India, May 1 -- Murlidhar Devidas Amte, the social activist popularly known as Baba Amte, referred to this central India belt-or, poverty's own republic-as the country's "cummerbund". He described the region as a repository of immense natural wealth-arguably the country's richest geography. India's poorest districts overlap with some of its richest forests, most high-value mineral deposits and major river basins.

Across the world, the geography of poverty follows a similar pattern. The closer one is to natural resources, the higher the likelihood of poverty. The equation of poverty is also generally similar. The greater the reliance on ecology or nature for survival, the higher the probability of being poor. Estimates suggest that natura...