Unveiling Vidarbha: Of no half measures and brutal contrasts

At this time of year, the temperature in Chandrapur should be 40°C.

- ADITI PHADNIS

Instead, darkness falls at noon.

Unseasonal rain in Vidarbha has wiped out crops in nearly 38,000 hectares in this arid region of Maharashtra, which goes to the polls on April 19 and 26.

"It is either too much rain or not enough rain," sighs Vijay Gode, a 24-year-old local who travelled to the town to listen to Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi on April 8.

Days later, hail carpeted several areas of Vidarbha.

Nagpur, the biggest city in Vidarbha, saw its coolest day in April in 55 years on April 11 because of almost incessant rain.

That's the way with Vidarbha. It doesn't do anything by halves.

Brutal contrasts are manifest everywhere.

Nagpur is among the 15 fastest growing cities in the world. It has a super-efficient Metro that has come up in less than 10 years.

Stamp duty collections in the financial year ended March 2024 grew 40 per cent over the previous year, suggesting real estate transactions amounting to 21,000 crore in one year.

The Multi-Modal International Cargo Hub and Airport at Nagpur Special Economic Zone has seen HCLTech and Infosys launch information technology (IT) centres, and of the 4,000 crore exports from here in 2023-24, 50 per cent was contributed by the IT sector.

Yet, less than 100 kilometres from there, lies Amravati. In July last year, the government admitted in the Maharashtra Assembly that between January 1, 2020, and December 31, 2022, around 4,000 farmers had committed suicide in the Vidarbha region, 3,452 in Amravati division alone.