Silk slaves: India's bonded laborers are forced to work to pay off debts
CNN
In one of India's silk hubs, a mother and daughter spent years trapped in a life of servitude, working in harsh conditions to pay off a loan.
In India, the average silk worker is paid less than $3 a day -- small compensation for an industry estimated to be valued at over $14 billion globally. Part of the workforce is trapped in bonded labor, a form of modern-day slavery in which people work in often terrible conditions to pay off debt. Bonded labor was made illegal in India in 1976, but it never went away. A 2018 report estimated around 8 million people in India were unpaid workers or held in debt bondage, though some campaigners believe the true figure is much higher. Exactly how many are involved in the silk industry is unknown.
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