Being associated with VED now for the last two decades or so , I have had the privilege of observing and learning from our founders , leaders and collegues and have always been inspired by the great work that all of them have put in to bring VED to the stature that it is today.

Vilas has always been an inspiration to me right from my early years at Nagpur and was pleasantly surprised when I received a call from him about the offer to take their vison forward . I asked for some time as these shoes are too big to even try them on , forget fitting in ; It was heartening and assuring to get so much advise and margdarshan from him and I felt that at this juncture when Vidarbha is poised for tremendous growth and development , I can do my bit to give an impetus to it by everyone’s support ! I had a one to one interaction with the founder president Govind Daga to understand what made VED happen and it was so much enriching to get his insights . Inputs from Devendra and Shiv , Dilip ji , and our members added to my belief ; and last but not the least the tremendous support and encouragement coming from all of you and so many New Members joining the cause .. all this has overwhelmed me and I promise to put it my best to take VED to greater heights.

VIDARBHA 2030!

Vidarbha is endowed with rich Natural, Mineral, Historical and Biodiverse resources, besides being placed in the geographical centre of India. It is also an important educational hub of Engineering, Medical, Management and Law . It has world class research institutes. Our vision for VIDARBHA 2030 will endeavour to leverage these intrinsic advantages to make it a force to reckon with in the country and in the world. We will conduct workshops, seminars, invite businesses, and be an integral part of various policy makings , where ideas will be formulated and at each such an event a specific ASK will be made on the spot to the representatives of the government – the ministers and secretaries. The VED Task team will then take this to fruition.

Logistics has been one of our favourites and – Although a fair amount of thrust and development has taken place in this sector, we all know that we have not even scratched the surface (no pun intended here) . We will work on a frame work for developing this sector looking at the future requirements .

Gadchiroli is the buzz word. Suddenly it has sprung to life. It is poised to become the biggest steel city of the country. VED will conduct workshop for the development of spin off sectors which will be required to support the steel sector and generate employment. Other avenues of development will also be explored, like rice to ethanol industry and industries arising due to its rich bamboo and other forests.

Aerospace and Defence: Nagpur is slowly but surely becoming a hub for this sector. We will invite businesses who can look at investing in this sector and with help of MIDC .

Tourism: VED has done tremendous work on this thrust area and we now propose to have tourism as the umbrella under which we take the following :

Medical and Health Tourism . give our expertise and support to the Health Department and approach The Health Secretary to prepare a study report on the same for development of health and medical tourism in the area. Air ambulance and transport from airport to the many peripheral medical facilities around Nagpur and VISA free schemes to attract foreign patients are just a few ideas.

Heritage: Continuing the good work that we have already been doing through Nagpur 2025 , a VED initiative which we will be actively participating in it : we propose to further the heritage tourism to not only Nagpur but also that of the Vidarbha region .

We will explore the possibility of developing a Pilgrimage Circuit and Bio Diversity tours.

Education: Vidarbha and Nagpur specifically is an educational hub with premier institutions already making a mark here where YOUR VED has contributed tremendously . We will further strengthen our stance and support towards Skill Development , Employability Programs , as well as promote Startup Culture in the region. And ofcourse can we ignore AI ? The proverbial buzzword technology enabled impact on various existing and upcoming industries will be our focus.

RTS: Right To Service – a User Centric Conference – that we propose to organise in Novemeber 2024 Bring all stake holders together to make the best use of the facility to bring about an administrative change in the way business is done in the digital arena. Familiarizing all stake holders to application of Maitree app. Chairman , RTS, Shri Manu Srivastava has kindly given us a go ahead for the same !

We need to work on a Rice research institute as Nagpur is a major export hub, Textiles for the cotton growers and promoting cotton seed oil industry. Food Industry

Environment: A check and balance approach to the rapid industrial growth with the impact on environment is a topic that is dear to us . We propose to work extensively with NEERI and other organisations to see the best way forward to make our region green and developed .

I am happy to inform you all that We would be immediately sending out communication about VED to all the Secretaries in the Government, informing them of our rich legacy and work and our fut ure intentions

I could go on and on. You all also will have many ideas that we shall discuss and debate as we move on. We would be compulsorily having monthly meetings tentatively every second saturdays and the success of OUR Ved will only depend on Your involvement and committmen towards Vidarbha Economic Development thus furthering our Sankalp. SO mark your calendars friends ! Our endeavour would be to get the best of the speakers and dignitaries to address us on matters relating to our economic development and actionables regularly . Vocational visits to our thrust areas establishments will be the order of the day thus forstering networking , inspiration and bon homie amongst us all !

As we progress we urge you to add more members with the common interest of developing the economy of Vidarbha to our VED fold with an “ Each One Get One “motto as the canvas is large as all of us here are not for ourselves but for the 360 degrees development of our region and we definitely need more hands and minds to take our cause further.

Each one of you friends is an achiever in your own field and all of us are bonded through a common goal , my team’s and my endeavour would be to involve each one of you in all our activities so that your contribution will help in strengthening the elected executive body who will work hard to realise our collective efforts to the cause .

I thank each one you for your support and every member who willingly have volunteered to serve this amazing organisation as executive member . I welcome all the new members who have joined our cause As our organisation grows , my appeal to all is , whether we have an official position or not , we all work together as a team to make realise our vision of a spectacular VIDARBHA 2023 a reality ! I look forward to working with Anuradha and Sheetal who have put in so much of work for years now ! Thank you all again ! Dhanyawad!

Rina Sinha
President, VED