ABSTRACT
Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan are the states belonging to what is called the ‘Hindi heartland’. States of the Hindi heartland, inhabited by 42.12 per cent of India’s population and represented by 37 per cent of the seats in the popular house of Parliament, have widely been perceived as the largest drag on social, political and economic development of post-colonial India. In the pre-reform period, the model of ‘state-centric-centrally-commanded-planned economy’ was the dominant model at both the centre and the state levels. The varying performances of states in the post-reform period and their different responses to the issues of governance and development have been explained through a plurality of factors and perspectives. States of coastal and southern India have improved their economic growth and development records during the reform period, whereas states of the Hindi heartland have remained laggard.
