Vidarbha (Pronunciation: �id̪əɾbʱə is a geographical region in the

west India Western India is a loosely defined region of India consisting of western states of Republic of India. The Ministry of Home Affairs in its Western Zonal Council Administrative division includes the states of Goa, Gujarat, and Maharashtra al ...

state State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...

Maharashtra Maharashtra () is a state in the western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. It is bordered by the Arabian Sea to the west, the Indian states of Karnataka and Goa to the south, Telangana to th ...

. Forming the eastern part of the state, it comprises

Amravati Amravati (/Marathi phonology, əmᵊɾɑʋᵊt̪iː/) is a city in Maharashtra located in the Vidarbha region. It is the ninth largest city in Maharashtra, India & second largest city in the Vidarbha region in terms of population. It is the ...

and

Nagpur Nagpur (; ISO 15919, ISO: ''Nāgapura'') is the second capital and third-largest city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is called the heart of India because of its central geographical location. It is the largest and most populated city i ...

divisions. As per the 2011 Census, the region had a population of 23,003,179. The region occupies 31.6% of the total area and is home to 21.3% of the total population of Maharashtra. Situated in central India, it borders the state of

Madhya Pradesh Madhya Pradesh (; ; ) is a state in central India. Its capital is Bhopal and the largest city is Indore, Indore. Other major cities includes Gwalior, Jabalpur, and Sagar, Madhya Pradesh, Sagar. Madhya Pradesh is the List of states and union te ...

to the north,

Chhattisgarh Chhattisgarh (; ) is a landlocked States and union territories of India, state in Central India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, ninth largest state by area, and with a population of roughly 30 million, the List ...

to the east,

Telangana Telangana is a States and union territories of India, state in India situated in the Southern India, south-central part of the Indian subcontinent on the high Deccan Plateau. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, ele ...

to the south and

Marathwada Marathwada () is a geographical region of the States and territories of India, Indian state of Maharashtra. It was formed during the Nizam of Hyderabad, Nizam's rule and was part of the then Hyderabad State. The region coincides with the Aurang ...

and Uttar Maharashtra regions of Maharashtra to the west. According to the

Hindu epic Mahākāvya (lit. great kāvya, court epic), also known as ''sargabandha'', is a genre of Indian epic poetry in Classical Sanskrit. The genre is characterised by ornate and elaborate descriptions of phenomena such as scenery, love, and battles. Ty ...

Mahabharata The ''Mahābhārata'' ( ; , , ) is one of the two major Sanskrit Indian epic poetry, epics of ancient India revered as Smriti texts in Hinduism, the other being the ''Ramayana, Rāmāyaṇa''. It narrates the events and aftermath of the Kuru ...

'',

Rukmini Rukmini (, ) is a Devi, Hindu goddess and the first queen of Krishna. She is described as the chief of Krishna's wives in Dvārakā. Rukmini is revered as the avatar of Lakshmi and is venerated primarily in Warkari, and Haridasa tradition, and ...

, the wife of lord

Krishna Krishna (; Sanskrit language, Sanskrit: कृष्ण, ) is a major deity in Hinduism. He is worshipped as the eighth avatar of Vishnu and also as the Supreme God (Hinduism), Supreme God in his own right. He is the god of protection, c ...

, was born to

Bhishmaka Bhishmaka (), also called Hiranyaroman, is the king of Vidarbha In Hinduism. He is the father of Rukmini, the chief wife of Krishna and an incarnation of the goddess Lakshmi. Legend Skanda Purana The Skanda Purana describes Bhishmaka to be a ...

, the king of the Vidarbha kingdom. Vidarbha was part of the

Satavahana Empire The Satavahanas (; ''Sādavāhana'' or ''Sātavāhana'', IAST: ), also referred to as the Andhras (also ''Andhra-bhṛtyas'' or ''Andhra-jatiyas'') in the Puranas, were an ancient Indian dynasty. Most modern scholars believe that the Satavaha ...

during 1st to 2nd century CE). The coins and inscriptions from the period of Paramara king

Jagadeva Jagadeva, also known as Jagaddeva or Jagdev Parmar, was an 11th-12th century prince from the Paramara dynasty of central India. He is known from an inscription discovered at Jainad and some folk legends. His political status is uncertain, altho ...

