki unha pe dusri sakha hai Pune mein, unha pe aapke bacche reh jayenge (The Navrang Ashram in Pandharpur sent his children from Pandherpur and they were transferred to Preet Mandir in Pune and then made available for foreign adoption)," Nakul Kate, a social worker, alleges.

This is nothing less than child trafficking. This clearly shows that unscrupulous adoption agencies today literally sell children abroad for thousand of dollars by misinforming their parents.

Source:IBN live