India, May 1 -- "I AM A SUKHBASI"

Kalahandi-Balangir-Koraput-the poverty triad, also known as KBK-is a geographical marker of destitution. The contiguous eight districts, with over 12,000 villages and covering over 30 per cent of Odisha, have poverty embedded in their landscape and time. As one explores its history, the region appears Janus-faced. With dense forests, it receives around 1,400 mm of rain a year, has over 50 rivers with perennial flows, and regularly records snowfall-like events. It was regarded the "rice bowl" of the Central Provinces of the British India.

Yet over the past 125 years, drought has struck the region for 100 years, 10 famines have left a collective memory of a dance macabre, and 20 severe floods have wiped o...