'Independent India' and its 13 Million Slaves

Kevin Bales, lead researcher hoped that the index, the first annual report to monitor slavery globally, would raise public awareness as the numbers were at an all-time high and it would also increase pressure on governments to take up more action. Further, he dismissed the view that poverty was the main factor behind slavery and blamed corruption and appeal for laws to stop organized gangs involved in this kind of menace.

Bales also said, "Consistently when we analysed the statistics we found that corruption came out as more powerful than poverty in driving slavery," reports Zee News.

As per the prevalence of modern slavery per head of population, Mauritania in West Africa witnessed the highest number of slaves proportionately, with up to 160,000 enslaved in a population of 3.8 million due to culturally-sanctioned forms of slavery and high levels of child marriage. However, in terms of total numbers, the countries with the most people in modern slavery were estimated to be India (13.95 million), followed by China (2.95 million) and Pakistan (2.1 million). The report estimated that 72 percent of people in modern slavery live in Asia. The survey also suggested that India's ranking was mostly due to the exploitation of Indians citizens within its own country itself.

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