Why Vidarbha

WHY VIDARBHA STATE?

FAILURE OF ARTICLE 371(2) OF THE CONSTITUTION:VIDARBHA STATE IS THE ONLY ALTERNATIVE

R.L. Pitale

Marathi speaking eight districts of former Madhya Pradesh known as Vidarbha becameintegral part of Maharashtra State under "one language one state" formula in new linguisticreorganisation of States in November 1956. As the States Reorganisation Commission recommendedthe creation of Vidarbha State, the demand for Vidarbha State is raised from time to time. The leadersof newly created State of Maharashtra started with great fervour to develop all the regions but inthe process Vidarbha lagged behind. This regional imbalance was studied by the Fact Finding Teamof the Planning Commission in March-May 2006. The paper reviews the findings of the Report ofthis team to consider the future course of action. The paper makes a case for developing Vidarbhawithin Maharashtra and suggests that a time bound Development Plan for Vidarbha in the next threeyears should remove the feeling of economic injustice done to Vidarbha. Much will depend onchanging governance pattern of Maharashtra in favour of Vidarbha Region. In this interim period,thedevelopment effortsof Maharashtrawill be testedand ifeconomic backlogand imbalance continuethen there will be justification for the creation of Vidarbha State.

INTRODUCTION

The Vidarbha’s Marathi speaking area whichwas always with Hindi speaking area of CentralProvinces (CP) and Berar and Madhya Pradeshgot attached to Maharashtra under the linguisticrearrangement of the States in November 1956 in

Bilingual State of Bombay and in MaharashtraState in May 1960 due to political exigencies thenand in good faith that interest of economic wellbeing of Vidarbha will be protected. Vidarbha gotmerged in Maharashtra (erstwhile Bombay State)as per the decision of Government of India inreconstituting the States based on one languageone state formula though States ReorganisationCommission recommended creation of a separateVidarbhaState. Thehistoricalbackground of longstanding demand of Vidarbha State is well known

and hence not repeated for the sake of brevity.

It was hoped that people speaking the samelanguage will form cohesive units for rapid and

balanced development. But the history of eco-nomic development of Maharashtra during thelast 50 years has proved otherwise. Some areas,especially Vidarbha, have been systematicallyneglected as corroborated by the Planning Com-mission’s Fact Finding Team Report while itsresources are used for the benefit of the rest ofMaharashtra. The Planning Commission wasaware of theeconomic injustice done to Vidarbha.Planning Commission has been raising the issueof backlog in development of the backwardregions from time to time with the State ofMaharashtra as evident from the Planning Com-mission’s Fact Finding Team Report May 2006(p.1) But the Government of Maharashtra did notpay much attention to this advice.

The economic disparities were quantified byExpert Committee headed by Prof. V.M. Dan-dekar in 1983. It took Maharashtra Governmentalmost 10 years to consider the findings ofDandekar Report In view of the imbalance inregional development of Maharashtra, at the

R.L. Pitale is former Economic Adviser, Government of India.Mobile - 09890279155 (Nagpur) Mobile - 09818553963 (Delhi).

282 JOURNAL OF INDIAN SCHOOL OF POLITICAL ECONOMY JAN-DEC. 2009

behest of Government of Maharashtra thearrangement under Article 371(2) of the Consti-tution was invoked. Vidarbha Statutory Devel-opmentBoard, inter alia, wasput in place in April1994 by the President of India. The extendedtenure of 15 years of the Board ended in April2010. Now the tenure of Development of Boardshas been extended by five years, i.e. up to April2015.

The protests of political leaders of Vidarbhaagainst injustice to Vidarbha inside and outsidethe Assembly were ignored by the state govern-ment. The Rajya Sabha took up this issue fordetailed discussion in March 2006 in pursuanceof Private Members’ Resolution of two RajyaSabhaMPs from Vidarbha (Shri Datta Meghe andShri Vijay Darda) about regional disparities andeconomic distress in Vidarbha. This Resolutionsensitised the Parliament about the economicwoes created by Government of Maharashtra thatfinally clinched the issue with the Government ofIndia (GOI). The basis of this conclusion is thedirection given by the Prime Minister to thePlanning Commission to set up a Fact FindingTeam to Report in the matter. Reacting to theacute economic distress and reports of suicides offarmers even under the arrangement of Article371(2) and the Prime Minister’s package of Rs.3750 crore, the Prime Minister desired thatPlanning Commission should study the facts ofthe matter and report to him accordingly. Plan-ning Commission set up a Fact Finding Team on

March 2nd 2006 under the Chairmanship of MrsAdarsh Misra, Principal Adviser, PlanningCommission, to study the acute economic distressin Vidarbha and report to him in this regard.

I. FACT FINDING COMMITTEE’SREPORT MAY 2006

The Planning Commission impartially con-ducted the investigation and submitted the Reportto the Prime Minister in May 2006. It has foundthe deliberate neglect of Vidarbha by WesternMaharashtra politicians irrespective of politicalparties to which they belong and also by theadministration. The 244-page Fact FindingReport specially studied, inter alia, the workingof the Article 371(2) of the Constitution and onecan safely conclude that that Article 371 (2) hasvirtually failed to give economic justice toVidarbha.

Failure of Article 371(2) of the Constitution:Undisputed case for Separate Vidarbha State

The observations of the Planning Commis-sion’s Fact Finding Team are extracted below intheir wording which conclusively proves thefailure of Article 371(2) of the Constitution ofIndia. The Planning Commission referred to thisin its Report as "Historical disregard of theConstitutional Provision for appropriate invest-ment" [Government of India, 2006, p. 23].

