India, June 17 -- Do you know how to swim?" asks a boater. I reply in the affirmative, and he directs me to sit on the raised edges of two dongis, pushed together. As we set off on the small, handcrafted boats from the banks of the Kotri river in Narayanpur district, Chhattisgarh, the boater explains that the dongis are about 20 years old and have some holes, so in case of leaks everyone would have to swim.

Even from the vast expanse of the Kotri, the desolate nature of this area in Bastar is evident. Our destination is Abujhmad, a forested tribal settlement which has long been closed to the state; or rather, country. Half a century ago, when Chhattisgarh was part of Madhya Pradesh, the dense forests of Abujhmad became a haven for Maoist...