, the son of the

Udayaditya Udayāditya (reigned c. 1070–1093) was a Paramara ruler of Malwa region of central India, who succeeded Jayasimha I. He is known for driving out the Kalachuri King Lakshmikarna. He was succeeded by his son, either Lakshmadeva or Naravarm ...

(reigned c. 1060–1086) have been found in the northern parts the region. According to the ''

Ain-i-Akbari The ''Ain-i-Akbari'' (), or the "Administration of Akbar", is a 16th-century detailed document regarding the administration of the Mughal Empire under Emperor Akbar, written by his court historian, Abu'l Fazl, in the Persian language. It forms ...

'', the region was part of

Berar Subah The Berar Subah () was one of the Subahs (provinces) of the Mughal Empire, in Central India from 1596 to 1724. It bordered Golconda, Ahmandagar (both conquered in 1601), Kandesh and Malwa provinces as well as the independent and tributary kin ...

, in the

Medieval period In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...

. In 1680, the region was captured by

Sambhaji Sambhaji (Sambhajiraje Shivajiraje Bhonsle, ; 14 May 1657 – 11 March 1689), also known as Shambhuraje, ruled from 1681 to 1689 as the second king ( Chhatrapati) of the Maratha Empire, a prominent state in early modern India. He was the elde ...

, the son of

Shivaji Shivaji I (Shivaji Shahaji Bhonsale, ; 19 February 1630 – 3 April 1680) was an Indian ruler and a member of the Bhonsle dynasty. Shivaji carved out his own independent kingdom from the Sultanate of Bijapur that formed the genesis of the ...

, who was the founder of

Maratha empire The Maratha Empire, also referred to as the Maratha Confederacy, was an early modern India, early modern polity in the Indian subcontinent. It comprised the realms of the Peshwa and four major independent List of Maratha dynasties and states, Ma ...

. In 1724,

Asaf Jah The Asaf Jahi is a Muslim dynasty that ruled the Hyderabad State. The family came to India in the late 17th century and became employees of the Mughal Empire. They were great patrons of Indo-Persian culture, language, and literature, and the fa ...

, who later became the

Nizam of Hyderabad Nizam of Hyderabad was the title of the ruler of Hyderabad State ( part of the Indian state of Telangana, and the Kalyana-Karnataka region of Karnataka). ''Nizam'' is a shortened form of (; ), and was the title bestowed upon Asaf Jah I wh ...

, declared independence and brought most of the region under his nominal rule. The administration and right of collecting taxes were held by the Marathas. In 1803, following the defeat of the Marathas, the region came under the rule of

British East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company that was founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to Indian Ocean trade, trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (South A ...

. Later, the

British Empire The British Empire comprised the dominions, Crown colony, colonies, protectorates, League of Nations mandate, mandates, and other Dependent territory, territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It bega ...

took control of the region from the British East India Company in 1857, and the region was part of

Berar Berar may refer to: *Vidarbha, the eastern region of Maharashtra, India, historically known as Berar * Berar Sultanate (1490–1596), one of the Deccan sultanates *Berar Subah (1596–1724), a subah (province) of the Mughal Empire *Berar Province ( ...

and

Central Provinces The Central Provinces was a province of British India. It comprised British conquests from the Mughals and Marathas in central India, and covered parts of present-day Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra states. Nagpur was the primary ...

. After Indian Independence in 1947, the region remained a part of the

Central Provinces and Berar The Central Provinces and Berar was a province of British India and later the Dominion of India which existed from 1903 to 1950. It was formed by the merger of the Central Provinces with the province of Berar, which was territory leased by the ...

. After the Re-organization of Indian states, majority of the region became part of

Bombay State Bombay State was a large Indian state created in 1950 from the erstwhile Bombay Province, with other regions being added to it in the succeeding years. Bombay Province (in British India roughly equating to the present-day Indian state of Mah ...

in 1957. After the bifurcation of

, into

Gujarat Gujarat () is a States of India, state along the Western India, western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the List of states and union territories ...

and

, the region became part of

. The

GDP Gross domestic product (GDP) is a monetary measure of the total market value of all the final goods and services produced and rendered in a specific time period by a country or countries. GDP is often used to measure the economic performance o ...

of the region is estimated to be 2023-24. The economy of the region is largely dependent on

agriculture Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created ...

