Eastern India contains the state of Bihar. It is the second-largest state in terms of population in 2019, the 12th-largest in terms of size (94,163 km2), and the 14th-largest in terms of GDP in 2021. Bihar shares borders with Jharkhand to the south, Uttar Pradesh to the west, Nepal to the north, and the northern portion of West Bengal to the east. The Ganges River, which runs from west to east, divides the Bihar plain. Southern Bihar was given up on November 15th, 2000 to create the new state of Jharkhand. As of 2021, just 20% of the people in Bihar reside in urban regions. Additionally, Bihar has the greatest percentage of young people of any Indian state with nearly 58% of its population being under the age of 25. Although Maithili, Magahi, Bhojpuri, and other languages of Bihar are widely spoken, Hindi and Urdu are the official languages. The region that is now Bihar was regarded as a center of political and cultural power as well as a shelter of learning in Ancient and Classical India. Buddhism, one of the most extensively practiced religions in the world, as well as India's first state, the Maurya empire, both emerged from Magadha. Large portions of South Asia were brought under centralized control by the Magadha empires, particularly those of the Maurya and Gupta dynasties. Mithila, a different part of Bihar, served as the Videha kingdom's capital and an early center of learning. Bihar has fallen considerably behind other Indian states in terms of social and economic growth, though, since the late 1970s. Many economists and social scientists contend that this is a direct outcome of central government actions, including the freight equalization policy, its disregard for Bihar, the absence of Bihari sub-nationalism, and the British East India Company's Permanent Settlement of 1793. However, the state administration has achieved important advancements in the development of the state. Through more investment in infrastructure, better healthcare facilities, a stronger focus on education, and a decline in crime and corruption, improved governance has contributed to an economic renaissance in the state.
