Monday 31 March 2014

Role of HRD in the Sustainable Development of BIMARU (FLNI) States of India

Dr. Devendra Kothari
Population and Development Analyst,
Forum for Population Action

"Unless the Government of India and so called BIMARU states engineer a common agenda for human resource development to lift these economies, the shadow of poverty and illiteracy as well as poor governance issue will continue to haunt India and thwart its tryst with destiny. This is a challenge for India’s development in the years immediately ahead".

What is “BIMARU, a term often heard in the development debate of India? BIMARU, Hindi for sick, was coined by the population scientist - Prof. Ashish Bose in the early eighties to denote four states' backwardness, namely: Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. [1] These states had poor reproductive and human resource development (HRD) indicators. They recoded high fertility, high maternal and infant mortality, low contraceptive prevalence, low female literacy and a poor sex ratio amid poor socio-economic development. [2]  The Rajan Committee report has also included these states in the category of the “least developed states” of India.[3]

The term - “BIMARU”-, however, is a derogatory one; it has come to mean chronic backwardness and sickness. Such connotation can only demoralize people in the places it refers to. Therefore this outdated term – BIMARU - needs jettisoning. Why not give the nametag a timely burial? True, poverty and underdevelopment have not vanished. It is better refer these states as Four Large North Indian (FLNI) States.

The term was coined in the 1980s to denote FLNI States' backwardness. Much has changed since. In post-reforms India; these states markedly improved their showing. In fact, better-off states like Punjab have seen decelerated growth in recent times. But two of FLNI laggard states - Bihar and Madhya Pradesh- have grown faster than the global 7% benchmark for miracle' growth. The Indiabulls study reveals that per capita income in the FLNI States has started to grow at 13%, matching the national average as against a poor average of 5% in the past.[4] Unsurprisingly, the fast moving consumer goods sector is eyeing them as markets providing avenues for expansion. The Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) segment is the fourth largest sector in the Indian economy. The market size of FMCG in India is expected to grow from US$ 30 billion in 2011 to US$ 74 billion in 2018.  According to the Report that “a major chunk of its growth coming from Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan in the next two years.

We must qualify this story. Fast GDP growth in FLNI States does not automatically mean that growth has reached all people. We have to agree that these FLNI States are still far behind from other states of India and needs special attention. But simply providing the fund is not going to solve their problems.  Reasons being backwardness in the FLNI States should be studied as well as the progressiveness of relative developed states like of Gujarat, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. When Prof.  Bose coined the BIMARU acronym, his purpose was clearly to categorise and segregate the states retarding India's overall development process. Rather than trying to be politically correct, Bose's objective was to identify ‘grey' states in India's map and spur action on the part of the government.

What is holding back growth story of the FLNI States? HRD related variables are very crucial, [5] which are not given due importance in the development planning of these states. These states are growing slowing not because of low per capita consumption expenditure, high level of poverty, low level of urbanization and poor connectivity, but mainly due to failure to give importance to human resource development variables in the development planning like reproductive health; literacy especially female literacy; household amenities among others as compared to the relatively developed states of India during initial stage of development

The India Human Development Report, 2011[6] placed Kerala on top of the Human Development Index (HDI) in the year 2007-08 for achieving highest literacy rate, quality health services and consumption expenditure of people. Punjab, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu were placed at fifth, seventh and eighth position, respectively (Table 1).
According to the report, India's HDI has registered impressive gains in the last decade as the index increased by 21% to 0.467 in 2007-08, from 0.387 in 1999-2000. However, the report noted that the Four Large North Indian States of Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh as well as Chhattisgarh, Orissa, Jharkhand, and Assam are those states which continue to lag behind in HDI and remain below the national average of 0.467.  The overall improvement in the index was largely attributed to the 28.5%t increase in education index across the country. It ranges from 0.92 for Kerala to 0.41 in the case of Bihar. The report also indicates that improvement in the health index, as compared to education, has been lower. It ranges from 0.82 in Kerala to 0.41 in Assam. Despite the Right to Education Act, school education faces challenges of quality and employability especially in FLNI States. T
he report also highlighted the fact that 60 percent of the poor were concentrated in states like Bihar, Orissa, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh.

Table 1: Ranking of States having population 30 million and more in 2011 by HDI value

State
HDI 2007-08
HDI 1999-2000
Value
All India Rank
Value
All India Rank
1
2
3
4
5
Kerala
0.790
1
0.677
2
Punjab
0.605
5
0.543
5
Maharashtra
0.572
7
0.501
6
Tamil  Nadu
0.570
8
0.450
8
Haryana
0.552
9
0.501
7
Gujarat
0.527
11
0466
10
Karnataka
0.519
12
0.432
12
West Bengal
0.492
13
0.422
13
Andhra Pradesh
0.473
15
0.368
15
Rajasthan
0.434
17
0.387
14
Assam
0.444
16
0.336
17
Uttar Pradesh
0.380
18
0.316
18
Jharkhand
0.376
19
0.368
23
Madhya Pradesh
0.375
20
0.285
20
Bihar
0.367
19
0.292
19
Orissa
0.362
22
0.275
22
Chhattisgarh
0.358
23
0.278
21
India
0.467
-
0.387
-
Source: India Human Development Report 2011, New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2011

