The government's attempt to weed out unaccounted money from the system seems to have hit an unexpected target. The flesh trade -- roughly estimated to have a size of up to Rs 20 trillion in India involves trafficking of women and girls for sex in an unorganised industry -- has been brought to a grinding halt as possibly all transactions in this trade happen in cash.
With the announcement of the note ban on November 8, the trade has almost stopped since customers are either short of cash or are afraid to lose cash in these times. However, it is only a matter of time before the wheels of the industry may start rolling again.
"Black money is the backbone of the trafficking industry in India. At the moment that structure has been fractured by demonetisation. It is a matter of time before the new currency is back in the system and the trade picks up. We have approached the PM and informed him of this situation as well," Nobel Peace Prize winner Kailash Satyarthi said.
Women and girls are trafficked to various parts of the country to be sold to brothels, placement agencies and as child brides. The whole process is usually completed by November, said rescue workers on the field. Children are also trafficked for forced domestic work and work at factories.
"Trafficking has stopped completely. Girls are usually trafficked from Guwahati in Assam and Jharkhand in the north and Chennai, Bengaluru and Hyderabad in the south. Over the last one month, not a single girl has been trafficked. This is primarily because there is no liquidity left. All transactions used to happen in cash and now employers have no money to pay the middlemen. All the money that changed hands till now is useless," Rakesh Senger, a child rights activist with Satyarthi's NGO Bachpan Bachao Andolan, told Mint.
For brothel owners, one woman or girl can "cost" around Rs 2.5 lakh, including transportation, paying local politicians, authorities, police officials and "grooming". While the actual cost may be around Rs 20,000, the rest goes into the pocket of the trafficker, rescue workers said.
According to a study by Global March against Child Labour, a network of trade unions, teachers and civil society organisations, the annual flesh trade in India is pegged at a little over Rs 18.6 trillion.
"It is a shocking revelation that 360 billion USD or 21 lakh crores Indian rupees are generated by enslaving young girls in brothels and homes that is equivalent to one-fifth of the country's GDP. This black money propels capital corruption and most heinous crimes against girls and women. The dream of development and scandal of child slavery cannot co-exist. Time is running out. It is now or never," said Satyarthi.
"A 10-12-year-old girl costs Rs 5 lakh, while girls between the groups of 13 and 15 cost Rs4 lakh. These transactions are all done in cash, in black money. The brothel owners are now caught in a bind because they can't convert this cash at the banks. Because the new currency is not readily available, clients have stopped going to brothels and the brothel owners have no money to pay the traffickers," Satyarthi said.
Mostly, rescued children from child domestic labour were female and from Delhi. Bihar comes next in child domestic labour.
"Even when I was living at home I was told as a girl it was my responsibility to cook, clean, and take care of the house. So when the placement agency agent came with a job offer in Delhi, my parents were thrilled at the prospect of getting some extra cash in the house," a 14-year-old rescued victim of child domestic labour said.
Most commercial sexual labours were rescued from Delhi, followed by Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Rajasthan and Haryana. Most victims were from West Bengal followed by Nepal, Assam, Karnataka and other states. The victims are usually from impoverished and large families.
Senior Delhi Police officers told the Mint that random checks on trains bound for Delhi from Bengal, Assam and Bihar failed to unearth trafficked girls.
the trafficking of women and girls for sex
