The food culture in Vidarbha is quite distinct from rest of Maharashtra. Nagpur is famous for it Saoji restaurants. Saoji food is very spicy but not harmful to the body, as the process of cooking has been modified to overcome any health problems[35].
Prominent cultural and literary societies in Nagpur include Vidarbha Sahitya Sangh(for development of Marathi), Vidarbha Rashtrabhasha Prachar Samiti (promotion and spreading Hindi) and Vidarbha Hindi Sahitya Sammelan (for promoting Hindi). The Nagpur central museum (estb 1863) maintains collections are mainly for Vidarbha region. [36] The South Central Cultural Centre also actively sponsors various other cultural events in Nagpur city, such as the Orange City Craft Mela and Folk Dance Festival, which is noted for its numerous folk-dances. [37] City was judged as the cleanest and second greenest in India after Bangalore.[38] The Vidarbha Cricket Association Ground (VCA) in Nagpur is one of the nine test venues in the country. A new stadium of VCA is coming up on Wardha road which boasts a seating capacity of 80,000 people.[39][40]. INOX Nagpur (area:45,000 square feet) is the first multiplex in city. The present day Maharajbagh zoo was originally a garden developed by the Bhonsle rulers.[41]. Government of Maharashtra has approved a new safari park of international standards besides Gorewada Lake.
Nagpur is known for staying calm during communal conflicts in India.[42] Deekshabhoomi, the largest hollow stupa, is located in Nagpur. It is an important place of dalit buddhist movement[43]. Sri Poddareshwar Ram Mandir and Shri Mahalaxmi Devi temple of Koradi are important Hindu temples[44]. Several important religious events are observed in the city throughout the year. Ram Navami is celebrated in Nagpur with shobha yatra which a massive procession of floats depicting various events from the Ramayana[45]. Like the rest of India, Nagpurkars celebrate major Hindu festivals like Diwali, Holi and Dussera with fervour and enthusiasm. Celebrations lasting for several days are held on Ganesh Chaturthi and Durga Puja festivals in virtually every small locality in the city. There is sizable muslim population in the city, mostly coming from the service-class, working in local factories and government offices. There is a big concentration of Muslim-Bohras in the city who are mostly into hardware business. The famous places of worship for muslim is Jama Masjid-Mominpura, Bohri Jamatkhana-Itwari, Ahbaab Chowk Masjid, Baba Taj Dargah-Tajabad Umred Rd., Masjid-Sadar and Chhaoni. Processions are also held on important festivals of other religions such as Eid e Milad, Guru Nanak Jayanti, Mahavir Jayanti, Durga puja, Ganesh Puja and Moharram. Taj Baba Dargah is a good example of communal harmony and peaceful co-existence in Nagpur city, as people shed their religious, caste, cultural and language barriers to pay their respect to the great Soofi Saint. Every year, Government of Maharashtra organizes a week long Kalidas Festival, a series of music and dance performances, by national level artist.[46] A number of newspapers are published from Nagpur in English, Hindi and Marathi. The Hitavada leads as English newspaper followed by local edition of The Times of India and Lokmat Times. Lokmat, Sakal, Tarun Bharat, Loksatta are some of the Marathi newspapers. Dainik Bhaskar and Nav Bharat are the Hindi dailies. Apart from the All India Radio, which has its own VividBharati service in FM band(107.8 MHz), the city now has private FM channels Radio Mirchi(98.3 MHz), My FM(94.3 MHz), Radio City(91.1 MHz)and S FM. Doordarshan TV service is available even terrestially while private satellite TV channels are available through cable operators or via Direct to Home (DTH) service.
Economy
Nagpur has been the center of commerce in the Vidarbha region since early days and is an important trading location. However, Nagpur's economic importance had gradually declined relative to Mumbai and Pune after the merging of Vidarbha into the Maharashtra because of a prolonged period of neglect by the state government.[47] Nagpur's economy is now recovering from past slowdown[48] and city has attracted Rupees 5,000 crore in investment in 2004.[49]. During the slowdown, state and central government offices were a major source of employment in the city. Nagpur regional office of Reserve Bank of India was opened on September 10, 1956[50]. The Butibori industrial area is the largest in all of Asia in terms of area.[51] The estate's largest unit is of Indo Rama Synthetics, which manufactures synthetic polyester yarn. Other units in Butibori include the power transmission company KEC, Hyundai Unitech, ACC Nihon Castings Ltd.[52]. Koradi & Khaparkheda are 2 thermal power stations located near Nagpur and operated by MSPGCL.
The Hingna industrial estate located on the western fringes of the city is made up of around 900 small and medium industrial units. The major ones among them are tractor manufacturing plant of Mahindra and Mahindra, casting units of NECO Ltd. (the country's largest casting group),[53] units of International Combustions, Bajaj Auto group, Candico (the SECOND largest confectionery manufacturing plant in India [54]), Ajanta toothbrushes and Sanvijay Group (largest steel rolling group of companies for long products in Central India)[55]. Nagpur is home to ice-cream manufacturer Dinshaws, Indian dry food manufacturer Haldiram's and Ayurvedic product company Vicco.[56]
Currently, Nagpur is witnessing an economic boom as "Multi-modal International Cargo Hub and Airport at Nagpur(MIHAN)" is being developed. MIHAN will be used for handling heavy cargo coming from south east Asia and Middle east Asia. Project will also include Rupees 10,000 crore Special Economic Zone (SEZ)[57] for Information Technology (IT) companies. It is expected that the area around the MIHAN industrial project will become Mihanpur, a self-sufficient city when the project takes off. Mihanpur will metamorphise itself from being a satellite city to become a twin city to Nagpur just like the well known Hyderabad-Secunderabad twins.
Education
Nagpur is a major education centre in Central India[58]. Nagpur has both "municipal schools"; (run by the NMC) and private schools (run by trusts or individuals), which in some cases receive financial aid from the government. City has 10+2+3/4 plan which is followed by Junior college and later degree course. Founded in 1923, Nagpur University[59] is one of the oldest in the country[60] and has geographical jurisdiction over the five districts of Nagpur division in addition to giving affiliation to hundreds of colleges. Nagpur has three medical colleges and Maharashtra Animal and Sciences University(MAFSU) for animal sciences[61] Nagpur has several engineering colleges which provide education in various specialty courses. Visvesvaraya National Institute of Technology (VNIT) is one of the reputed technical institutes in the country and also an Institute of National Importance. Nagpur has India's only National Fire Service College that provides graduation course in Fire Engineering[62] and Laxminarayan Institute of Technology (LIT) which one of few colleges for chemical engineering. Institute of Management Technology also has college in Nagpur.[63] College of Agriculture in Nagpur provides impetus in agricultural research. City's Raman Science Centre promotes scientific attitude and has 133 seat planetarium[64].
Bhosle Dumb and Deaf School, Bharat Muk Vidyalaya and Residential Blind Boys Institution provide education to physically challenged. Matru Sewa Sangh's Nandanwan school is for physically handicapped and mentally retarded children.
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