BIMARU States — Full Form and Meaning in Economics

The acronym stands for the first letters of four large states:

• BI = Bihar
• MA = Madhya Pradesh
• R = Rajasthan
• U = Uttar Pradesh

(Note: After the year 2000, three new states—Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, and Uttarakhand—were carved out of Bihar, MP, and UP respectively, so they are often implicitly included in this grouping).

The term was coined by prominent Indian demographer and economist Ashish Bose in the early 1980s.

He presented a paper to Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi pointing out that India's family planning and population control programs were failing because these four heavily populated states were dragging the national average down. He cleverly coined the term because it sounds exactly like the Hindi word 'Bimaru' (बीमारू), which means 'sick' or 'ailing', perfectly describing their economic health at the time.

In the 1980s and 90s, these states shared several negative characteristics compared to southern and western Indian states:

1. Exceptionally high population growth rates and high infant mortality.
2. Very low female literacy rates.
3. Poor infrastructure, healthcare, and per capita income.
4. High levels of poverty.

Because these states held a massive chunk of India's total population, Ashish Bose argued that unless the 'Bimaru' states were fixed, India as a whole could never progress.

Today, the term is considered outdated and somewhat derogatory. Several of these states, particularly Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, have shown massive improvements in GDP growth, agricultural output, and infrastructure over the last two decades. However, challenges in per capita income and quality education still remain.