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Vidarbha is the north-eastern region of Maharashtra state, now forming two divisions (Nagpur and Amravati). Vidarbha comprises the districts of Nagpur, Amravati, Chandrapur, Akola, Wardha, Buldana, Yavatmal, Bhandara, Gondia, Washim, and Gadchiroli. It is less economically prosperous compared to the rest of Maharashtra.^[1]

Vidarbha's economy is primarily agricultural. The main cash crops of the region are cotton, oranges and soyabean. Traditional crops are sorghum(jowar), pearl millet (bajra) and rice.

Natural resources

The Vidarbha region is rich in forest and mineral resources. Its lush green deciduous forests are home to a variety of flora and fauna. These attract a large number of visitors each year.

All Maharashtra's tiger reserves are located in Vidarbha. They are Melghat Tiger Reserve in Amravati district, Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve in Chandrapur district and Pench Tiger Reserve in Nagpur district. Although the western region of the Vidarbha is poor in natural resources in comparison with the eastern region, Maharashtra's oldest National Park created in 1955, the Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve^[2] is in the west. It is also one of India's 25 Project Tiger Reserves.^[3]

The National Park is 623 km² in area, consisting of two forested rectangles of the Tadoba and Andhari range. Aside from around 50 tigers, Tadoba Tiger Reserve is home to rare Indian wildlife like leopards, sloth bears, gaur, wild dogs, hyenas, civet and jungle cats, and many species of Indian deer like sambar, cheetal, nilgai, and barking deer. The Tadoba lake sustains the Marsh Crocodile, which were once common all over Maharashtra. Tadoba is also an ornithologist's paradise with a varied diversity of aquatic birdlife, and Raptors.

Thickly clad hills form the northern and western boundary of the Tiger Reserve. To the southwest is a huge lake which acts as a buffer between the park's forest and the extensive farmland which extends up to Irai Lake.

Adjacent to the core forested hills is the Chichghat valley which hosts the forest lodge www.tigertrails.in The Tadoba Tiger Reserve is an undisturbed forest not visited by many tourists. Tadoba Tiger Reserve is open throughout the year and so is the lodge. The camp is a three-hour road journey from the city of Nagpur, Maharashtra. Please note that the park stays closed every Tuesday.

History

Nagpur was the capital of the Bhonsle dynasty of Marathas who in the mid eighteenth century created an independent Hindu princely state that covered much of east-central India. After their defeat in the Third Anglo-Maratha War in 1818, the Bhonsle dominions were reduced to the Nagpur division. In 1853 the last Maharaja of Nagpur died without a male heir and subsequently Nagpur division was incorporated into mainstream British India. Nagpur division became a part of the British Raj's Central Provinces in 1861.

Amravati division, formerly known as Berar, was administered by the Nizam of Hyderabad until 1853. In that year, citing misgovernance by the Nizam, the British colonial administration took direct control over the province. Berar was added to the Central Provinces in 1903.

After India's independence in 1947, Central Provinces and Berar became the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. In 1956 Vidarbha was transferred to Bombay state to unify all Marathi-speaking areas. In 1960 Bombay state was split along linguistic lines into the states of Maharashtra and Gujarat. Marathi-speaking Vidarbha became part of the state of Maharashtra.

Statehood Movement

In recent years there have been sporadic calls by the inhabitants for Vidarbha to secede from Maharashtra. This is based in part on the feeling of being neglected by the Maharashtra state government and in part on assertion of a distinct cultural identity. The people have complained that the region has fallen behind others in Maharashtra in attracting investment and development funds. The region is comparatively poorly served by roads, irrigation facilities and educational institutions. However political movements for attaining statehood have lost steam as the leaders were seen to be opportunistic.

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh toured Vidarbha as part of his efforts to oversee the progress of rural regeneration schemes and announced a rehabilitation package for the region.^[4]

Mythological Importance

More than cultural distinctness from the rest of Maharashtra, Vidarbha has evolved historically in a different fashion. Mention of Vidarbha in many mythological stories also indicate this:

• The marriage of Agastya and Lopamudra.
• Rukmini-haran by lord Krishna
• Kundinpur, the mythological capital of Vidarbha has been mentioned in Mahabharata
• The story of king Nala and Damayanti, also in the Mahabharata.

Ramayana has the reference of Vidarbha as one on the Janapadas at that time.

Kalidasa's epic poem "Meghdutam" also mentions Vidarbha as the place of banishment of the Yaksha Gandharva.

Current situation

Vidarbha was in the media spotlight for a spate of farmer suicides in recent years ostensibly because of the falling Minimum Support Price for cotton. The problem is complex and root causes include lopsided policies of the World Trade Organisation and developed nations' subsidies to their cotton farmers which make Vidarbha's cotton uncompetitive in world markets. Consequently Vidarbha is plagued by high rates of school drop outs, penniless widows left in the wake of suicides, loan sharks and exploitation of the vulnerable groups.

The Indian government had promised to increase the minimum rate for cotton by approximately Rs 100 ($2) but reneged on its promise by reducing the Minimum Support Price further. This resulted in more suicides as farmers were ashamed to default on debt payments to loan sharks. "In 2006, 1,044 suicides were reported in Vidarbha alone - that's one suicide every eight hours."^[5]

On 1 July 2006 the Prime Minister of India Manmohan Singh announced a Rs. 3,750-crore (Rupees 37.5 billion) relief package for Vidharbha. The package should help farmers in six districts of the region. However not everybody is convinced that the aid is getting through to where it is needed. Activists covering the region feel that a lot more needs to be done. A fortnight after the PM's package was announced, journalist P Sainath wrote the following article in the Hindu criticising the package and saying that it was destined to fail.

In April 2007 an NGO named Green Earth Social Development Consulting brought out a report after doing an audit of the state and central government relief packages in Vidarbha. The report's conclusions were:

• Farmers' demands were not taken into count while preparing the relief package. Neither were civil society organisations, local government bodies, panchayats etc consulted.
• The relief packages were mostly amalgamations of exiting schemes. Apart from the farmer helpline and the direct financial assistance, there was scarcely anythign new being offered. Pumping extra funds into additional schemes shows that no new idea was applied to solve a situation where existing measures had obviously failed.
• The farmer helpline did not give any substantial help to farmers
• The basis for selection of beneficiaries under the assistance scheme was not well-defined. Also, type of assistance to be given led to problems like a farmer needing a pair of bullocks getting a pump set and vice versa (or a farmer who has no access to water sources being given pump sets)
• Awareness regarding the package was also pretty low.

The report concluded quite alarmingly that the loan burden of the farmers will double in 2008

See also

• List of regions in India

References

External links

• http://www.tigertrails.in

Agnimitra Akola Amravati Division Bhojakata Dasarna Kingdom

Farmers' suicides in India Maharashtra Nagpur Panjabrao Deshmukh Payoshni

Pritam Gandhe Ranji Trophy in 2005-06 Rukmi Shivaji education Society Vidarbha Cricket Association Ground

Vidarbha Janata Congress Vidarbha Kingdom Vidarbha Rajya Nirman Congress Vidarbha Vikas Party More results