UP comes out of BIMARU status: Yogi Adityanath
LUCKNOW: Citing NITI Aayog data, UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said on Tuesday that his state has moved out of the BIMARU state category and emerged as ‘Saksham Pradesh’ (capable state), moving ahead on the path of development.
While handing over appointment letters to 1,573 ANM health workers on Tuesday, Yogi said that in 2015-16, about six crore people, comprising 37.68% of the state population, were Below Poverty Line (BPL). “However, the percentage of BPL people dropped from 37.68% to 22% in 2019–20 and currently it stood at 12%,” he added.
The CM accused the previous governments of indulging in corrupt practices during recruitment drives. He said that the youth of the state faced an identity crisis and the chacha-bhatija (SP leader Shivpal
Yadav and his nephew Akhilesh Yadav) went on a spree of “ extortions” whenever government vacancies were announced.
However, the CM did not take names while referring to Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav and his uncle Shivpal Yadav who was a cabinet minister in the Akhilesh government (2012-2017). “Today, no one can point fingers at any of the state recruitment commissions or boards. We are taking the recruitment process for government jobs forward in a transparent manner by making better use of technology. This has given confidence to the youth who are also willing to contribute to the state’s progress,” said Yogi while addressing new appointees.
Criticising the previous dispensations, the Chief Minister said that the “sick-minded government of the past had made Uttar Pradesh sick.” Sharing the course of development followed during his tenure of six years, the CM cited the example of 10 aspirational districts — Bahraich, Shravasti, Balrampur, Badaun, Sitapur, Siddharthnagar, Sambhal, Kheri, Hardoi, and Banda — lagging in development. As Niti Aayog identified them as aspirational districts, they came under special focus of development. This was followed by the identification of 100 aspirational blocks and developing of them, said Yogi.
He added that his government started working on the parameters set by NITI Aayog on education, health, agriculture and water resources, skill development and employment, and economic inequality. Claiming that during the last one-and-a-half years of his second tenure in office, 19 appointment letter distribution programmes were organised and 58,000 aspirants got government jobs.
He claimed that ASHA and ANM workers were neglected by previous governments. The vacant posts were not filled, he alleged. As per National Multidimensional Poverty Index: A Progress Review 2023, India registered a significant fall of 9.89 percentage points in the number of multidimensionally poor, from 24.85% in 2015-16 to 14.96% in 2019-2023.
How the ‘sickness’ was cured
Consistency
2015-16: 6 crore people, comprising 37.68% of the state population, were below poverty line (BPL)
2019-20: The BPL percentage dropped from 37.6% to 22%
2023: The percentage further falls to 12%
BIMARU MEANS...
The term BIMARU (or sick) was coined by demographer Ashish Bose in the 1980s to refer to states which were lagging behind and retarding India’s overall development. Though the terminology was later called “outdated,” the acronym stuck on
The Uttar Pradesh government has made progress on NITI Aayog parameters on education, health, agriculture, skill development & jobs, and economic equality, among others
In the last 18 months, 58,000 job aspirants got government employment