India’s Nobel laureate fears upsurge in child labour

NEW DELHI: For four decades Indian Nobel peace laureate Kailash Satyarthi rescued thousands of children from the scourge of slavery and trafficking but he fears all his efforts could reverse as the coronavirus pandemic forces children into labour. “The biggest threat is that millions of children may fall back into slavery, trafficking, child labour, child marriage,” said Satyarthi who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014 for his work to combat child labour and child trafficking in India. “Once children fall into that trap they could be pulled into prostitution and could be trafficked easily ... this is another danger which government have to address now,” he said, adding that he believed sexual abuse of children was also on the rise due to the pandemic. “I cannot be satisfied even if one single child is enslaved ... it means there is something wrong in our polity, in our economy, in our society, we have to ensure that not a single child is left out,” he told media.