An Indian laborer douses buffalo leather with a salt solution at a tannery workshop in Calcutta, eastern India, 17 February 2014. The leather industry occupies an important place in the Indian economy. It is an employment intensive sector with a vast potential for growth and exports but also a pollution intensive industry that relies on cheap labor. One of the major production centers for leather and leather products is located in Calcutta, West Bengal. Hundreds of tanneries are operated in the city’s Tiljala, Topsia and Tangra districts. They are mostly run by local families living and working under poor conditions. (Photo by Piyal Adhikary/EPA)

Indian labour Rafik Muhammad seals a huge leather treatment tank at a tannery workshop in Calcutta, eastern India, 10 October 2013. (Photo by Piyal Adhikary/EPA)

Indian laborers stitch buffalo leather at a tannery workshop in Calcutta, eastern India, 17 February 2014. (Photo by Piyal Adhikary/EPA)

An Indian labour unloads a truck of leather waste that is boiled to prepare organic fertilizer near a tannery workshop in Calcutta, eastern India, 17 February 2014. (Photo by Piyal Adhikary/EPA)

Indian laborers boil leather waste to prepare organic fertilizer near a tannery workshop in Kolkata, eastern India, 10 October 2013. (Photo by Piyal Adhikary/EPA)

An Indian labour rests during the production of organic fertilizer near a leather tannery workshop in Calcutta, eastern India, 17 February 2014. (Photo by Piyal Adhikary/EPA)

Wet leather is dried in the sun at a tannery workshop in Calcutta, eastern India, 17 February 2014. (Photo by Piyal Adhikary/EPA)

Indian laborer Mainoor Rahaman (L) transports dry leather from a tannery workshop to a bag factory in Calcutta, eastern India, 17 February 2014. (Photo by Piyal Adhikary/EPA)

Indian laborers handle dry leather pieces to soften them at a tannery workshop in a lane in Calcutta, eastern India, 17 February 2014. (Photo by Piyal Adhikary/EPA)

Indian laborers make leather goods while another rests at their home workshop in Calcutta, eastern India, 17 February 2014. (Photo by Piyal Adhikary/EPA)

Indian bag maker Latif Muhammad (L) checks a finished leather bag while another worker is busy with stiching at a leather goods workshop at Topsia in Calcutta, eastern India, 19 November 2013. (Photo by Piyal Adhikary/EPA)

Indian boy Hassan Malik works in a leather shoe factory at Topsia in Calcutta, eastern India, 19 November 2013. (Photo by Piyal Adhikary/EPA)