The acronym ‘BIMARU states’ was widely used in the mid-1980s to refer
to the population issues of India’s four largest states—Bihar, Madhya
Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. Ashish Bose, the man who coined
this much-discussed term, is the pioneer of demographic studies in the
country.
In Headcount, the demographer sets the record straight on BIMARU, and
in the process, presents his unique view of modern India. In his inimitable
engaging style, Bose, who was born in 1930, paints a vivid portrait of a
life well-lived—from his childhood in Kolhapur, then a princely state, to
his encounters with three generations of the Nehru-Gandhi family and his
recollections of the darkest days of Indian democracy: the Emergency.
Filled with little known facts and insights into the people and events
that have shaped independent India, this is a deeply compassionate
and readable memoir by one of the most important social scientists of
modern India.
THE AUTHOR
Ashish Bose (b. 1930) is Honorary (Emeritus) Professor at the Institute
of Economic Growth, New Delhi, where he headed the Population Research
Centre for several years. Through his long academic career, he
has lectured extensively on demography across the world and has taught
at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, the National Academy of Administration,
Mussoorie and the National Defence College, New Delhi.
A member of several government commissions on population and development
issues, Bose has also been a keen participant in international
conferences on these issues in India and abroad. The author and editor of
over twenty-five books, he has been a regular contributor to the Economic
and Political Weekly, Health for the Millions and Power Politics. Ashish
Bose lives in New Delhi with his wife.
