The stigma of doing business in UP & Bihar still keeps haunting, but why?
MY APPEAL TO ALL UP & BIHAR LOVERS…if for a moment we just shrug off the old perceptions, come out of “ANTI- UP, Bihar MINDSET” and give these states a FAIR CHANCE by initiating new Projects & Programs, IT WILL MAKE A HUGE DIFFERENCE TO THE OVERALL DEVELOPMENT OF OUR COUNTRY!
Uttar Pradesh & Bihar continue to languish on the human development index (HDI) front, while others, including Haryana and Himachal, have shown an improvement in the past 27 years, says a report published last year. “Both UP and Bihar have continued to remain at the bottom in the past 27 years,” notes the report, acknowledging some strides undertaken by these states since 2014.
What’s new, we have been reading such Reports in many formats in last so many years & being from the interior town of Eastern UP, I can tell you that still pitching for doing Business with UP Govt. or initiate any Corporate venture in any other City of UP except Lucknow is followed by frowns & resistance from the Corporate honchos sitting in Mumbai, Bengaluru & even Delhi/ Gurgaon!
The same Report last year also said…’Rajasthan, UP, Odisha and MP have seen the largest jump in HDI value among the 25 major states…’ & the latest Report of Govt. of India on Ease of Doing Business (EoDB) puts UP to no. 2 spot just after Andhra Pradesh. “UP has jumped from the 12th position in Business Reform Action Plan (BRAP) 2017-18 to the second position in BRAP 19. UP has left behind several leading states such as Gujarat, Telangana, Rajasthan, Maharashtra etc in the EoDB annual rankings,” said a spokesman of the state government.
So the fact is that though things are still far from becoming great for the twin states UP & Bihar, but at least what we see from close quarters, particularly following our UP Chief Minister, his stories of aggressive/ clean Governance, many such never seen initiatives like what he is doing to the city of Ayodhya, his speed & persistence in building the International Airport at JEWAR on Yamuna Expressway (also all the International level developments around this area of Noida, G Noida, Yamuna Express Way up to Agra), his commitment to scuttle crime from grass-roots (the famous adage that – Once the dreaded criminal– now he prefers to stay in Jail that take Bail in YOGI’s UP) & the exemplary work he is demonstrating & executing in the largest populated & actually the largest state of the country (also having one of the most complicated Political system based on intense Caste equations)- Uttar Pradesh is not only repositioning itself but making all efforts to come out of the ‘decades of complex web created around it’s image’ of ‘backwardness, corrupt governance, weak political will & an unsafe place to do business with’! The results may be still far away from actually putting such a complex state like UP is any top ranking of ‘progress & development’ in true sense, but it may be still a hard fact to BELIEVE! Particularly if you belong to the Professional/ Corporate class of India, based out of Business Capitals of India or wanting to do Business from USA or Europe as a global conglomerate wishing to ride on the next wave of ‘business expansion’ out of opportunities exploding in the Tier Towns & the Hinterland of this large country, a Corporate CEO may still be quite hesitant (I would say majority of them), but the way things are moving for this state, which is ‘the devil waiting to get it’s long pending due to come on the forefront of business & development opportunities in Independent India’ & become a Leader for all good reasons, the time would have ‘JUST ARRIVED’!! Various recent developments & the persistence in performance & a cleaner than though GOVERNANCE, at least till now, complimented with ‘never seen before’ POLITICAL WILL to show true results for the development of the state & seek welfare for all strata of the society, suggests that- ‘this DEVIL will most likely get its’ DUE soon’.
Uttar Pradesh, the heart of modern India, which has always been a centre stage of Indian Politics (at one time it was an unspoken rule that the PM of the country has to be from UP & the current PM also understood this dynamics & nurtured Varansi as his ‘Political Playground’, which is considered to be a Master-stroke to make him emerge as the ‘PM numero uno’ in this polarized Political dispensation), historically has been the birthplace of our Hindu Gods – Lord Rama & Krishna, but also both Bihar (named after Bauddh ‘Viharas’) & UP including the Himalayan range, have been the playground for Gautam Buddha. Bodh Gaya in Bihar (where Gautam Buddha attained enlightenment) & Kushinagar in Eastern UP (where Buddha took his last breath) have made a historical place & still visited by the Buddhists in lakhs from across East Asia & other neighboring countries where Buddhism is the central practice.
This column is not about going Gung ho about any Political dispensation or any Leader (s), but it is about bringing to light the fact that ‘once & under-dog doesn’t mean that always the status remains the same’ & as every dog has it’s days, the same day for the underdog states UP & Bihar seems to be arrived, it is just a matter of ‘getting over the age old built negative perceptions of India’s BIMARU (Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh– Rajasthan has already come out of this stigma in last one decade) states, it’s now the right time for the Corporate Honchos to defy the old perceptions, go out & take initiatives of rolling out Projects in these states now & get a first hand experience, rather just going by hear say!
If we as Indians are looking at overall development of our country, it is important that all the states progress together and particularly those which have been at the Bottom of the Pyramid, climb up at least till the middle if not at the top! Here are few figures which I would like to present to bring in more clarity to what I mean.
