Tech Musings

The BIMARU States of

Rajneesh De, Group Editor [email protected] oted demographer Ashish Bose coined the acronym BIMARU (referring to the states of , , and ) in a paper submitted to the then PM Rajiv Gandhi in the mid 80s to group together states which were lagging behind in both economic Nand social indices and thereby retarding India’s overall development. The name (meaning ‘sick’ in ) stuck and virtually the entire Hindi heartland of India came to represent whatever was ailing the country and proving to be a roadblock to its march into becoming the next global superpower. After more than two decades and nine PMs, the process of resuscitation has yet to finally start. While Bihar, perennially derided as the Achilles Heel for the country’s development, has recovered to some extent, the states of UP, MP and Rajasthan are perennial laggards. While technology, especially e-governance, has taken much strides over the years, the ground situations especially in UP and Rajasthan (MP ranks slightly better) are still pathetic. And this despite both these states witnessing a number of regime changes with 180 degree turn in political dispensation. Uttar Pradesh in particular has witnessed all political colors over the years, but the situation is worsening day by day; instead of becoming ‘Uttam’ Pradesh, it is further deteriorating into the ‘Niruttam’ Pradesh of India. The reasons are not far to see—technology might have been a While technology, game changer, but if it has been leveraged properly. Instead we are seeing a spiraling population going out of control, minimal scores on all social indices, religious obscurantism and bigotry plaguing the especially very growth of the state. To the lesser extent the same story is true of Rajasthan and MP. A state which e-governance, has agitates over a 500 year old mythical queen, while the girl children are neglected outright (that is if they taken much strides are allowed to be born at all) tells you the story. The economists and social scientists sitting at NCAER or JNU or in the IHC portals would argue over the years, the various reasons that had led to an initial turnaround in the first decade of this century before the clock ground situations turned back again a few years back (and no I am not only blaming the current regime for everything). especially in UP and Breaking up bigger states—both UP and MP were castrated to carve out and Rajasthan are still respectively-- for better administration; relative political stability (particularly applicable to Bihar and MP); improvement in 29 socio-economic indicators such as education, gender balance and population pathetic. growth; some marketing whizkids feel the sales of feminine personal hygiene products being the highest in BIMARU states in recent times was a strong growth indicator; and last but not the least economic liberalization had reduced the disparity between the BIMARU and the rich states. So does increasing adoption of e-gov directly equate to the growth in these states? While the progress report card of the BIMARU states in the first half (from 2004-2010) would confirm it to some extent, the unfortunate digression in the last few years disproves this axiom. Thanks to e-savvy CMs like Chandrababu Naidu and S M Krishna, e-governance first became the buzzword for political success and later the catalyst for political demise. However, the e-governance map in those initial days revealed a highly skewed profile—the progress of the BIMARU states not only rationalized the skew extensively, but acting as a facilitator for administrative reforms, e-gov has also proved to be the panacea. Unfortunately the panacea seems to have been lost in the political quagmire now. Is there anyone (and I don’t care about the political color) who can restore health to these BIMARU states.

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