with

oranges The orange, also called sweet orange to distinguish it from the bitter orange (''Citrus × aurantium''), is the fruit of a tree in the family Rutaceae. Botanically, this is the hybrid ''Citrus'' × ''sinensis'', between the pomelo (''Citrus m ...

and

cotton Cotton (), first recorded in ancient India, is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus '' Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure ...

being the major crops. The region also holds considerable mineral resources and forest cover. The region is economically under developed compared to the rest of Maharashtra with considerable

poverty Poverty is a state or condition in which an individual lacks the financial resources and essentials for a basic standard of living. Poverty can have diverse Biophysical environmen ...

and

malnutrition Malnutrition occurs when an organism gets too few or too many nutrients, resulting in health problems. Specifically, it is a deficiency, excess, or imbalance of energy, protein and other nutrients which adversely affects the body's tissues a ...

. Agriculture is largely dependent on seasonal

monsoons A monsoon () is traditionally a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by corresponding changes in precipitation but is now used to describe seasonal changes in atmospheric circulation and precipitation associated with annual latitudinal oscil ...

and the region receives very less rainfall due to its location in the

rain shadow A rain shadow is an area of significantly reduced rainfall behind a mountainous region, on the side facing away from prevailing winds, known as its leeward side. Evaporated moisture from body of water, bodies of water (such as oceans and larg ...

region of the Western Ghats.

Drought A drought is a period of drier-than-normal conditions.Douville, H., K. Raghavan, J. Renwick, R.P. Allan, P.A. Arias, M. Barlow, R. Cerezo-Mota, A. Cherchi, T.Y. Gan, J. Gergis, D. Jiang, A. Khan, W. Pokam Mba, D. Rosenfeld, J. Tierney, ...

s and

famines A famine is a widespread scarcity of food caused by several possible factors, including, but not limited to war, natural disasters, crop failure, widespread poverty, an economic catastrophe or government policies. This phenomenon is usuall ...

are common with more than 1.4 lakh farmer

suicide Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Risk factors for suicide include mental disorders, physical disorders, and substance abuse. Some suicides are impulsive acts driven by stress (such as from financial or ac ...

s in the period 1997 to 2006. The largest and major city in the region is

and other major towns include

Akola Akola () is a major city in the Vidarbha region of the Indian state of Maharashtra. The third largest city in Eastern Maharashtra after Nagpur and Amravati, it is located about east of the state capital, Mumbai, and west of the second ca ...

Chandrapur Chandrapur (earlier known as ''Chanda'', the official name until 1964) is a city and a municipal corporation in Chandrapur district, Maharashtra state, India. It is the district headquarters of Chandrapur district. Chandrapur is a fort city ...

and

Gondia Gondia (also spelled as Gondiya, Marathi pronunciation: �on̪d̪iaː is a city and headquarters of eponymous Gondia District in Maharashtra, India. Gondia is also known as ''Rice City'' due to the abundance of rice mills in the area. Gondi ...

Varhadi Varhadi or Varhadi-Nagpuri is a dialect of Marathi spoken in Vidarbha region of Maharashtra and by Marathi people of adjoining parts of Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Telangana in India. Vocabulary and grammar Although all the dialect ...

and Zadi dialects of

Marathi Marathi may refer to: *Marathi people, an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group of Maharashtra, India **Marathi people (Uttar Pradesh), the Marathi people in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh *Marathi language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Mar ...

is widely spoken. There have been demands for a separate state of Vidarbha, due to perceived neglect from the

Government of Maharashtra The Government of Maharashtra is the executive branch of the Indian states of india, state of Maharashtra. The government is led by the List of chief ministers of Maharashtra, chief minister (currently Devendra Fadnavis since 5 December 2024) ...

. While the demand is supported by major political parties BJP and

Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...

, it is opposed by

Shiv Sena Shiv Sena (1966–2022) (; ; SS) was a right-wing Marathi regionalist Hindutva-based political party in India founded in 1966 by Bal Thackeray, who was later succeeded by Uddhav Thackeray. The party is split into two parties: the Uddha ...

, one of the major regional political parties in the state.

History

According to the

'' and other ''

Puranic Puranas (Merriam-Webster's Encyclopedia of Literature
(1995 Editio ...

