Frustrated at the lack of development and infrastructure, a village in Maharashtra tries to shame the state government into action

Cordelia Jenkins & Makarand Gadgil Vidarbha (Maharashtra) : On 30 April, the eve of Maharashtra Day, the village of Vairagadh in Buldhana district of the state held a meeting of the gram sabha (village administration). Tired of waiting for the government to deliver basic infrastructure and services, the villagers decided to take matters into their hands. They wrote a letter, not to their local leaders or even to the state government, but to Narendra Modi , chief minister of the neighbouring state of Gujarat. "Dear chief minister,"� the letter said, "we request the state government of Gujarat to adopt our village. Our region is facing issues such as poor electricity supply, bad roads and lack of agriculture development, and all villagers want to implement the growth plan of Gujarat's ideal village in Vairagadh."

It was an extraordinary move from a local panchayat (village council), variously dismissed as a publicity stunt (by the local Congress assembly) and applauded (by Modi’s public relations team, who were quick to spread the story). Vairagadh is not a border town, but lies right in the middle of the state, at the western edge of the Vidarbha region, which has become notorious for its farmer suicides. It is a poor region, and although it provides an estimated two-thirds of Maharashtra’s mineral resources and is a net producer of power, many villages have limited access to electricity as well as water. Despite media attention, a state sponsored relief package of Rs1,075 crore, and a visit by the Prime Minister in 2006 (during which he announced an additional Rs3,750 crore relief), the suicides continued.