Dengarkan

The gang rape and murder of an Indian girl on a Delhi bus has sparked a wider heated debate about women’s rights in India.

However there has been little discussion about prostitution.

Every year, thousands of women in rural as well as urban parts of India are forced into prostitution.

And there’s even a village in Uttar Pradesh where prostitution has been a sort of “tradition” for centuries.

It’s Nat Purwa – a small village in India’s most populated state - Uttar Pradesh.

About 5,000 people live here.

Women here have been passing down prostitution as a profession from one generation to another.

Not very long ago, all women in the village were sex workers.

Pinku, who goes by one name, is the head of Nat Purwa.

“Initially, the society was strictly divided by the caste system. The people from the higher caste used to employ those from the lower caste to work in the fields and farms. The wives and daughters of these Dalit workers were then forced into sex slavery by the higher caste rulers. They would drink and sleep with the Dalit women to quench their sexual desires. The women were helpless and couldn’t raise their voice. Slowly it turned into a business.”

What Pinku says is only one part of the story.

Experts point out at another reason.

People living in Nat Purwa belong to a marginalised community called the ‘Nat’ community, who were traditional performers and entertainers.

During colonial rule, their activities were classified as a “criminal” and they were robbed off their livelihoods. This pushed their women into prostitution.

For generations that followed, family members, in most cases men, began pimping out women to earn a living.

But one woman spoke out against this tradition, Chandralekha. She became a sex worker when she was 15.

“My father didn’t want me to become a prostitute, but my grandmother said it not the tradition in the village that women get married. There were no weddings in the village those days. She said that if she gets married, she will get beaten up. The whole village is involved in prostitution, so what difference does it make whether she joins or not, my grandma said. She was the one who got me involved.”

Chandralekha says, she didn’t have a choice back then.

“Look, I always felt bad. With the first man, then the second, fourth, fifth, sixth. Thousands of men come to one woman. I’d say a woman starts feeling bad since the beginning, but there’s a weakness. There’s a hungry stomach to feed. And there is a resignation that, ‘I am already trapped in this trade. So there’s nothing to hope for.’ So yes, you feel bad since the beginning, but she has to put up with everything.”

However, one incident made her change her mind after 20 years.

“One day, I was dancing at a neighbouring village. I had a fight with someone higher up in the village then. He swore at me. He badmouthed my mother. I was very angry then. I learned then that in reality, there’s no respect to the life of a prostitute. A whore is a whore. I returned home after two days of dancing and singing -- there was some kind of function going on. I didn’t eat for those two days that I stayed there. I kept crying. I was very angry. When I came home, I promised myself that I would never wear anklets on my feet after that day. I sacrificed my anklets that day on.”

There’s a lot of stigma attached to Nat Purwa and its people.

Ram Babu, who’s a social worker, explains.

“‘Whose son are you? A prostitute’s son? You must be a bastard then. Nobody knows who your father is. Nobody knows whose son you are.’ These are the questions we have to face outside. And when young boys have to face this question outside, I am sure they are hurt by this attitude. But they can’t do anything. They are helpless.”

Ram Babu has been working with an NGO called ASHA to help women involved in prostitution.

Efforts by his NGO has brought a change in attitude.

Over years they have convinced more and more women to break the tradition and embrace a different future.

He says 60 percent of the women have successfully left their past behind.

But challenges remain.

“If you want to see progress, you should be able to offer them an alternative way of earning their livelihood. If they are given a concrete option, then they will give it a serious thought. Another long term step that needs to be taken is education. It’s a big problem here. When there’s no education, it’s easy to be led by others.”

Ram Babu complains of lack of funds and assistance from the government.

But no matter how slow, there are signs of change.

The first generation of girls in Nat Purwa is seeing a classroom today.

Baislu is a student at the government school in Nat Purwa.

“I want to become a doctor because I want to give medicines to poor people and take care of poor people.”