'' scriptures, princess

considered to be an incarnation of the goddess

Lakshmi Lakshmi (; , , sometimes spelled Laxmi, ), also known as Shri (, , ), is one of the principal goddesses in Hinduism, revered as the goddess of wealth, fortune, prosperity, beauty, fertility, sovereignty, and abundance. She along with Parvat ...

and the wife of lord

, was born to Bhishmaka, the king of the Vidarbha kingdom. Vidarbha was part of the

during 1st to 2nd century CE), ascertained by the Satavahana coins found in

Pauni Pauni is a town and a Municipal Council in Bhandara district in the Indian state of Maharashtra. Now it has National Highway NH-247. Pauni is also known as Kashi of Vidarbha due to its wide swath of temples. Geography Pauni is located at . It ...

Paramaras of Vidarbha King Jagaddeva 12th-13th centuries

The coins and inscriptions from the period of Paramara king

have been found in the northern parts the region. An inscription discovered at Jainad names Jagadeva as the son of the Paramara king

(reigned c. 1060–1086). Scholar M. H. Krishna argued that the

Chalukya The Chalukya dynasty () was a Classical Indian dynasty that ruled large parts of southern and central India between the 6th and the 12th centuries. During this period, they ruled as three related yet individual dynasties. The earliest dynas ...

king Someshvara was known by the title "Jagadeva" ("Lord of the world") in the northern part of his kingdom, and it was he who issued these coins. However, all the known Chalukya coins featured

Kannada script The Kannada script ( IAST: ''Kannaḍa lipi''; obsolete: Kanarese or Canarese script in English) is an abugida of the Brahmic family, used to write Kannada, one of the Dravidian languages of South India especially in the state of Karnataka. I ...

, while the coins of Jagadeva featured the

Nagari script Nagari may refer to: Writing systems * Nāgarī script, a script used in India during the first millennium * Devanagari, a script used since the late first millennium and currently in widespread use for the languages of northern India * Nandina ...

used by the Paramaras. According to the ''

'', the region was part of

, known as the Gulshan-e-Berar in the

. In 1680, the region was captured by

, the son of

who was the founder of

. In 1724, following a battle at

Buldana Buldhana (Marathi pronunciation: ) is a city and a Municipal Council in the Indian state of Maharashtra, established on 17 February 1893. It is the administrative headquarters of Buldhana District in the Amravati Division. Buldhana is the secon ...

defeated the

Mughal Mughal or Moghul may refer to: Related to the Mughal Empire * Mughal Empire of South Asia between the 16th and 19th centuries * Mughal dynasty * Mughal emperors * Mughal people, a social group of Central and South Asia * Mughal architecture * Mug ...

governor and declared independence. Most of the region came under the nominal rule of Jah, who later became the

, though the administration and right of collecting

chauth Chauth (from ) was a regular tax or tribute imposed from the early 18th century by the Maratha Empire in the Indian subcontinent. It was an annual tax nominally levied at 25% on revenue or produce, hence the name, on lands that were under nominal M ...

were held by the Marathas. In 1803, following the defeat of the Marathas, the region came under the rule of

. Later, the

took control of the region from the British East India Company in 1857. After Indian Independence in 1947, the region was part of the

. After the

States Reorganisation Act The States Reorganisation Act, 1956 was a major reform of the boundaries of India's States and union territories of India, states and territories, organising them along linguistic lines. Although additional changes to India's state boundaries ...

, which re-organized state boundaries, majority of the region became part of

Geography

Vidarbha lies in

Central India Central India refers to a geographical region of India that generally includes the states of Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh. The Central Zonal Council, established by the Government of India, includes these states as well as Uttar Prades ...

on the northern part of the

Deccan Plateau The Deccan is a plateau extending over an area of and occupies the majority of the Indian peninsula. It stretches from the Satpura Range, Satpura and Vindhya Ranges in the north to the northern fringes of Tamil Nadu in the south. It is bound ...

. It borders the state of

to the north,

to the east,

to the south and

and Uttar Maharashtra regions of Maharashtra to the west. It lies in the

region of the Western Ghats and the terrain is largely flat. The

Satpura Range The Satpura Range, formerly also known as the Seeonee Hills, is a range of hills in central India. The range rises in eastern Gujarat running east through the border of Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh and ends in Chhattisgarh. The range paralle ...

lies to the north of Vidarbha region with

Melghat Melghat was among the first nine tiger reserves of India to be notified in 1973 under Project Tiger. It is located in the northern part of Amravati District of Maharashtra. Melghat Wildlife Sanctuary was declared as in 1985. The total area o ...

