Thanks for discussing about Bimaru- an interesting acronym coined by the late Ashish Bose. This was a great way of paying tribute to a great demographer by linking it to the upcoming elections. We have been hearing about population control for decades now. Singling out a few States is not fair. They will naturally show a high rate of population growth simply because of the density of population. Ironically this very population works as the magical vote bank during the time of elections. Everyone is out to woo the common man. The added benefit of more seats in the Parliament can't be overlooked.
The overwhelming population of India really got highlighted during the Covid times. The mind-boggling figures of the number of vaccines administered made us realize that we far exceed the population of various countries put together! Interestingly we seem to have found viable solutions to various other maladies afflicting our country- be it poverty, shortage of drinking water, electricity, food grains and so on. A workable solution for population control which is effective as well as acceptable still eludes us.
Actually the debate on population control is not as binary as is being made out. There are enough examples to prove the argument both ways--countries with little population who are poor and vice versa.
In the Indian context it has been disingenuously linked to economic growth and hence blamed for lack of India's prosperity. India missed the bus for various reasons, including lazy and opportunistic politics. Shameful that it has taken 75 years to provide basics like electricity, drinking water (still a work in progress), banking and so on. This had less to do with population than with rampant corruption in public office.
Though your larger point on population control is accepted. But then this is a personal choice, which is influenced by a host of factors. We are already seeing this with atomistic families, urbanisation, late marriages and so on. Population growth in India has peaked for now.
Hope my response helps clarify things.
Look forward to your continued participation Ranjini.
Excellent article on Ashish Bose, one of India s best economic analyst and demographer.His contribution to the study of differentiated growth rates of population in various states of India, their causes and implications in terms of fertility rates, mortality, urbanization, internal migration ,work force etc cannot be forgotten. He was also involved in formulating urban demographic details of India. You have explained the term BIMARU so well, most of the people associate it only with slow economic growth of these states.
Thank you so much for your kind words and thoughts. Much appreciated.
Absolutely, Ashish Bose was a brilliant demographer and had so many more contributions--I only shared a sliver of this work. Do read the profile I shared.
The State governments in these Hindi speaking States, are not rated very highly as far as their education policies or standards of education are concerned. Hence the resultant maladies, leading to the "Bimaru" status. On the other hand these States are a political priority due to the decisive number of members in Parliament that come from these States. The present government is focusing on UP for an economic revival that will propel India to a 5 trn $ economy. Interesting factors mentioned that make this an important write up in the context of the forthcoming elections in the States and the big one in 2024.
Absolutely, and politicians need to take the blame for the state of these states. Utter neglect, corruption in office has held back the two most populous states of India. Like you point out, UP is turning around fast.
Thanks for this article as a tribute to Ashish Bose and his invention of the acronym BIMARU. It is sad to note that we are now suffering from the failed policies of yester years and see no hope of a quick turnaround!! The idea of demographic dividend is a nice thought but carrying such unskilled, unemployable, lazy, free bee seeking mass is a big burden on the society and the Govt. Anyway, silver lining is that birth rates are falling all across generally except for these BIMARU states but it will take at least 2050s to stabilize our population and that too at around 1.5 billion. Earth has limitations in carrying so many!!! Apart from India, population in Africa n Middle East is also rising rapidly leading to severe resources constraints n overexploitation!! Urbanization adds it's own problems too. In short, unless we manage this well, we will have lots of secondary effects to handle!! God save India and lets keep saying Modi Hai To Mumkin Hai!!! He! He!!!
True: resolving the legacy deficits pertaining to basic standard of living is proving to be an uphill task; good news though is that India has crossed the tipping point in its efforts to universalise sanitation (toilets and drinking water), banking, cooking gas and housing.
Frankly, this demographic dividend overstates India's advantage. The birth rate slowdown, atomisation of households, growing urbanisation and delay in marriages has impacted population growth much more than what official statistics--which are dated--reveal.
India now needs to worry about the obverse. About its ageing population. With longevity this means pressure on medical resources, elderly care and so on. Don't believe there has been much of a conversation around this so far.
Thanks Anil. You hv expanded on my initial thoughts and covered the full gamut of the issues involved. I am more concerned about gainfully engaging the mass of unskilled, unemployable young lot. We need to work on this in an out of box manner; otherwise this issue will hit our politics and social harmony badly.
Absolutely Surendra. Addressing the divide is critical if India has to realise the potential that the entire world sees in it. As Mahatma Gandhi put it: don't leave anyone behind.
Dear Anil
Thanks for discussing about Bimaru- an interesting acronym coined by the late Ashish Bose. This was a great way of paying tribute to a great demographer by linking it to the upcoming elections. We have been hearing about population control for decades now. Singling out a few States is not fair. They will naturally show a high rate of population growth simply because of the density of population. Ironically this very population works as the magical vote bank during the time of elections. Everyone is out to woo the common man. The added benefit of more seats in the Parliament can't be overlooked.