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Summary Points from the Report of the Planning Commission’s Fact Finding Team on Vidarbha(2006):1. The Team found astounding evidence of years of continued neglect of a region and its people.2. It would not be incorrect to state that the lack of implementation in some of the major areas ofdevelopment is possibly one of the major causes of the present acute distress faced in this region.3. That the system is not geared up towards implementation and that annual surrender of the amountsallocated leading to supplementary budgets, which are then spent in the rest of Maharashtra.4. Information received from the Government of Maharashtra, Office of the Governor and the VidarbhaStatutory Development Board indicate that the implementation of the directives issued by the Governorof Maharashtra has not been satisfactory.5. Their [Government of Maharashtra’s] response to the need to provide integrated watershed devel-opment and rainwater harvesting for cost effective water conservation was lukewarm.6. Other regions of the State which were behind Vidarbha in irrigation development at the time ofIndependence have now marched ahead of it in the post-Independence period7. There is an obvious lack of commitment in implementing any schemes under irrigation in Vidarbha.8. The acute and continued neglect of the area is well evidenced even by the Human Development Index(HDI) of the State which shows that out of the 35 districts 4 of the six highly distressed districts areuniformly among the lowest in the State.9. The history of implementation of the allocations since 2000, when the first allocations were indicated,shows that the State has traditionally surrendered the provisions for Vidarbha, while, paradoxically,bulk of the State’s power requirements are drawn from this region.10. Actual expenditure against allocation is likely to stay questionable as evidenced from previous trackrecord of lack of effective monitoring and implementation systems; and lack of monitoring of imple-mentation in identified sectors [and subsequent orders of President of India of 9th March 1994]11. While the irrigation backlog in Vidarbha has increased from 38.05% in 1982 to 62.20% in 2002,the irrigation backlog in rest of Maharashtra has progressively declined from 39% in 1982 to 4.73% ason 1.4.2002. (For the rest of Maharashtra, it is now zero).12. Even the need to provide energy for energisation of pump sets has not led to a system of prioritisation.13. The common refrain is that though majority of electric power is produced in Vidarbha area, theenergy requirements of Vidarbha, in particular for the energisation of agriculture pumps, is not fulfilledcompared to the Western Maharashtra.14. About Rs. 9,250/- crore annual subsidy is given by the State Government on these agriculture pumps.This is perceived as not only a loss of irrigation potential which could have been made available to thisregion (Vidarbha), but also as a denial of financial assistance in the form of subsidy to the farmers ofthis area.15. Final Conclusion of the Report (Page 91): Lack of political will is still evidenced for implementation.From the above, it is clear that Arrangements under Article 371(2) of the President of India had

completely failed as Maharashtra Government has not shown any political will to develop Vidarbha.Hence it can be deduced from the Report that there is no other alterative for the people of Vidarbha butto get a separate Vidarbha State as the Report has clearly stated that the Government has no politicalwill to implement the development of this area. The process for creating Vidarbha State needs to beinitiated urgently.


II. COMPTROLLER AND AUDITOR GENERAL(CAG) REPORT 2006-07 ON MAHARASHTRA:

ARTICLE 371(2) SIDELINED

Besides the Planning Commission’s abovementioned detailed report, findings of the CAGReport 2006-07 reported in the press brings outthat "WesternMaharashtra (WM) benefited as theVidarbha’s backlog piled up. The diversion offunds to the influential WM and northern parts ofstate, ducking Governor’s directives has led toirreversible regional balance. Vidarbha has beenrobbed of 70 per cent of its funds". Provision forirrigation made by the Governor was Rs. 3119.79crore but government allotted only Rs. 1391.58crore that resulted in a backlog of Rs. 2528 crore.

Government subsidies have also been mono-polised by the State’s powerful sugar lobby.Subsidies amounting to Rs. 800 crore have beengiven to sugar factories and a benefit of zerointerest has also been extended to them. In addi-tion, purchase tax of $ 63 million was waived forsugar factories and $ 212 million provided forbuffer stock transport subsidies. (In the Report,the figures have been given in dollars.)

As per CAG Report 2006 "3.2 millionVidarbha farmers consume 11 per cent of totalelectricity while sugarcane belt of Maharashtraaccounts for 65.5 per cent. Six sugar growingdistricts of Pune Division had 3.57 lakh pump setsin excess of the quota of 2004, while Vidarbhahad deficit of 2.15 lakh pumps (now it is 2.38 lakhin 2009). 60 per cent of State’s electricity isgenerated in Vidarbha. It has power but is polit-ically powerless" [CAG Report, 2006-07].

"Pune Division is entitled to consume 512million units (MU) of power. Agriculture pumpsin the Division consumed 1079 MU with a sub-sidy to the pump set of Rs. 250 per unit. Pune gotexcess subsidy of Rs. 144 crores in 2007 andWestern Maharashtra got Rs. 560 crores. Againstthis, Vidarbha out of its share of 2668 MU

consumed only 985 MU due to backlog of 2.15lakh pumps resulting in a loss of subsidy of Rs.420 crores" [CAG Report, 2006-07].

The above brief observations show the side-lining of Presidential Constitutional Arrange-ments under Article 371(2). What worstcommentary there be on governance pattern ofMaharashtra Government which itselfapproached the President of India to set upVidarbha Development Board. Article 371(2)arrangement has been completely sidelined dur-ing the last 15 years (1994-2010). MaharashtraGovernment has thus forfeited its right to keepVidarbha in Maharashtra.