Amravati district Amravati district (Marathi pronunciation: Help:IPA/Marathi, �mɾaːʋət̪iː is a Districts of Maharashtra, district of Maharashtra state in central India. It is the administrative headquarter of Amravati division, which is one of the two ...

forming part of the southern offshoot of the Satpura Range. Large

basalt Basalt (; ) is an aphanite, aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the planetary surface, surface of a terrestrial ...

ic rock formations exists throughout the region, part of the 66-million-year-old volcanic

Deccan Traps The Deccan Traps are a large igneous province of west-central India (17–24°N, 73–74°E). They are one of the largest volcanic features on Earth, taking the form of a large shield volcano. They consist of many layers of solidified flood ...

. Bhandara and Gondia district are entirely occupied by metamorphic rock and alluvium, making their geology unique in Maharashtra. The Poorna river basin lies in Western Vidarbha and comprises

, Amaravati and

Buldhana district Buldhana district (Marathi pronunciation: ulɖʰaːɳa is located in the Amravati division of Maharashtra, India. It is situated at the western border of Vidarbha region and is 500 km away from the state capital, Mumbai. The district ha ...

s. The region has extremely high innate soil and water salinity.

Administration

Vidarbha has 11 districts divided into two divisions:

(earlier

) and

divisions. Each district has a collector's office which is responsible for day-to-day administration. The

District Collector The district magistrate, also known as the district collector or deputy commissioner, is a career civil servant who serves as the executive head of a district's administration in India. The specific name depends on the state or union territo ...

is a Central Indian Government IAS appointee who is in charge of the governance of a district in a state.

Demographics

Vidarbha has a total population of according to the 2011 India census. The region occupies 31.6% of the total area and is home to 21.3% of the total population of Maharashtra. According to the 2011 census,

Hinduism Hinduism () is an Hypernymy and hyponymy, umbrella term for a range of Indian religions, Indian List of religions and spiritual traditions#Indian religions, religious and spiritual traditions (Sampradaya, ''sampradaya''s) that are unified ...

was the principal religion in the state at 76.91% of the total population, while

Buddhists Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or 5th century BCE. It is the world's fourth ...

constituted 13.08 of the total population. Vidarbha accounts for 45.91% of total Buddhists in

. The largest city in the region is

and other major cities include

and

Language and culture

As per the 2011 census, 73.72% of the population speaks

, 8.30%

Hindi Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...

, 6.23%

Urdu Urdu (; , , ) is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in South Asia. It is the Languages of Pakistan, national language and ''lingua franca'' of Pakistan. In India, it is an Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of Indi ...

, 2.58%

Lambadi Lambadi, Lambani, Lamani or Banjari is a Western Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Banjara people across India. The language does not have a native script. Regional dialects are divided between the Banjara of Maharashtra (written in Devanaga ...

, 1.83% Gondi, 1.10% Korku and 1.02%

Telugu Telugu may refer to: * Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of South India ** Telugu literature, is the body of works written in the Telugu language. * Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India * Telugu script, used to write the Tel ...

as their first language.

and Zadi dialects of

are widely spoken.

Hindu Hindus (; ; also known as Sanātanīs) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism, also known by its endonym Sanātana Dharma. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pp. 35–37 Historically, the term has also be ...

festivals like

Holi Holi () is a major Hindu festival celebrated as the Festival of Colours, Love and Spring.The New Oxford Dictionary of English (1998) p. 874 "Holi /'həʊli:/ noun a Hindu spring festival ...".Yudit Greenberg, Encyclopedia of Love in World ...

Diwali Diwali (), also called Deepavali (IAST: ''Dīpāvalī'') or Deepawali (IAST: ''Dīpāwalī''), is the Hindu festival of lights, with variations celebrated in other Indian religions such as Jainism and Sikhism. It symbolises the spiritual v ...

and Dasara are celebrated throughout the region. The

Nagpur Central Museum The Nagpur Central Museum, popularly known as Ajab Bangala, is located in Nagpur, Maharashtra, India. Established in 1863, Nagpur Central Museum is one of the oldest museums in India and Maharashtra. It holds important artifacts such as dinosaur ...

