Balangir is a district in the west of Orissa
Balangir is also the name of the main town in the district.
It is 350km away from the capital city, Bhubaneshwar. It takes ten hours on a train to travel this journey or eight hours in a car.
The summer lasts from June to October when the temperatures are hot and the monsoon rains come. It can get as hot as 51C.
The winter lasts from November to May and it can get as cold as 4C. It used to rain a little during this time but this has not happened much in the last few years. Balangir has been suffering from a drought and people have found it difficult to survive.
Balangir district is one of the poorest areas of India. 90% of the people live in poverty and 30% do not have enough to eat during the winter.
91% of people live in rural areas in Balangir. There are 1792 villages. 25% of the people do not own any land, 67% of people own a small bit of land and 8% of people own most of the land.
Find out more:
» www.balangir.nic.in