Trafficking is the name of adoption was manifested in sporadic incidents for the pas 25 years in Andhra Pradesh. Starting our work in 1997 any 1999, in Chandampet Mandal, Nalgonda District we were able to investigate and uncover large-scale systematic trafficking in several districts.

Gramya became aware that a large number of babies had been sold in the area. When the sanghas were organized they agreed to monitor and report if outsiders came into the village and offered to buy babies. With this system in place, Gramya started getting reports about middle-men and women from the lambada community who were trying to persuade women with 3 to 4 girls to give away their girl babies.

After out initiative in Chadampet mandal it was clear that children were being procured and sold in many thandas in Nalgonda District. Along with our development work in Chandampet we continued to monitor the status of pregnant women and followed up report of sales. Under Police escort the traffickers were taken to the police station. However, when we made enquiries the following week we were told that no case had been booked.

To Sensitize the voluntary sector, Government officials and the general public, Gramya decided to undertake a state level campaign to share information about the existing adoption laws, CARA guidelines, which mandate national Adoptions and the issue of sale and trafficking of babies. The campaign was carried out in ten districts. These were Ranga Reddy, Warangal, Medak, Mehabubnagar, Nalgonda, Khammam, Kurnool, Ananthapur, Chittoor, Vishakapatnam and Nellore.

The print and electronic media played a critical role to support the campaign. The National press and electronic media turned the issue from an obscure problem into a national and international issue.