III. GOVERNOR’S DIRECTIVES 2009-10UNDER ARTICLE 371(2): HIGHLIGHT ON THEGOVERNANCE PATTERN OF MAHARASHTRA

IN NOT CARRYING OUT GOVERNOR’SDIRECTIVES IN LETTER AND SPIRIT

The following observations are those ofGovernor of Maharashtra as per the Directivesissued by him and placed on the Table of VidhanSabha Session (Budget Session) 2009-10.

How the Government of Maharashtra has triedto change tracks and adopted ways to circumventthe directives can be seen from the Directivesissued by the Governors since 2000. This hashappened under four Governors during the last 15years during the term of P.C. Alexander (Jan 1993- Oct 2002), Mohd Fazal (Oct 2002 - Dec 2004),S.M. Krishna (Dec 2004 - Mar 2008) and S.C.Jamir (Dec 2008 - Jan 2010).

A few illustrations should suffice to show howdifficult it is for the Governors to implement theprovisions of Article 371(2) of the constitution.The Directives of 2009-10 state the following:

1. The Governor has noted that these trends ofexcess expenditures in rest of Maharashtraregion have continued even in the FY2007-08 and FY 2008-09 with significant


shortfalls in Vidarbha region during thisperiod. Similar trends are also observedwithin the other regions as well.

2. There have been significant continueddeviations from the Governor’s directivesover the years. The Governor has noted withserious concern that in spite of the well-settledprinciples of allocation of funds to theregions, the actual expenditure does notcomply with these directives. The Governorhas, therefore, directed that the PlanningDepartment should investigate into this to fixresponsibility for the same.

3. The Governor ----therefore, observed thatsimilar to the requirements of Krishna valleyprojects, other river basins, viz., Godavariand Tapi which are governed by inter-stateAwards or bilateral Agreements also requiredue consideration. In case of Godavari riverbasin, the total water available for the stateis yet to be fully planned especially inVidarbha region.

4. The state government should follow up ontop priority approvals for diversion of forestlands with the central agencies for projectsin Vidarbha particularly major projects inthat region for removal of backlog. It is alsonecessary for the state government to take upthe issue of minor irrigation projects havingculturable command area up to 2000 ha. forexemption from environmental clearancesand clearance for medium projects havingculturable command area less than 10000 ha.at state level Environmental ImpactAssessment Authority. This would help inmany minor and medium projects to take offexpeditiously in Amravati division.

5. The Governor has directed that the PlanningDepartment shall commission a detailedstudy of the cost and time overrun of the

ongoing irrigation projects in the state andsubmit the report within 6 months to theGovernor.

6. There shall be no diversion of funds frombacklogdistricts to non-backlog districts andfrom the area of one Development Board toanother without prior approval of the Gov-ernor.

7. Should the State Government resort tomarket borrowings, outside the budget, forthe irrigation sector, money so raised shouldbe for the State Government as a whole anddistributed amongst the three DevelopmentBoards equitably.

In view of non-compliance of earlier direc-tives, Governor asked for the Quarterly and SixMonthly Reports on compliance of Directives of2009-10. Concerned authorities can verify thesamefrom thegovernmentand Governor’s office.

In order to get the Governor’s Directivesimplemented as per requirement of Article 371(2)of the constitution, seven persons includingMLAs and MLCs filed a Writ Petition (No. 2751of 2006) against the Government of Maharashtrain High Court Judicate at Bombay. The court afterhearing both parties gave a Judgment that "Itshould be noted that Article 371 is not the ‘usualexecutive power’ of the State available to theGovernor under Article 154. Under Article 371,there is a ‘special responsibility’ imposed on theGovernor to ensure that there is no backwardnessin Vidarbha and Marathwada regions and thesame is a constitutional obligation imposed on theGovernor, which can not be frustrated. ----TheDirectives of the Governor are binding on theState".

Even after clear judgment on Article 371(2) bythe High Court, the Government of Maharashtrais nowhere serious about implementing the


Constitutional provisions made by the Presidentof India. What is the way out except to create aseparate Vidarbha State?

IV. MOCKERY OF NAGPUR AGREEMENT OF28TH SEPTEMBER 1953

Before the States Reorganisation Commissionwas set up in December 1953, the leaders ofWestern Maharashtra took initiative to bring allMarathi speaking areas in one State. Besidesagreement on other operational arrangements forproper cohesiveness amongst the two regions, itwas specifically agreed by seven senior leadersof Western Maharashtra and four from Vidarbhathat the seat of government shall officially shiftto Nagpur for a definite period and at least onesession of the State Legislature shall be held everyyear in Nagpur. This Nagpur Agreement wasfurther vetted by the Joint Committee of Parlia-ment in clause 17 of its Report on the subject.Leaders from Western Maharashtra and Vidarbhasupported the Committee and urged that Nagpurshould, to the extent practicable, be given con-stitutional recognition.

Accordingly, a new clause has been added totheArticle 371of the constitutionwith theconsentof the members of Maharashtra. The NagpurAgreement which has a constitutional validityand commitment of the leaders of WesternMaharashtra is observed more in breach thanfaithful compliance. The Assembly Session inNagpur is held reluctantly as is evident from thetime spent on winter session at Nagpur and as aritual as is evident from the number of days forwhich the Session is held at Nagpur. In thebeginning there was some semblance of holdingthe Session but off late and this year it was heldjust for 11 days. The Shortest session was heldjust for 5 days in 1989. The Mockery of NagpurAgreement is rubbing salt to the wounds causedby economic injustice to Vidarbha. This showslack of earnestness for Vidarbha.

