'Don't call them Bimaru states now'

The concept of 'bimaru' (sick in Hindi) states is outdated, since these states have been advancing faster than some of the developed ones, Planning Commission Deputy Chairperson Montek Singh Ahluwalia has said. Chetan Chauhan reports.

Updated on: Jul 19, 2010, 01:47:15 IST

Hindustan Times | By Chetan Chauhan, New Delhi

Prefer HTon Google

Share via

Copy link

The concept of 'bimaru' (sick in Hindi) states is outdated, since these states have been advancing faster than some of the developed ones, Planning Commission Deputy Chairperson Montek Singh Ahluwalia has said.

Bimaru (referring to Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh) was an acronym coined by the noted demographer Ashish Bose - in a paper submitted to then prime minister Rajiv Gandhi in the mid 1980s - to group together states which were lagging behind and retarding India's overall development.

"The old Bimaru concept is no longer true," said Ahluwalia,while sharing the commission's analysis of growth data for the states. Among the four Bimaru states, the economist particularly singled out Bihar, as a state with the fastest growth rate in recent years.

The data to be formally unveiled at National Development Council (NDC) meeting on July 24 shows that 25 per cent of the poorest Indian states recorded a growth rate of 6.3 per cent between 2002 and 2008 - compared to less than 4.9 between 1987 and 2002. On the other hand, the speed of growth in richer states such as Punjab has slowed down.

"Liberalisation of economy has benefited the poorer states," Ahluwalia said.

He also predicted that, following the global economic slowdown, India's average economic growth during the 11th plan (2007-12) would be 8.1 per cent against the original growth target of nine per cent.

Ahluwalia said that on 29 socio-economic indicators such as education, gender balance and population growth, the disparity between rich and poor states has reduced.

What still worries India's top planners, however, is continuing exclusion of tribal population in India's growth story.

"Our data shows that tribals are now more excluded than the scheduled castes," said a plan panel member and added that a special development plan for tribal areas would be circulated to chief ministers at the NDC meeting.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Chetan Chauhan
Chetan Chauhan is the National Affairs Editor looking into all aspects of news and features from across India. A Chevening scholar with over three decades of experience in reporting and news management, Chetan has extensively covered all important aspects of the social sector, political economy, environment and climate change nationally and internationally. He did a journalism course at the Reuters Institute of Journalism in Oxford and Digital Media training at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. He started as a reporter with The Statesman in 1996 and joined the Hindustan Times in 2000 in the metro bureau covering environment, crime and Delhi politics. He covered hot local news, from the Jessica Lal murder case to the rebellion of Delhi Congress MLAs against then Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, to the replacement of toxic vehicle fuel with cleaner compressed natural gas (CNG) in the national capital. Some of his stories on air pollution became part of the Supreme Court’s landmark MC Mehta versus Government of India case in the National Capital Region (NCR), forcing the government to take corrective measures. As part of the national political bureau since 2004, he covered important central sectors such as environment, education, social justice, labour, rural development, water resources, renewable energy, agriculture, broadcasting and the Planning Commission for more than a decade producing several exclusive and investigative breaking stories. His specialisation is the environment, having covered at least a dozen United Nations global conferences on climate change, biodiversity and wildlife including climate summits in Paris, Copenhagen and Bali. He also covered India’s two five-year plans ---11th and 12th and reported on drafting and execution of right based laws such as Right to Education, Right to Information and rural job guarantee law, MG-NREGA, now being introduced in new format as VG-RAM-G Act. He has in-depth knowledge of social sector issues. He was one of the first to report on tigers vanishing from Sariska and Panna wildlife reserves in 2004 and 2008, respectively, leading to the setting up of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) and the introduction of stringent penal provisions for poaching. He has written extensively on the rising human-animal conflict in India and the degradation of India’s biodiversity hotspots because of mining and other activities. Since 2004, Chetan has covered Parliament comprehensively and participated in training on the nuanced coverage of Parliament proceedings. He has travelled extensively across India to cover national and provincial elections since 1998, especially in the Hindi heartland states, considered India’s road to power. He writes a regular column for Hindustan Times, Ecostani, on important national politics, economy, Himalayan ecology and environmental issues. His other responsibilities include providing inputs for edits and edit page articles for the publication, apart from managing news flow from across India.Read More

Catch every big hit, every wicket with Crickit, a one stop destination for Live Scores, Match Stats, Infographics & much more. Explore now!

Stay updated with all top Cities including, Bengaluru, Delhi, Mumbai and more across India. Stay informed on the latest happenings in World News along with Delhi Election 2025 and Delhi Election Result 2025 Live, New Delhi Election Result Live, Kalkaji Election Result Live at Hindustan Times.