Suchergebnisse

This book introduces the issues of the contemporary state of Bihar, India, in terms of its performance on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) indicators and the initiatives taken by the central and state governments towards realizing human development. Doing so, it draws upon the mistakes committed in the past and moves ahead towards a better future with the idea of sustainable human development. The book also presents a comprehensive evaluation of the background and indicators of the human development index, and it analyses the impact of COVID-19 on India in general and on Bihar in particular. India is a nation of unbalanced states in terms of development. In spite of all the development initiatives, India still contains states that have not conformed to the breakthrough claimed by the nation, and the state of Bihar falls under this category. Bihar has emerged as the worst performer in human development, based on the ranking of the Human Development Index 2020. Nevertheless, Bihar has the potential for overall development to achieve its glorious past once again, by various pro-poor policies implemented by the government of Bihar in the last two decades, which is critically analysed in detail.

AbstractAge structure and its dynamics are critical in understanding the impact of population growth on a country's growth prospects. Using state‐level data from India, we show that the pace of demographic transition varies across states, and that these differences are likely to be exacerbated over the period 2011–26. We show that the so‐called BIMARU states (Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh) are likely to see a continuing increase in the share of the working‐age population in total population. The BIMARU states are expected to contribute 58 per cent of the increase in India's working‐age population. The BIMARU states have traditionally been the slow‐growing states and have performed poorly on different accounts of social and physical infrastructure. The article argues that whether the demographic window of opportunity will be utilised and turned into a boon or be wasted and result in a bane will rest critically on the ability of the BIMARU states to exploit the bulge in the working‐age population.