V. LOSS OF RESOURCES AND ITSCUMULATIVE NEGATIVE MULTIPLIER

EFFECT ON ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

In addition to what has been stated above thatthe Government of Maharashtra has totallyderailed the functioning of Article 371 (2) of theConstitution, it will be appropriate to highlighthere the loss of resources for Vidarbha which maybe seen in Box (A).

Separate Vidarbha will contribute to PrimeMinister’s Objective of achieving of Growth Rateof 10 per cent and above.

It may be pointed out that States separatedfrom their Mother States are growing faster thanthe Mother State as per the study of CentralStatistical Organisation, Government of India(Business India 26th Jan 2010) The Pre-Division(1993-2001) and post-Division (post 2001) eco-nomic performance of the States shows thatChattisgarh’spre-division growthrate was1.6percent and has increased to 7.9 per cent after it wasseparated from Madhya Pradesh. In case ofJharkhand, for the same period it was 4.8 duringpre-division and now 8.6 per cent in post-divisionperiod. The higher growth rates may be due tolow growth base in the States but it can not bedenied that the higher growth rates were achievedas the States could chart higher growth profile inseparate State.

Vidarbha State would not lag behind to con-tribute its share of growth.

The above conclusively shows that onceVidarbha becomes State it will grow faster andcontribute substantially to the rate of growth ofGDP of the economy. Why then there should beany opposition to separate Vidarbha State thatcontributes to PM’s objective of higher rate ofgrowth of 10 per cent and above. Why wait foragitations, fast-unto-death, and martyrs?


A. Loss of Resources of Vidarbha: 2010At A Glance

Irrigation1. There has been a huge loss of cultivation on

proposed 31 lakh hectares in Vidarbha since1978 when the Inter-State Water Tribunalallocated [to Vidarbha?] 822 TMC out oftotal allocation of 1207 TMC from GodavariBasin. Virtually no investment was made inirrigation schemes in Godavari Basin whileall investment through budgetary and non-budgetary resources (borrowing) was madein the Krishna Basin which completed all theirrigation projects in Western Maharashtra.Vidarbha Suffered loss of production andemployment in agriculture sector during thelast nearly 40 years.

The Krishna Basin projects have createdpotential to mop up 818 TMC over andabove allotted amount of 599 TMC by theTribunal in 1978. As per Vidarbha Devel-opment Report it has brought under irriga-tion an area of 14.69 lakh hectares bycompleted projects and 7.78 lakh hectaresthrough on going projects. Western Maha-rashtra farmers became well- to-do whileVidarbha farmers faced poverty andsuicides.

2. The percentage of created potential in June2008 to ultimate potential for Vidarbha is40% while for Nasik and Pune is 78.8% and74% respectively. The cumulative produc-tion loss runs into cores of rupees and aconsequent employment loss to farmers andfarm labour.

3. Out of total 50 lakh hectares of cultivatedland in Vidarbha, only 10 lakh hectares landis under Rabi crop. 40 lakh hectares ofcultivable land remains unused during Rabi

season resulting in loss in production andemployment of farmers and farm labour yearafter year.

4. Non completion of Gosikhurd irrigationproject is a monumental example of how todelay a project. It is a Silver Jubilee for itsnon completion. In the first place, theresources were not made available, and laterit has been quietly put as a national project,thus minimising the state’s responsibility forit. In the new arrangement Central assistanceof 90 per cent of funds become available with10% contribution from Maharashtra. Sincethere is no provision for the same in the Statebudget and also in Governor’s directiveseparately, the implementation of the projectwill get delayed further.

5. There has been considerable loss as a resultof backlog of electricity connections of 2.38lakh water pumps of farmers of Vidarbha, bynot taking steps to provide pumps forVidarbha farmers while excess pumpswere given in sugar belt of Maharashtra.Though most of the villages of Vidarbhaare electrified but sanction for pump setshas not been given which has been clearlypointedby Fact Finding Team of PlanningCommission. Even available ground waterisdenied to Vidarbha farmers foragriculturalproduction as also loss of subsidy of Rs. 420crore to farmers every year, as pointed outby CAG Report 2006-07.

Forest and mineral resources

1. Vidarbha is rich in forest and mineralresources. Theseresources remain unutiliseddue to political and administrative neglect ofVidarbha. More than 90% of dense forestsand 50% of moderately dense forests are inVidarbha. In spite of the richness of theforests of Vidarbha and its contribution ofrevenue, the allotment of outlays under the


annual plan for Vidarbha districts is dis-proportionately small. The total expenditureFor Vidarbha districts is Rs. 1178.83 lakhand the same for rest of the districts ofWestern Maharashtra is Rs. 3974.25 lakh. Asimilar step-motherly treatment is seen in theallotment of the outlays for the year 2008-09allotted to different statutory boards.

Thermal power

The gift to Vidarbha of 47 thermal projectsto be set up all over Vidarbha to increaseelectricity generation for the benefit ofWestern Maharashtra is the next step tofurther damage the life of Vidarbha people.Vidarbha wants more irrigation but Maha-rashtra says generate more electricity asWestern Maharashtra needs it. Maharashtrahas money to set up thermal power projectsin Vidarbha but not for irrigation. What isthe use of Vidarbha irrigation for Maha-rashtra? 47 Thermal power projects willgenerate 54,509 MW. It will burn 11.68 lakhtonnes of coal resulting in 4.47 lakh tones ofash and 17.52 lakh tones of carbon dioxideper day for Vidarbha. It will also give 20.49lakh calories of heat. What more Vidarbhawants for its economic development?