The overwhelming population of India really got highlighted during the Covid times. The mind-boggling figures of the number of vaccines administered made us realize that we far exceed the population of various countries put together! Interestingly we seem to have found viable solutions to various other maladies afflicting our country- be it poverty, shortage of drinking water, electricity, food grains and so on. A workable solution for population control which is effective as well as acceptable still eludes us.
Dear Ranjini,
Thank you for your thoughts.
Actually the debate on population control is not as binary as is being made out. There are enough examples to prove the argument both ways--countries with little population who are poor and vice versa.
In the Indian context it has been disingenuously linked to economic growth and hence blamed for lack of India's prosperity. India missed the bus for various reasons, including lazy and opportunistic politics. Shameful that it has taken 75 years to provide basics like electricity, drinking water (still a work in progress), banking and so on. This had less to do with population than with rampant corruption in public office.
Though your larger point on population control is accepted. But then this is a personal choice, which is influenced by a host of factors. We are already seeing this with atomistic families, urbanisation, late marriages and so on. Population growth in India has peaked for now.
Hope my response helps clarify things.
Look forward to your continued participation Ranjini.
Best
Anil
Dear Anil,
Excellent article on Ashish Bose, one of India s best economic analyst and demographer.His contribution to the study of differentiated growth rates of population in various states of India, their causes and implications in terms of fertility rates, mortality, urbanization, internal migration ,work force etc cannot be forgotten. He was also involved in formulating urban demographic details of India. You have explained the term BIMARU so well, most of the people associate it only with slow economic growth of these states.
Dear Vandana,
Thank you so much for your kind words and thoughts. Much appreciated.
Absolutely, Ashish Bose was a brilliant demographer and had so many more contributions--I only shared a sliver of this work. Do read the profile I shared.
Best
Anil
Anil
Your article is tribute to Ashish Bose !
In your response to one of the comments you have highlighted the new demographic challenges like aging population in India .
I take that as an important call for framing policy responses to the emergent demographic challenges !
Regards
Balesh
Dear Balesh,
Thank you. Indeed it was an implicit tribute to Ashish Bose. One of the greatest demographers from India. Do read the profile I shared.
And absolutely, the emergent demographic challenges needs immediate attention--or at least a focused discussion.
Look forward to your continued participation.
Best
Anil
The State governments in these Hindi speaking States, are not rated very highly as far as their education policies or standards of education are concerned. Hence the resultant maladies, leading to the "Bimaru" status. On the other hand these States are a political priority due to the decisive number of members in Parliament that come from these States. The present government is focusing on UP for an economic revival that will propel India to a 5 trn $ economy. Interesting factors mentioned that make this an important write up in the context of the forthcoming elections in the States and the big one in 2024.
Dear Gautam,
Thank you for your thoughts.
Absolutely, and politicians need to take the blame for the state of these states. Utter neglect, corruption in office has held back the two most populous states of India. Like you point out, UP is turning around fast.
Look forward to your continued participation.
Best
Anil
Thanks for this article as a tribute to Ashish Bose and his invention of the acronym BIMARU. It is sad to note that we are now suffering from the failed policies of yester years and see no hope of a quick turnaround!! The idea of demographic dividend is a nice thought but carrying such unskilled, unemployable, lazy, free bee seeking mass is a big burden on the society and the Govt. Anyway, silver lining is that birth rates are falling all across generally except for these BIMARU states but it will take at least 2050s to stabilize our population and that too at around 1.5 billion. Earth has limitations in carrying so many!!! Apart from India, population in Africa n Middle East is also rising rapidly leading to severe resources constraints n overexploitation!! Urbanization adds it's own problems too. In short, unless we manage this well, we will have lots of secondary effects to handle!! God save India and lets keep saying Modi Hai To Mumkin Hai!!! He! He!!!
Dear Surendra,
Thank you for your thoughts.
True: resolving the legacy deficits pertaining to basic standard of living is proving to be an uphill task; good news though is that India has crossed the tipping point in its efforts to universalise sanitation (toilets and drinking water), banking, cooking gas and housing.
Frankly, this demographic dividend overstates India's advantage. The birth rate slowdown, atomisation of households, growing urbanisation and delay in marriages has impacted population growth much more than what official statistics--which are dated--reveal.
India now needs to worry about the obverse. About its ageing population. With longevity this means pressure on medical resources, elderly care and so on. Don't believe there has been much of a conversation around this so far.
Best
Anil
Thanks Anil. You hv expanded on my initial thoughts and covered the full gamut of the issues involved. I am more concerned about gainfully engaging the mass of unskilled, unemployable young lot. We need to work on this in an out of box manner; otherwise this issue will hit our politics and social harmony badly.
Absolutely Surendra. Addressing the divide is critical if India has to realise the potential that the entire world sees in it. As Mahatma Gandhi put it: don't leave anyone behind.
Best
Anil