Word: champaran
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...Biharis cram the state's railroad platforms to join the millions who have already migrated to a new life, becoming the unskilled backbone of industries as diverse as the construction business in Kashmir, the cotton houses of Bombay and the farms of Punjab. Census takers say a third of Champaran's population has taken part in the exodus. Long before his own kidnapping, Salahuddin sent all three of his sons to New Delhi to study and work. "Our society is on the edge," he says. "The entire social system is falling apart. Nobody believes anything can be achieved honestly...
...Officers admit the real figure may be 10 times higher than that: kidnappers typically threaten to return if the victims go to the authorities. Police say Bihar has more than 100 kidnap gangs, and they don't prey solely on the rich or famous. In Salahuddin's district of Champaran, the center of Bihar's bandit country, even men like $1-a-day sweet seller Ranji Singh, 30, are seized by roaming gangs and given the unsavory choice: death, or a lifetime paying installments on a $2,000 ransom...
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