( 1863) maintains collections from the region.

Economy

The

of the region is estimated to be 2022-23. The region also holds considerable mineral resources and forest cover. The region is economically under developed compared to the rest of Maharashtra with considerable

poverty Poverty is a state or condition in which an individual lacks the financial resources and essentials for a basic standard of living. Poverty can have diverse Biophysical environmen ...

and

. The economy of the region is largely dependent on

with

and

being the major crops. Agriculture is largely dependent on seasonal

and the region receives very less rainfall.

s and

are common with more than 1.4 lakh farmer suicides in the period 1997 to 2006. Though the

federal government A federation (also called a federal state) is an entity characterized by a political union, union of partially federated state, self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a #Federal governments, federal government (federalism) ...

has provided relief packages aimed at the region, with corruption rampant in the region. Columnist and journalist P Sainath opined that the relief packages were destined to fail as corruption in the government meant that little impact happened on the ground. Nagpur is a major hub for business and healthcare.

MIHAN The Multi-modal International Cargo Hub and Airport at Nagpur (MIHAN) is an airport project for Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar International Airport, Nagpur. It is the biggest economical development project currently underway in India in terms of inves ...

is the major cargo hub in the region, operational out of

Nagpur Airport Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar International Airport is an international airport serving the city of Nagpur, Maharashtra, India. The airport is located at Sonegaon, 8 km (5 mi) southwest of Nagpur. The airport covers an area of 1,355 acres ...

. Nagpur also hosts

Information Technology Information technology (IT) is a set of related fields within information and communications technology (ICT), that encompass computer systems, software, programming languages, data processing, data and information processing, and storage. Inf ...

Special Economic Zone A special economic zone (SEZ) is an area in which the business and trade laws are different from the rest of the country. SEZs are located within a country's national borders, and their aims include increasing trade balance, employment, increas ...

(IT SEZ). for information-technology companies. Amravati and

Yavatmal Yavatmal ( is a city and municipal council in the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the administrative headquarters of Yavatmal District. Yavatmal is around 90 km away from divisional headquarters Amravati while it is away from the st ...

are known for cotton production.

has a

thermal power station A thermal power station, also known as a thermal power plant, is a type of power station in which the heat energy generated from various fuel sources (e.g., coal, natural gas, nuclear fuel, etc.) is converted to electrical energy. The heat ...

, which is one of the biggest in India. There are other heavy industries and mines in the region. The region has mineral resources with coal and

manganese Manganese is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Mn and atomic number 25. It is a hard, brittle, silvery metal, often found in minerals in combination with iron. Manganese was first isolated in the 1770s. It is a transition m ...

, the major minerals. Iron ore and

limestone Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...

have also been identified as potential mining resources.

Chandrapur district Chandrapur district (Marathi pronunciation: ͡ʃən̪d̪ɾəpuːɾ (earlier known as ''Chanda district'') is a district in the Nagpur Division in the Indian state of Maharashtra. Chandrapur was the largest district in India until the Gadchirol ...

contributes 29% of all mineral output of Maharashtra.

Education

Sports and recreation

Cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

is the most popular sport in the region. Nagpur's

Vidarbha Cricket Association Ground The Vidarbha Cricket Association Ground is a cricket ground located in the city of Nagpur. The ground is known as the VCA Ground and belongs to the Central Zone. The first match was played here in October 1969. As of 19 August 2017, it has ho ...

(VCA) hosted international cricket matches. In 2008, the new

Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium The New Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium, also known as Jamtha Stadium, is a cricket stadium in Nagpur, Maharashtra, India. It is the second largest cricket stadium in India in terms of field area after the Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh Int ...

was built in Jamtha. The eastern part of Vidarbha consists of Maharashtra's oldest

National Park A national park is a nature park designated for conservation (ethic), conservation purposes because of unparalleled national natural, historic, or cultural significance. It is an area of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that is protecte ...

, the Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve, one of the Project Tiger Reserves.

Shegaon Shegaon is a city and municipal council in the Buldana district, Buldhana district in the Indian States and territories of India, state of Maharashtra. Shegaon has become a pilgrimage centre due to the influence of Shri Sant Gajanan Maharaj, w ...

is a place of pilgrimage with temples attributed to the Hindu saint

Gajanan Maharaj Gajanan Maharaj was an Indian Hindu guru, saint and mystic. His origins remain uncertain. He first appeared at Shegaon, a village in Buldhana district, Maharashtra, as a young man aged 30, probably on 23 February 1878. He attained ''Sanjeevana ...

who lived there.

