BIMARU (Hindustani: बीमारू, بیمارو Bīmārū) is an acronym, coined by demographer Ashish Bose in mid-1980s, formed from the first letters of names of some states, namely Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh. BIMARU in Hindustani, bīmār (बीमार, بیمار), denotes "sick" states referring to the poor economic conditions of these states. The acronym has also been used as a pejorative for the people originating from these states. BIMARU states are low on HDI and food security. The present-day states of Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, and Uttarakhand were part of Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, and Uttar Pradesh, respectively, when the BIMARU acronym was coined. All of these are in the Hindi Belt, which also has relatively richer non-BIMARU states, such as Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Delhi, Chandigarh, and Uttarakhand.[1]
Madhya Pradesh, once labelled a BIMARU state, has seen tremendous growth, especially in its agricultural sector, and has quadrupled its GDP between 2011 and 2024.[2] Uttarakhand, after it was split from Uttar Pradesh and made a separate state, has made sufficient progress to get out of the BIMARU category.[3] Rajasthan is next in order for coming out of BIMARU group but they still have a lot to do. Chhattisgarh falls in the middle category of Human Development Index. Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, and Jharkhand are lagging behind. During 2008–2011, some of BIMARU states had higher growth rate and some of their natives argued that the BIMARU concept was outdated, but in reality these states have a low economic base and thus despite higher rate of growth they remain much poorer than other states.[3][4][5] The concept has re-emerged due to the faltering growth rates of the states.[6][7]
BIMARU states are usually net negative providers of food security, i.e. they consume more food than they produce. Hence, these states are major consumers of India's PDS for food redistribution. The much smaller but richer states of Haryana and Punjab are massive providers of food security to India as they provide 60-80% of wheat and 28-44% of rice of India's total PDS.[8]
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