The main reason of slow pace of human resource development in the FLNI States is high rate of population growth mainly fueled by unwanted fertility, as shown in Table 2. Total Fertility Rate (TFR) indicates the average number of children expected to be born per woman during her entire span of reproductive period. On an average, a woman in India produces 2.4 children during her lifetime; however, there is a wide diversity of fertility levels among States. It ranges from 1.7 in Tamil Nadu to 3.6 in Bihar, as per the SRS-2011. The replacement level fertility of 2.1 children per woman, required to initiate the process of population stabilization, has already been attained by the relatively developed states   of Tamil Nadu (1.7), Kerala (1.8) and Maharashtra (1.8), whereas FLNI States of Bihar (3.6), Uttar Pradesh (3.4), Madhya Pradesh (TFR 3.1) and Rajasthan (3.0) have a long way to go before they achieve this level.  At the same time total unwanted fertility was the highest in Bihar and lowest in Kerala.  What are the implications of such scenario? The emerging demographic peculiarity could have major ramifications as India attempts to continue its high growth rate over the coming decades and future development of the FLNI States. One has to improve the availability of reproductive health services in FLNI States looking to the needs of clients.[7] 

Another issue which needs equal attention is quality of education, especially female education. Also, living conditions are equally important in producing an enabling environment for human resource development, as shown in Table 2. Any improvement in access to toilet facilities, water, electricity and LPG is likely to result in a considerable reduction in domestic drudgery especially for girls/women, freeing up their time for other activities including schooling. [8]

Table 2:   Human Development indicators and level of development, some selected States, 2011.
Indicators
Relatively developed States
FLNI States
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
TN
Punjab
M’sthra
Kerala
Bihar
MP
UP
Raj.
A. Reproductive health:
·         Decadal population growth (%) 2001-11
15.6
13.7
16.0
04.9
25.1
20.3
20.1
21.4
·         Total Fertility Rate
1.7
1.8
1.8
1.8
3.6
3.1
3.4
3.0
·         Unwanted births per
woman  (2005-06)
0.4
0.5
0.4
0.1
1.6
1.0
1.5
1.0
·         Infant Mortality Rate
22
30
25
12
44
59
57
52
·         Maternal Mortality Rate (2007-08)
97
172
104
81
261
269
359
318
B. Literacy level
·         Female literacy (%)
74
71
76
92
53
60
59
53
·         Male literacy (%)
87
82
90
96
73
80
79
80
C. Household with  amenities like:
·         Tap water
80
51
70
77
04
23
27
41
·         Flush latrine
42
59
43
65
20
26
30
28
·         No latrine
52
21
47
5
77
71
64
65
·         Electricity
93
97
84
94
16
67
37
67
·         LPG as cooking fuel
48
54
43
36
08
18
20
23
Source: Census of India 2011 – Tables on Houses, Household Amenities and Assets and   SRS Bulletin, Registrar General & Census Commissioner, India’ and National Family Health Survey-3, Mumbai, IIPS, 2007.* Annual Status of Education Report 2011, Pratham, 2012.


In conclusion, the immediate but basic objective behind development planning of these states must be to increase the productivity of human resources. Human resource development means invest­ment in human capital. So people can act as capital assets which yield a stream of economic benefits over their working life. What is needed is an integrated approach for development and growth, without education and proper health facilities as well as better living conditions; it is difficult to achieve balanced growth in the FLNI States. "Educated and healthy labour force is the biggest guarantor”, argued by The Nobel laureate Amartya Kumar Sen.

In coming months, we will discuss each of these Four Large North Indian States.




[1] Historically, the chronically poor states were Orissa plus the BIMARU quartet (Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh), of which Bihar, MP and UP have been sub divided  in the year 2000 into Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Uttaranchal, respectively.

[2] Emerging demographic divide: A dilemma for India” Blog Entries by Devendra K Kothari at: http://kotharionindia.blogspot.in/2012/02/emerging-demographic-divide-dilemma-for.html.

[3]Rajan Panel Report on backwardness of States of India”, Blog Entries by Devendra K Kothari at: http://kotharionindia.blogspot.in/2013/10/rajan-panel-report-on-backwardness-of_3169.html.

[4]For details, see: http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2010-07-18/news/27625339_1_fmcg-consumption-penetration-indian-fmcg.

[5] “India: Why pace of development is slow?” Blog Entries by Devendra K Kothari at kotharionindia.blogspot.com, posted September 25, 2013.

[6] India Human Development Report 2011, New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2011.

[7] Kothari, Devendra and Sudha Tewari. 2009. Slowing Population Growth in India: Challenges, Opportunities and the Way Forward. MIPD Policy Brief No. 2, Management Institute of Population and Development, (Parivar Seva Sanstha, New Delhi).

[8] “Quality of life and living environment in India”, Blog Entries by Devendra K Kothari at kotharionindia.blogspot.com, posted September 9, 2012.

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