Context:
Recently, on the inaugural day of the Uttar Pradesh government’s two-day Investors’ Summit, Prime Minister recalled the tag of ‘BIMARU’, used to describe the state.
Relevance:
GS II: Polity and Governance
Dimensions of the Article:
- What do BIMARU states mean, who coined the term?
- What is the role of BIMARU states in population growth?
What do BIMARU states mean, who coined the term?
- The term BIMARU refers to a group of states in India, namely Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh.
- The term was coined by the late demographer Ashish Bose in 1985 to highlight India’s demographic malady.
- The grouping of these states was primarily based on their high population growth rates and a lack of progress in family planning and population control efforts.
- The term BIMARU means “sickly” in Hindi.
- The group also included Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, and Uttarakhand before they became separate states.
- Despite progress in other parts of the country, these states continue to have high population growth rates and lag behind in family planning efforts, according to Bose’s arguments.
What is the role of BIMARU states in population growth?
- Erstwhile BIMARU states, which accounted for 41 per cent of India’s total population in 2001, will account for 43.5 per cent in 2026.
- It also shows that the share of BIMARU states in the absolute increase in India’s population during 2001-26 will be of the order of 50.4 per cent while the share of the south will be only 12.6 per cent.
- A 2020 report of the National Commission on Population of the Union Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, titled ‘Report of the Technical Group on Population Projection’, said BIMARU states (excluding the three newly carved out states) will contribute to 49.1% of the population increase in India between 2011 and 2036.
- Population in Indian states also dictates the delimitation process or the number of seats allotted to them in Parliament.
- Currently, the seats are proportional to the Indian population as of the 1971 census.
- It was frozen until 2001 (and has now further been extended to 2026) to give states time to meet family planning goals.
-Source: Indian Express
