New Delhi: Child rights activist and Nobel Laureate Kailash Satyarthi today commended the Centre’s move to discontinue high-denomination currency notes, saying human trafficking and child labour were among the largest sources of black money.
“I have come across innumerable incidents where an agent or middleman earned at least Rs 5,000 for the placement of young boys in bonded labour and in cases of girls, sold for prostitution and child marriages, this amount was around Rs 2l lakh.
“Every single rupee earned by traffickers and slave masters is black money. This move will break their backbone,” he said.
Seeking to curb black money, the Modi government had yesterday, after withdrawing all Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 banknotes in circulation, announced that the old high denomination currency would continue to be accepted for next 72 hours at certain public utilities.
“I commend the boldness of the step taken by our Prime Minister Narendra Modi to put an end to black money and corruption. It is a lesser known fact that human trafficking and child labour are among the largest sources of black money,” he said in a statement released here.
According to a study conducted by Global March against Child Labour, “21 lakh crore Indian rupees are generated by enslaving young girls in brothels.”
Another study conducted by Bachpan Bachao Andolan reveals huge sums of money which is blatantly stolen in the name of wages paid to labourers, the statement said.
“The government estimate of child labour in India – 43 lakh children, who are to be paid around Rs 250 each, every day. In reality though, these children will receive around Rs 50 only. That is Rs 200 stolen per child, per day, every day. And, these are just the government figures,” it claimed.
“Non-government studies claim the black-market to be much stronger. The money generated illegally is used to serve vested interests of corrupt individuals and fuel more corruption,” he said.
PTI