Industry

1. The Butibori Industrial area is languishingduring the last 25 years and there are almostno big industries there. If more financialincentives are given and more attention ispaid, it can generate more income andemployment. Without special efforts,industrial growth would not have taken placein Basmat Industrial Estate and Mumbai-Pune and Mumbai-Nasik industrial belt.When Maharashtra Chief Minster goes toforeign countries to get investment andresources, his shopping list does not haveButibori. That has resulted in wastage of

industrial infrastructure, loss of productionand employment. It is not the loss ofVidarbha but, in fact, of the whole ofMaharashtra. If Vidarbha develops, Maha-rashtra will develop faster.

2. Same is the case with MIHAN. The delay inits implementation is proverbial. No atten-tion is paid to generate passenger traffic andcargo load. How this should be done is givenin Feasibility Report of Larson and Tubrosponsored by MSRTC. It will not be out ofplace to mention here that the Nagpur airportwas not handed over to MIHAN for onereason or the other till Pune Internationalairport became functional. From Pune air-port, lakhs of rupees worth of flowers andvegetables are exported to Europe and othercountries. If MIHAN had been completed asscheduled, industrial growth would haveaccelerated significantly.

Budgetary allocations

1. The budgetary allocation to Vidarbha alsoshows the financial resource loss of thou-sands of crores. The figures of the Depart-ment of Finance, Government ofMaharashtra, show that allocation toVidarbha in 2008-09 was Rs. 20,792 crorewhich decreased to Rs. 18,274 crore in2009-10 budget thereby depriving Vidarbhaof Rs.2518 crore at theallocation stage itself.In addition to this, the actual expenditure isaround 65% of the allotted funds whichshows the diversion of funds to other areas,as conclusively pointed by the PlanningCommission’s Fact Finding Report (2006).All the above instances show the huge losscaused to production and employment inVidarbha.


B. Ultimate Economic Loss of Vidarbha:

The final index of economic loss is the differencein per capita income.

Table: Per Capita Income 2007-08(At current Prices)

Pune Division Rs. 52,075Pune Rs 68,177Nagpur Division Rs 40,539Nagpur Rs 49,770Amaravati Division Rs. 29,503Amravati Rs. 30,017

Source: Economic Survey 2008-09, Government of Maha-rashtra

The above Table shows the ultimate result ofloss of economic resources of Vidarbha. Percapita income of Nagpur Division is only 77 percent of Pune Division and that for Nagpur is 73per cent of Pune. What more proof is requiredabout the economic loss of resources and incometo Vidarbha?

Creation of Vidarbha State may be the onlyway out for achieving economic well being of thepeople of Vidarbha.

VI. NEW ECONOMIC STRATEGY AND POLICY:FROM EAST AND WEST TO CENTRAL VIDARBHA

A new economic strategy for Vidarbha is tohave a thrust of development from the leastdeveloped to the more developed. The develop-ment process will have to commence from EastVidarbha (Gadchiroli-Chandrapur)) to CentralVidarbha (Nagpur) and from West Vidarbha(Yavatmal-Buldhana) to Amaravati. Theresources and programmes of development willhave to be earmarked from the east to the west inVidarbha.This strategywill correct intra-regionalimbalance in a systematic manner and will con-tribute to correct overall economic imbalancebetween Vidarbha and the rest of Maharashtra.Three year period is adequate to put on hold thecreation of Vidarbha State so that in this interimperiod the development efforts of Maharashtra

will be tested and if economic backlog andimbalance will continue then there will be justi-fication for the creation of Vidarbha State. Thesuccess of this interim strategy will entirelydepend on government of Maharashtra. A briefoutline of this strategy is spelt out below.

A. Vidarbha in Maharashtra: Blue Printof Development

Some of the development policy initiatives forVidarbha have waited too long. The main reasonsfor this are the delay in and the lack of strongimplementation by the government. The blameequally lies on the political leadership ofVidarbha who should have corrected the devel-opment path of Vidarbha well in time so thatbacklog would not have accumulated.

The priority areas of development are agri-culture such as strengthening the mixed croppingtradition of Vidarbha, developing its irrigationpotential, including energisation of pump sets forwell irrigation, repair and maintenance of themalgujary tanks in Vidarbha, improved cottonand groundnut cultivation, horticulture (orangeeconomy), forest and tribal development, indus-trial development by encouraging cotton textilesand manufacture of groundnut oil so as to increasecreation of greater local value added andemployment, mining and appropriate powersector development suiting Vidarbha needs.These areas did not receive adequate attention asrevealed in the Fact Finding Team Report of thePlanning Commission.

Vidarbha’s development should not be heldback till a separate state of Vidarbha is broughtinto existence. The strategy and policy is possiblewithin the present set up of Maharashtra State asenvisaged and detailed below, failing which thereis a strong case for creating a separate VidarbhaState.


