Domestic Servants in India

Do you consider domestic servants in India are rightly treated? I am not focusing on how people communicate/behave with them, but the way they are paid for their services. After coming to USA this thing has striken my mind many a times, here a person who gives 8-10 hrs domestic service(household help, nanny, etc.) is paid enough to live a fairly normal and respectable life. I know things are lot more different in both countries and lot of factors come in between like population, work facilities, unemployment. But don't you consider it's a labour exploitation, a person who is on duty for hrs. just like any working person gets so less.

1)Leave along the full-time service, even for part-time service he/she is not well paid, many a times that leads to stealing.

2)They are not expected to have specific holidays(except for when they bunk), even though both babu-bibi are enjoying their holidays in the weekends and other national holidays.

3) No rules, no laws. Where are the human rights for them?

May be I am wrongly guided by my emotions, hope you guys will enlighten me. But I feel that person too has the right to live a better life than that.

Repeated. Mods, please delete this one.

Originally posted by: Pradarshak

Yes Maya, I have heard about them(agencies) too. That's good. Don't think it's been practiced by all, at least majority.

I think the govt. can do something about it. A job is a job, it shoulld be treated like that. Making it a law, a contract job, a standard wage. Also they can get help in the form of small loans from their babus when they need it badly like in illness,child's marriage,child's education,etc. It is very difficult to imagine a life with no insurance, pension or future savings.

Riju, Actually the govt. made these help agencies for the same purpose. There are private help agencies too. Now it is their choice to register themselves there. Otherwise the domestic help you are talking about is kind of self employed and govt. cannot force babus to draft the wage or leave permits.