UP state alone comprises of almost almost 1/6th of our country’s population at 23.7 crores. If we add the neighboring states – MP almost 8.0 crores, Rajasthan almost 7.0 crores & Bihar at 10.0 crores make up to 48 crores of population which is about 1/3rd of India’s total population. The smaller states Maharshtra, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat & Karnataka come up ahead of UP as per latest available gross state domestic product (GSDP) figures for all Indian states & UTs. And out of 210 lakh crores GDP, UP’s contribution is just above 15 lakh cores which is only 14% of the total.
In terms of Health Index of 2020, India ranked at 41st position with 66.21 % which is quite a big jump from 145th position in 2016, which is a clear cut indication of an excellent performance of the PMO driven Health Ministry’s performance in collaboration with the State Health Secretaries & in close conjunction with the NHM integrated programs lead by Union Heath Ministry & driven by State Mission Directors. The launch of PM-JAY (Ayushmaan Bharat) & other such ambitious Programs like- Anemia Mukt Bharat, POSHAN Abhiyan, etc. which have been implemented meticulously with a very severe monitoring of PMO, have also worked very well for improving the Health Index barometer of India on the world map.
But unfortunately, when it comes to comparing the Indian states’ Health Index, the state of UP still sits at the bottom as per Govt.’s Niti Aayog Annual Health Index Report of 2019. Kerala. Andhra Pradesh & Maharshtra are the top 3 performers across Population Health Indicators. Haryana, Rajasthan & Jharkhand took the top three spots–in that order– in incremental performance, while Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Odisha Madhya Pradesh & Uttrakhand were shown as the worst performers.
The health index is a composite measure of states & union territories based on 23 health indicators with major weightage given to mortality rate, total fertility rate and sex ratio, among other parameters.
So as there’s a a clear cut indication of Uttar Pradesh showing a phenomenal improvement in Ease of Doing Business ranking, we all hope that they come at no.1 spot from no. 2 next year, even beating Andhra Pradesh!! The GDP contribution increment by just another 2-3% will help make it come equivalent to it’s population percentage and that doesn’t look a far off dream, particularly looking at the speed this CM & his Musketeers are roaring new schemes & launching new projects, they have also done quite well w.r.t. attracting FDI in the state and got some very good catch like the UK’s top Gun Co. & many more such catche’ adding to their feather.
What remains most critical for UP to come to par is really work hard on improving on the Health Index Ranking and at least come out of bottom 5 if not in the year 2021 Report but at least in the year 2022 Report of Niti Aayog on Health Index Ranking of States. With the new Health Ministry regime & a dynamic and very dedicated Health Minister now sitting at the Driver’s seat in UP, the equation on the ‘health scenario’ front looks like to turn around in the coming 2 years… it would be worth watching closely ‘How UP performs on the Health Index front by 2022?’ as that one factor will change the whole scenario for the state & can become a ‘lone ranger’ (turup ka patta) to make it upgrade to a ‘developing state’ status from it’s current ‘under-developed state’ status and help the BiMaRU acronym get redefined. Rather when Rajasthan is out, MP also on verge of coming out, striking off ‘B’ & ‘U’ form it will only help finish the BiMaRU acronym and will actually show upon overall development of the country, without any BiMaRu state existing anymore. This should be the true GOAL of this term of Modi Govt. if they actually want to establish themselves as real ‘doers’ who changed the Face of both ‘Wealth & Health’ status of our country– India and made it a new- modern BHARAT to live in prosperity!
As an UPite, I have a strong feeling that just one small step by all UP & Bihar lovers— rather India Lovers (they be UPites, Biharis or the well-wishers for overall development of the country), those sitting at important positions in the Corporate sector, be the CEOs, CXOs, Promoters, Entrepreneurs & the Investors.. if for a moment we just shrug off the old perceptions, come out of “ANTI- UP, Bihar MINDSET” and give these states a FAIR CHANCE by initiating new Projects & Programs and setting more of Large & Mid-size Manufacturing & Services Projects, particularly the large IT & Pharma Cos., the new E-Commerce Players, start shifting a part of their Development & Distribution bases to the good cities in these 2 states, it can very fairly end up into a wise distribution of the economy across all states and only our ‘India’ will benefit out of it.
I can a write a separate, more elaborate piece on this perspective (I’ll definitely write one soon), but the core message will remain the same– A HUMBLE REQUEST & AN APPEAL TO ALL ENTREPRENEURS, CEOs & CXOs, THE CORPORATE HONCHOS… come forward, meet the new ADMINS., the CM, the Ministers & the Bureaucrats (particularly the younger generation of Civil Servants) of these 2 states and see the difference yourself. I’m sure a small step from your end will result into a bigger gains for both your Co./ your venture as well as of the people of these states & will benefit the country as a whole.
At least for this new CM & the new regime in UP (as Bihar is again going for elections, so we need to sit & watch till the new regime takes over), DO NOT GO BY HEARSAY, GO & EXPERIENCE YOURSELF… as– ‘What we GAIN by EXPERIENCE is not worth that we loose in ILLUSION’!
What perception you have of erstwhile UP & the Chief Minister- YOGI who is often painted as a ‘communal, high-headed MONK’ may just be an ILLUSION which you may repent as a wise businessman in times to come!