B. Road Map for Rapid Developmentof Vidarbha

When Chhastisgarh became a State, they gotthe Master Plan with the help of World Bank for2020. This is available. The same is envisaged forVidarbha. Till the 20 year Master Plan forVidarbha can be prepared, the Road Map forRapid Development of Vidarbha is spelt out thatwould include targeting the poor, small andmarginal farmers, unemployed youth in rural andurbanareas, completing thedelayed irrigationandroad projects as also MIHAN on top priority. ASub-Master Plan for Naxal affected area is to bedrawn separately to kick-start its implementation.

National Hub of Organic Farming: Low Costand High Returns to Farmers

Vidarbha mainly falls in dry farming area withtraditional crops such as cotton, pulses and coarsegrains during Khariff season. There is greatpotential to tune this to organic cultivation. It hasbeen proved that in organic cultivation produc-tivity is no less than fertiliser and chemical basedcultivation. There is a huge demand for suchproducts to the tune of $90 billion in Europeancountries. Vidarbha can be made export hub oforganic food (processed and un-processed). YuvaRural, an NGO in Nagpur, is already working toprovide guidance and training in Organic Farm-ing. This NGO can be made the Centre forOrganic Farming with financial assistance fromthe government. The government should alsoprovide seed capital for such NGOs in other partsof Vidarbha. Cash subsidy of Rs. 3000/5000 maybe given per household per year to marginal andsmall farmers who adopt organic farming. Thiswill add to their cash income. Organic FarmingCertifying Authority may be set for this purpose.Till such authority is set up, the work can befarmed out to some other, national or foreign,agency.

Expanding Farm Size: Incentives for GroupFarming/Partnership Farming, Adding toFarmers’ Cash Income

The main problem of agricultural productionis small size of the cultivated land holding. Eightyper cent of farm households are marginal (lessthan one hectare) and small (1 to 2 hectare). Dueto small size, the incomes are low and economiesof scale cannot be realised. The farmers who bringtheir land together to increase the size of culti-vation to, say 50 hectare, and adopt organicfarming can be given cash incentive of around Rs5000/6000 per annum per farmer household at theend of cultivating season and also by providingsuch farmers with group crop insurance.

Nagpur Oranges Worldwide

One lakh hectare of land is under cultivationof oranges in Vidarbha, which produces 11.5 lakhtones of oranges. This constitutes 48 per cent tototal production. Eighty per cent of this is pro-duced in Nagpur, Amravati and Wardha. Due to12 hours of load shedding the existing irrigationis also denied and orange production is on theverge of destruction. There are no new processingplants for oranges. In order to rehabilitate orangeto its past glory and take Nagpur Orange to theLunch and Dinner Tables of consumers in and outside India, Production and Marketing Programme(PMP) should be drawn up in consultation withorange growers and traders. State governmentinitiative and support is lacking.

Cotton to Textile

The "White Gold" of Vidarbha which hasbeen yielding so much income to the farmers thatagriculture was rated first employer, industrysecond and job as the third. Vidarbha cotton wasrated so high in production and quality that"Futures" of cotton in London and New Yorkdepended on the arrival of cotton in Vidarbhadistricts. To bring the cotton economy out of the


present distress, comprehensive backward link-age (Cotton) and forward linkages (textile) needto be established. Vidarbha Cotton Council on thepattern of Cotton Council of USA needs to beestablished to make the cotton farmers rich likethe sugarcane growers in Western Maharashtraand Marathwada. The Cotton Council of USAlinks cotton farmer to the end users, i.e., up tomarketing of textiles and that producers-toconsumer strategy benefits the farmers. Cot-ton Council of Vidarbha will also adopt thesame approach. For instance, sugarcanefarmers are linked to sugar producers and tomarketing and exports. The same is envisagedfor Vidarbha farmers in Cotton Council.

MIHAN and Gosikhurd on Fast Track

The agriculture and rural sector will get furtherboost once MIHAN (Multi Modal InternationalHub Airport) and Gosikhurd become operationalin the next two years. MIHAN Feasibility Reportwas prepared for MIHAN Project by a team ledby L&T-Ramboll Consulting Engineers Ltd forMSRDC (Maharashtra State Road DevelopmentCorporation) in January 2001 with the objectiveof cost effective integration of road, rail and airtransport by taking advantage of central locationof Nagpur. It was proposed to develop Vidarbhahinter land and to provide the required cargo andpassenger traffic and the corresponding infra-structure so that Vidarbha marches on the road ofrapid economic development. This was theMIHAN Project perspective but it could not beachieved due to inordinate delay in implementa-tion. Besides completion of infrastructural faci-lities, adequate passenger and cargo load alsoneeds to be geared up, which steps have not beentaken up so far. This needs to be sorted out withPlanning Commission, Civil Aviation Ministryfor passenger traffic and the Ministry of Com-merce and industry for cargo load.

Gosikhurdproject like other irrigation projectswas taken up to increase the irrigation facilitiesto the farmers of Bhandara and Gondia districts.The project can be expeditiously completed nowthat it has been put in as a Central project as 90per cent of cost is being financed by CentralGovernment on matching cost of 10 per cent tobe provided by the State Government. Stategovernment should provide its 10 per cent shareto get Central assistance to complete the projectat the earliest; that will bring thousands of hect-ares of land under cultivation.

Infrastructure Development Booking Centre:Public-Private Partnership

Instead of issuing tenders every now and thenfor small and medium level infrastructure civiland other work, Infrastructure DevelopmentBooking Centre for registration of companies andcontractors as also organisations of retired tech-nical personnel from agriculture to software dis-cipline is required. This will speed up ruralinfrastructure quickly.