Chikhaldara Chikhaldara is a hill station and a municipal council in the Amravati district in the Indian state of Maharashtra. Chikaldhara, literally translates from Marathi to mud stream/falls (''chikal'' + ''dhara''). Hindus claim that this place was fe ...

in Amravati district is a

hill station A hill station is a touristic town located at a higher elevation than the nearby plain or valley. The English term was originally used mostly in Western imperialism in Asia, colonial Asia, but also in Africa (albeit rarely), for towns founded by ...

and popular tourist destination.

Politics

Vidarbha has ten

Lok Sabha The Lok Sabha, also known as the House of the People, is the lower house of Parliament of India which is Bicameralism, bicameral, where the upper house is Rajya Sabha. Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha, Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by a ...

constituencies.

Nagpur district Nagpur district (Marathi pronunciation: Help:IPA/Marathi, aːɡpuːɾ is a Districts of Maharashtra, district in the Vidarbha region of Maharashtra state in central India. The city of Nagpur is the district administrative centre. The district ...

has two seats

and

Ramtek Ramtek is a city and municipal council in Nagpur district of Maharashtra, India. Religious significance Ramtek hosts a historic temple of Rama. It is believed that Ramtek was the place where Rama, the Hindu god, rested while he was in exile, ...

, while Gadchiroli-Chimur Lok Sabha constituency is spread across districts of

Gadchiroli Gadchiroli ( �əɖt͡ʃiɾoliː is a city and a municipal council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as ...

and

Washim district Washim district (Marathi pronunciation: Help:IPA/Marathi, �aːʃim is a List of districts of Maharashtra, district in Maharashtra, India. The headquarters is at Washim. The area of the district is . Officer Members of Parliament *Sanjay De ...

s form part of

Yavatmal–Washim Lok Sabha constituency Yavatmal–Washim Lok Sabha constituency is one of the 48 Lok Sabha (lower house of the Indian parliament) constituencies of Maharashtra state in western India. This constituency was created on 19 February 2008 as a part of the implementation of ...

. Other seats include

, Bhandara,

Buldhana Buldhana (Marathi pronunciation: ) is a city and a Municipal Council in the Indian state of Maharashtra, established on 17 February 1893. It is the administrative headquarters of Buldhana District in the Amravati Division. Buldhana is the secon ...

, and

Wardha Wardha is a city and a municipal council in Wardha district in the Indian state of Maharashtra. The administrative headquarter of Wardha district is situated here. Wardha gets its name from the Wardha River which flows on the northern, western ...

. Amravati and Ramtek seats are reserved for Scheduled Caste candidates, while Gadchiroli-Chimur is reserved for Scheduled Tribes. In the

Maharashtra Legislative Assembly The Maharashtra Legislative Assembly (ISO: ''Mahārāṣṭra Vidhāna Sabhā'') is the lower house of the bicameral legislature of Maharashtra state in western India. It consists of 288 members directly elected from single-seat constituenci ...

, the region is represented by 62

Vidhan Sabha The State Legislative Assembly, also known as the Vidhan Sabha or the Saasana Sabha, is a legislative body in each of the states and certain union territories of India. Members of the legislative assembly are often directly elected to serve fiv ...

seats.

Demand for statehood

The Vidarbha movement started in the 1930s demanding a separate state of Vidarbha. The demand has been raised at times due to perceived neglect of the region by the

. While the demand is supported by major political parties BJP and

, it is opposed by

, one of the major regional political parties in the state. Political economist

Shrikant Jichkar Shrikant Jichkar (14 September 1954 – 2 June 2004) was an Indian central civil servant and politician. He obtained 20 university degrees, and was elected the youngest Member of the Legislative Assembly in the country at the age of 26. Biog ...

opposed the separation of the region from Maharashtra, stating that it was not sustainable. He noted that income from available natural resources would not be able to balance the subsidies given by the government, whose cooperation would be vital to any development and that the division introduces societal risks due to dividing of the Marathi-speaking state.

References

External links

{{Proposed states and territories of India Regions of India Regions of Maharashtra Proposed states and union territories of India