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The odds against a girl in India are immense. Neglect, malnutrition, ill-health, lack of education, a life without assets, an early marriage and motherhood, the list is long.

For decades, Cao Fenping and his wife farmed their tiny plot of land with little security. As was standard throughout China, they had no title and knew that village leaders could and would reallocate farmers’ plots regularly

Mr. Liu is part of the agricultural revolution in China that has sparked the largest, most successful, poverty reduction program in the history of the world…