A hot favourite stop-over for truck drivers whizzing past Madhya Pradesh's ... the 150 kilometre-long highway connecting Ratlam to Neemuch, (are) the khilwadis, women of the Banchhada tribe who are pushed into prostitution as young girls.

The Banchhadas are a denotified tribe, and the men, notorious for being lotus-eaters, induct their womenfolk into the flesh trade. Tradition has demanded that the eldest daughter of the family is inducted into the flesh trade and she eventually emerged as the bread-winner. But now ... no daughter spared. By the age of 12 to 14 years, the girls are pressed into 'service' by their parents ... According to rough estimates, the tribe has more than 20,000 members sprawled over the districts of Mandsaur, Neemuch, Ratlam, Indore, Ujjain and Shajapur. Among these, nearly 5,000 women are in the flesh trade. However, Banchhada men do not marry women who are engaged in the trade ... The khilwadis, on the other hand, are free to scout for their partners outside the community. Banchhada children fill in only the names of the ir mothers in official records ...

District Women and Child Welfare Officer Sandhya Vyas says: "We tried our best to rehabilitate the women but our efforts were not up to their expectation ... District Collector Anurag Jain observes, "We can't keep a round-the-clock vigil but can only act as motivators. The decision to leave the profession has to come from within". (Source: The Hindustan Times, 13 June, 2000)