A/HRC/33/46 both the formal and the informal sectors. A survey conducted in 10 States in 1978 and 1979 by the Gandhi Peace Foundation and the National Labour Institute, which remains the most detailed survey on debt bondage, estimated the total number of bonded labourers in the agricultural sector at 2.62 million. 16 The majority of people who are in debt bondage are Dalits, of “low” caste, or indigenous peoples — also referred to as members of the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes.17 19. In the western and central parts of Tamil Nadu, a high number of adolescent girls reportedly work as bonded labourers under the sumangali scheme 18 in textile mills and garment factories, which is a major hub in the global knitwear sector that supplies international brands. 19 The majority of these workers are reported to belong to Dalit communities and are aged between 14 and 18 years. 20 Debt bondage is also reported in power loom workshops located in the Tiruppur region of Tamil Nadu, which produce woven cloth both for domestic manufacturers and for global suppliers. Those affected by debt bondage in this region are reported to include members of Dalit communities and other poor communities and to include both men and women. Furthermore, some non-agricultural industries in which debt bondage among children is reported to exist include carpet weaving, beedi making, silk production, silk sari production, the brick kilns and stone quarries.21 20. In Pakistan, debt bondage has been reported in industries such as the brick kilns, agriculture, fisheries, mining, carpet weaving and glass bangle production, among others. 22 Debt bondage is primarily concentrated in the provinces of Sindh and Punjab in agriculture, and in the brickmaking industry where often entire families are held in bondage. Landless sharecroppers (haris) in Sindh and brickmakers (patheras) in Punjab are the most affected by debt bondage. It has been reported that bonded labourers are often held in captivity by 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 8 National Human Rights Commission, Know Your Rights: Bonded Labour (2010), p. 3. The Commission noted the following in 2010 regarding the sectors of the economy where bonded labour is prevalent: “High incidence of bonded labour in the agriculture sector is found in the States of Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Haryana, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Orissa, Punjab, Tamil Nadu and Madhya Pradesh. In the non-agriculture sector, it is prevalent in brick kilns, stone quarries, beedi manufacturing, carpet weaving, match and fireworks industry, pottery, construction projects and bonded child labour in the sericulture processing industry. Migrant bonded labour involving States such as Bihar, Jharkhand, Chattisgarh, Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Rajasthan, present a heightened form of deprivation and exploitation often amounting to bonded labour system. Domestic workers, jogins and devdasis are subjected to exploitation in the form of bonded labour system”. Ghandi Peace Foundation and National Labour Institute, National Survey on the Incidence of Bonded Labour: Preliminary Report (New Delhi, 1979). Cited in India Exclusion Report 2013-14, pp. 205 and 217 (footnote 8). Submission from Anti-Slavery International; submission from Prayas Centre for Labour Research and Action; submission from Jeevika Trust. Submission from Rights Education and Development Centre and Dalit Solidarity Network United Kingdom. The sumangali scheme is considered to be a form of modern slavery and bonded labour, which has been a particularly regular practice for the past 10 years in the textile industry of Tamil Nadu. Adolescent girls are recruited from their villages by brokers/agents, who pay an advance payment and then promise a considerable lump sum at the end of the contract. Often the wages received by the girls either at the end of the “contract” or paid on a weekly or monthly basis are used to cover expenses inside the work premises (e.g. food and housing costs). Submission from Anti-Slavery International. SOMO, Captured by Cotton: Exploited Dalit Girls Produce Garments in India for European and US Markets (May 2011), p. 14. Available from www.somo.nl/publications-en/Publication_3673. Shikha Sethia, “Bonded labourers”, India Exclusion Report 2013-14, p. 208. Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, State of Human Rights in 2011, p. 204. Available from http://hrcp-web.org/hrcpweb/wp-content/pdf/AR2011-A.pdf. GE.16-11363