Tourism Hub for Private Tour Operators

Tourism sector, which is employment gener-ating, has great scope in Vidarbha which hasremained neglected in Maharashtra. The packageof incentives is to be drawn up for accelerateddevelopment of this sector. Tourism sector con-nects urban sector to transport, hotels and ruralhinter land.

Uninterrupted 24 hours Electricity to all partsof Vidarbha to carry out above mentioned pro-grammes and projects is to be ensured to utiliseexisting irrigation facilities and for setting up ofelectricity- using small and medium enterprisesin rural and urban areas. That will change the verypattern of life of Vidarbha which is presentlygroping in the dark in spite of availability ofsurplus electricity.


Students and Youths

This is the generation for which VidarbhaStateis being demanded so that their future is providedwith respectable income and good family lifewhich has been denied to them in Maharashtra.Merely being literate is not enough. Some asset,qualification and skills are the minimum that willneed to be provided to them. This is to be donefor the rural sector youth and students by out-sourcing many banking, marketing and fooddelivery services in collaborations with privatesector and NGOs. This network of services willabsorb unemployed youths and students in ruralareas, especially from families of marginal andsmall farmers as well as landless labourers.Government will play only supportive role andoversee implementation.

In regard to urban students and youths majorplan will be "Earn while you Learn" right fromprimary school level to university level. At theschools, students can be given the work beforeand after school hours. The work can be in thenature of keeping school premises clean, super-vising the home work of junior students for whichthey can be paid monthly token honorarium toinculcatea sense of social serviceand to give themsome pocket money.

The Piggy Banks can be opened in schools forstudents to provide interest free loans for purchaseof books/uniforms at concessional rates. For thecollege and university students the same patterncan be operated in expanded form for utilisingtheir services for library services, computer ser-vices, training of children in computer literacy,etc. This module can be finalised in consultationwith teachers, professors and academicians.

Health and Medical Coverage in Rural Areas:Hospitals on Wheels

A new scheme of Hospitals on Wheels withthehelp of private doctors and clinics can be takenup for rural population by providing fullyequipped Big Vans and Bus like Vehicles. TheseHospitals on Wheels can have the necessaryequipments to attend to routine and emergency

cases. The Medicine Bank can also be organisedthrough government and private funding to sup-ply medicines on the spot.

Friendship Development Plan for Naxalaffected Chandrapur and Gadchiroli

The Naxal menace got its foothold in these twodistricts mainly due to the total neglect of theeconomy of Adivasi populated areas by Maha-rashtra Government during the last 50 years. Forthe purposes of economic development, eachTehsil can be treated as economic district andlocal need-based planning model be drawn up forimplementation. Local participation is to be thekeyword to ward off any fear of imposition fromabove.

Weekly Banking Services at Farm Gates

On the pattern of Hospital on Wheels, BankingServices be provided in collaboration with Banksby providing them Big Van like vehicles to goround the villages on appointed days to provideloans and other services. Rural youths can begiven training by banks in preparing the requiredpapers for bank loans, repayment, openingaccount, etc. These youths can be made in-chargeof accessing a fixed number of rural householdsto facilitate this work on some fixed honorarium.

Round The Clock Citizens Suggestions Kiosksand Online Action Monitoring

In order to make the blueprint of developmenteffectively operative, Suggestions Kiosks are tobe encouraged, manned by students and womenin different places with the help of privateindustries/companies and NGOs. Government isto provide seed capital initially.

ThisBlueprint of VidarbhaState Developmentis not a wish list but is the mechanism to fulfillthe aspiration of decent living for all the peopleof Vidarbha. Suicides and poverty will have noplace in Vidarbha once this interim developmentstrategy and policy is faithfully implemented bythe government of Maharashtra. Implementationand Monitoring Cell will have to be set up to


supervise the Strategy and Policy of "VidarbhaStatehood Demand on Hold" during 2011-12 to2013-14 and see that regional balance in devel-opment is established. Of course, the track recordof will to develop Vidarbha is not veryencouraging but a fair chance can be given to thegovernment. The Interim Strategy and Policy ismanageable to implement.

VII. BUDGETARY RESOURCES REQUIRED

To put into operation the Development Blue-print of Vidarbha, a detailed financial estimateswill have to be prepared. This is outside the scopeof the present article. The Vidarbha Budget givenbelow has been estimated to project Vidarbha’sseparate Budget 2010. An attempt is made toproject the Budget for Vidarbha vis-à-vis Maha-rashtra for 2010-11.This is an illustrative exerciseand actual budget estimates can be worked out. Itmay be pointed out that this budget exercise doesnot incorporate financial resources required to put

into operation Blue Print of Vidarbha Develop-ment, spelt out earlier. We have also not takeninto account the borrowing requirement and theinterest liability for infrastructure development inpreparing the Budget estimates for Vidarbha. Theobjective of the Budget Estimates for Vidarbhawas to bring home the point that the Budget ofVidarbha need not be deficit budget as is oftenmade out.

In projecting Vidarbha Budget, conservativeestimates of revenues have been made so thatthere is no over-estimate on the revenue side.Wherever separate revenue and expenditure fig-ures are available, the same have been taken. Carehas been taken in estimating the expenditurebased on the past allocations and additionaldevelopment requirement of Vidarbha. The pointthat has been brought home is that Vidarbha is aresource rich State and can manage its owndevelopment well.

