India bans government employees from having child servants

NEW DELHI, India (AP) -- India's government has banned its employees from employing children under 14 as servants, the National Human Rights Commission announced Wednesday.

The commission said an amendment to the rules of conduct for the Indian Administrative Service, Indian Police Service and the Indian Forest Service makes employees subject to disciplinary sanctions for employing child servants.

In a press release, the commission said the practice of child servants was "reprehensible," especially by government employees.

The commission had been campaigning for the ban since 1997.

Most Indian states have already imposed the ban, the commission said.

Child labor is widespread in India, where children are often removed from school to help their destitute parents in the fields at harvest time. Children also work in construction, and the textile, carpet, tobacco and firecracker industries.

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Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Derechos: Human Rights in India
Human Rights Watch

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