The United States has taken India off the human trafficking 'Watch list' after a gap of six years. In its annual Trafficking in Persons Report' released in Washington, the US State Department has upgraded India to Tier 2 countries after recognising the significant efforts made by it in combating the menace of trafficking. The Watch list comprises of countries where the number of victims of severe forms of trafficking is very significant and there is failure to provide evidence of increasing efforts to combat it.AIR correspondent reports, the U.S. has moved India up one spot to ‘Tier 2,’ the second of four possible placements in human trafficking. The Trafficking in person report has praised India for setting up 87 local anti-trafficking units, for increasing the numbers of convictions of people involved in human trafficking for forced labor, and for ratifying a relevant United Nations protocol last month. The State Department report has also praised a Tamil Nadu court for sentencing three convicted bonded labor traffickers to five years in prison. However, it also said that India should encourage its states to set up special courts dedicated to prosecuting trafficking cases, as Mumbai has done. It noted that in some cases, local laws on bonded labor and child labor could prescribe maximum sentences of three years.