India home to half of the worlds modern slaves

India is home to half the number of modern day slaves in the world, Indian media reported Friday quoting the first Global Slavery Index (GSI). According to the Index, India has estimated that there are 13.3 to 14.7 million people who live like slaves in the country of 1.2 billion people. Australia-based Walk Free Foundation, which published the GSI, ranked 162 countries based on three factors that include estimated prevalence of modern slavery, child marriage, and human trafficking in and out of a country. "Modern slavery includes practices such as debt bondage, forced marriage and sale or exploitation of children as well as human trafficking and forced labour," reported the media quoting the index. "According to the index, there are 29.6 million people in modern slavery globally. India leads the world, followed by China, Pakistan, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Russia, Thailand, Democratic Republic of Congo, Myanmar and Bangladesh. These 10 countries account for 76% of the world's modern slaves," they added. "In India there's some exploitation of foreign nationals but by far the largest proportion of slaves are Indians exploited by other Indians within the country, particularly through debt bondage and bonded labour. India is one of the few countries that has not ratified the Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention,the report revealed.