Revision summary
Money laundering and trafficking are non-traditional security threats because they hollow the State without a conventional war. PMLA 2002, FIU-IND, and ED chase layered proceeds; FATF sets the reporting bar. Trafficking uses fraud and force for sex, labour, begging, and organs. ITPA 1956, AHTUs, and Ujjawala are the rescue-and-shelter rails. The two trades share hawala, borders, and couriers, so finance and police maps must meet.
Model answer
Introduction
Non-traditional security looks beyond armies and borders to crime that hollows the State from inside. Money laundering and human trafficking are two such challenges: they move hidden value and hidden people, and they often fund the same organised networks.
Body
Money laundering
- Dirty cash from drugs, corruption, and tax crime is layered through companies, real estate, hawala, and virtual assets so that it looks clean.
- The Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002, the Financial Intelligence Unit–India, and the Enforcement Directorate are the named Union rails; FATF standards shape India’s reporting rules.
- Laundered money buys influence, terror logistics, and election muscle, so it is a security problem, not only a tax problem.
Human trafficking
- Persons are recruited by fraud or force for sexual exploitation, bonded labour, begging, or organs; poverty and porous borders feed the market.
- The Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, 1956, Anti-Human Trafficking Units, and Ujjawala homes are the protection and rehabilitation tools.
- Trafficking routes overlap with smuggling and laundering: the same courier may move a victim and a hawala slip. That overlap is why both sit in the internal-security syllabus, not only in social welfare.
Flow diagram
flowchart TD C[Organised crime] --> ML[Money laundering PMLA FIU ED] C --> HT[Trafficking ITPA AHTU Ujjawala] ML --> S[Non-traditional security] HT --> S F[FATF hawala darknet] --> ML B[Poverty borders demand] --> HT
Conclusion
Laundering hides crime proceeds; trafficking hides exploited people. PMLA, FIU-IND, ED, FATF, ITPA, AHTUs, and Ujjawala are the named counters; they work when finance intelligence and rescue share the same map.
Quick related
Students also ask
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What is 'Revolution in Military Affairs (RMA)' in the security perspective of India?
Next question in the 2020 paper (Q10). View answer →
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Why is laundering “security” and not only “finance”?
Because cleaned money funds terror, drugs, and political muscle. It is a threat to order, not only to the tax base.
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Is trafficking only a women’s issue?
Women and children are heavily hit, but men are trafficked for labour too. It is organised crime, not only a welfare case.
PYQ trend
When UPSC asked this
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2025 · Q10 · UPGS3 · 8 marks
Discuss the major causes of human trafficking and describe with examples, the role of the government in ensuring the protection and rehabilitation of the victims. -
2023 · Q19 · UPGS3 · 12 marks
“Money laundering poses a serious threat to a country's economic sovereignty. Information and communication technology has made it more challenging.” Explain.
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