Illustrative Summary Budget 2010-11Vidarbha State: Maharashtra State

(Rs. Crore)

Maharashtra Maharashtra Vidarbha Maharashtra2009-10(BE) 2010-11(BE) 2010-11(BE) Excluding

Vidarbha (BE)

(1) (2) (3) (4) (5)

A. Total Revenue 89060.65 93106 26142 (28%) 78362Receipts(1 to 4) (1 to 8)1. Tax Revenue 50985.28 51899 6325 (10.3%) 456722. Non-Tax Rev 13894.12 14866 1932 (12.9%) 129343.Share in Central Taxes 8568.87 9168 2292 (25%) 68764.Grants-in-aid from Central Govt 15612.38 17173 4293(26%) 128805.Other Revenue (Backwardness) - 25006. Sale of Electricity -- -- 5500 -7. Other Revenue (Forest, Tourism etc) 300 -8. Central Grant in lieu of Ready Capital City -- -- 3000 -Infrastructure (Initially for two years)B. Total Capital Receipts 32677.89 48894 -- 28000Total Revenue (A+B) 121738.54 142000 26142 (18.4%) 106362C.Revenue Expenditure 96184 110611 24046 (21.7%) 72138Electricity Purchase - 5500 - 5500D. Capital Expenditure 26578 27726 - 28000Other(New Projects) -- -- 2000 -Total Expenditure 122762.19 143837 26046 (18%) 105638Surplus/Deficit -1023.65 -1837 +96 +724

Note: Figures in brackets show percentages of Maharashtra Budget 2010-11(BE)


Wherever actual figures are available theyhave been taken and rest have been estimated onreasonable assumptions. In population and area,Vidarbha is about one-fourth of Maharashtra. Theshare in central taxes and Grants-in-aid forVidarbha are assumed to be about 25% of thetotal. In fact, it can be more in a separate Statebased on its backward ness and in the light of the13th Finance Commission Report. Hence, theassumption is reasonable. Figures for Vidarbhaare conservative so that there are no inflatedestimates either on revenue or expenditure side.

In the present Budgetary position, BudgetEstimates, Allocation and Monitoring (BEAM)System of the Department of Finance, Govern-ment of Maharashtra, shows that the Budgetallocation for Vidarbha was 20,792 crore in2008-09 which further decreased to Rs. 18,274crore in 2009-10. Actual expenditure is normallyabout 65% of allocation in case of Vidarbha asrevealed in BEAM. In this context, the estimatedsize of the Vidarbha Budget of Rs. 26046 croreis much more than the present allocations givento Vidarbha and akin to the budgets of States ofsimilar in size and population such as HaryanaBudget of Rs. 28,542 crore and Punjab of Rs.31,634 crore. If these States are ranking high inper capita income, Vidarbha has every potentialonce it becomes separate State or is given fullfinancial autonomy till it becomes a State. TheBEAMS data shows how much less is allotted andspent for Vidarbha vis-à-vis the Vidarbha esti-mated Budget

Since most of the debt of Maharashtra gov-ernment has been spent in western Maharashtraand other areas of Maharashtra and sinceVidarbha has a huge backlog of crores of rupeespending with Government of Maharashtra,Vidarbhawill not have any liability in this respect.Vidarbha Budget will start with Zero capitalBudget.

On the revenue side, grant has been addedinitially for a period of two years as a start up forthe new State and as a compensation for havingphysical infrastructure for Raj Bhavan, Assem-bly, Secretariat building, MLA Hostel, bunga-lows for Ministers and officers and otheramenities, which Vidarbha already has. Whennew States, Chhatisgarh, Uttarakand and Jha-rakhand were created, they had no infrastructureof State Capital. Central government providedcrores of rupees to build Capital in Raipur,Dehradoon and Ranchi, respectively. Nagpurbeing the erstwhile Capital of Madhya Pradesh,it has all the above mentioned infrastructure ofCapital. In this context, the grant in lieu of readyCapital has been added on the revenue side fortwo years. These resources will be utilised forurgent infrastructure and development projects inVidarbha.

Times of India, Nagpur, published the author’sabove Vidarbha Budget a day before (24th March2010) the actual Budget of Maharashtra Budgetwas presented on the 25th March 2010. Ourestimated Budget was almost the same as that ofactual budget of Maharashtra. As per the pro-jection, Maharashtra Budget 2010-11 came to Rs.1,28,684 crore against the actual Budget asreleased on 25th March 2010 is Rs. 1,29,499crore.When Vidarbhabecomesa State, its Budgetwould be around Rs. 26,000 crore and that ofMaharashtra Rs 1,05,638 crore. This shouldbenefit both. The right of self- determination is atthe core of Vidarbha Statehood.

Till the conditions get so bad that creationVidarbha State is the only alternative, interimeconomic strategy and policy can be put inplace to avoid separation of Vidarbha fromMaharashtra.


REFERENCES

CAG, 2006; Maharashtra Civil Report, Comptroller andAuditor General of India, New Delhi, http://cag.nic.in/reports/maharashtra/rep_2006/maharashtra_civil_01_tc.htm

Central Statistical Organisation, 2010; Government of India,New Delhi, as quoted in Business India, ‘Divide andGrow’, January 26.

Government of India, 2006; Report of the Fact Finding Teamon Vidarbha, Planning Commission, New Delhi.

Government of India, 2008-09; Economic Survey, Ministry ofFinance, New Delhi.

Government of Maharashtra, 1984;Report of the Fact Finding

Committee on Regional Imbalance in Masharashtra,

(Chairman: V.M. Dandekar), Planning Department,Mumbai.

Why Vidarbha

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