File photo used for representation only

NEW DELHI: In its latest report, the Global Slavery Index 2018 estimates that on any given day in 2016 there were nearly 8 million people living in “modern slavery” in India — a claim strongly contested by the government on the grounds that its parameters were poorly defined and too wide-ranging.

The report said that in terms of prevalence, there were 6.1 victims for every thousand people. Among 167 countries,, India ranked 53 with North Korea at the top of the list with 104.6 per 1,000 and Japan registering lowest prevalence rate of 0.3 per 1,000.

However, in absolute numbers India topped the list on prevalence.

China found itself at 111 place with a prevalence rate of 2.8 per 1,000. Defining “modern slavery”, the Walk Free Foundation, which brought out the report said, “In the context of this report, modern slavery covers a set of specific legal concepts including forced labour, debt bondage, forced marriage, slavery and slavery-like practices, and human trafficking”.

Reacting to the report’s conclusions, officials in the government who are associated with the framing of the anti-trafficking bill currently in the Lok Sabha questioned the definition adopted for the research and also the sample size for interviews and questions posed to those surveyed.

The view emerging from the ministry of women and child development was that the Index was “flawed” in its interpretations as the terminology used is very broad based and words like “forced labour” need a more detailed definition in the Indian context where socio-economic parameters are diverse and nuanced. Arbitrary application of criteria make estimates unreliable if not placed in social and economic context of a country.

The Foundation in its report pointed out that although modern slavery is not defined in law, it is used as an umbrella term which refers to situations of exploitation that a person cannot refuse or leave because of threats, violence, coercion, deception, and abuse of power.

The estimation data were drawn from 54 surveys conducted in 48 countries which included a module on Modern Slavery, with a total sample of 71,158 individual interviews.

“The final set of risk factors were selected from an exhaustive list of variables to optimally predict confirmed cases of forced labour and forced marriage. The model was then used to generate average predicted probabilities of modern slavery by country”.

Top brass at the WCD ministry have also questioned the sample size. “Is that not too small a number across such a diverse and wide spectrum of countries? Also questions like were `you ever forced to work’ by an employer or a recruiter or ever been forced to marry cannot be answered in simple yes and no or can confuse the respondent,” a senior official said.

The report also claims that India is at risk due to “global trade and business”.

