PTI
 
Washington, Jun 6: For the third year in a row, the US has placed India on its Special Watch List against trafficking for "failing to comply" with the minimum standards to eliminate the scourge.

India has been placed in Tier Two Watch List for its failure to show evidence of increasing efforts to address trafficking in persons, said the sixth annual Department of State Trafficking in Persons Report released by the Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice on Monday.

"The Government of India does not comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking. However, it is making significant efforts to do so," the report said.

In contrast, Pakistan has been placed in Tier Two, a classification where governments do not fully comply with the Act's minimum standards but are making significant efforts to bring themselves into compliance with standards.

"India lacks a national law enforcement response to any form of trafficking but took some preliminary measures to create a central law enforcement unit to do so.

"However, India did not take steps to address the huge issue of bonded labour and other forms of involuntary servitude," the State Department report said.

"The Indian government also did not take meaningful steps to address its sizeable trafficking-related corruption problem," the report claimed.