Only UP, Bihar are BIMARU states: Jairam Ramesh

Varanasi, Sep 8 (UNI) Redefining the concept of BIMARU states, Union Minister of State for Commerce Jairam Ramesh today said the abbreviation indicative of backward states had now become BU, which only included Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.

BIMARU (Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh) is now a passe, he said, coining BU, the new sobriquet for backward states, including Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.

Mr Ramesh was critical of slow development pace in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, despite the two states getting the lion's share of central funds from the UPA government.

''Utter Pradesh and Bihar, in comparison to other states have recieved maximum assistance under various central government schemes and projects during the last two-and-half-yrs, but still lag far behind the earlier BIMARU states, Rajasthan and MP, who were far ahead on the development highway owing to better governance,'' he added.

The union minister, expressing concern over the appaling infrastructure in the state, said the Utter Pradesh government's dream of making the state an 'excellent' province will never be fulfilled without the presence of critical infrastructure like power, road, besides law and order.

''Bina bijli ke Uttar Pradesh Uttam Pradesh nahi ban payega,'' he mocked.

On whether the Centre will talk to the state government for improving infrastructure, Mr Ramesh questioned, ''Is Utter Pradesh interested in giving us a patient hearing.'' Claiming that inherent export potential of the state was dying out only due to the non-encouraging response of the government, Mr Ramesh said the Centre had proposed opening up of National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT) in any export-oriented cities like Varanasi, but the Utter Pradesh government wanted the critical designing institute to come up in Saifai, native place of Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav.

''I wonder why the Utter Pradesh government wanted to have NIFT in Saifai, instead of cities like Varanasi which have inherent export potential, only waiting to be tailored by futuristic designers as per requirements of overseas market,'' Mr Ramesh added.

Be it the brassware of Moradabad, silk products and toys from Varanasi, glassware from Ferozabad, ceramic delights from Khurja or leather products from Kanpur and Agra, the hand-crafted products were not able to expand their presence in global markets, in the want of diversity in design and marketing.

''The facilities like NIFT or NID in Utter Pradesh could change the situation for the better, provided the state government shelves its political priorities,'' Mr Ramesh added.

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