Vidarbha

 
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, Buldhana, Yavatmal, Bhandara, Gondia, Washim,and Gadchiroli. It is less economically prosperous

compared to the rest of Maharashtra.
 
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 is in the west. It is also one of India's 25 Project Tiger

Reserves.
 
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.
 
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."
 
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.