Literacy Composition

Literacy is generally defined as a person’s ability to read, write and able to understand as well as to do some simple calculation. Despite this liberal definition, the rate of literacy in India is not very high.

According to the Census of India 2001, the average literacy rate in India is 65.38 percent. This percentage does not include the population below 7 years of age-group.

The rate of literacy varies a great deal from one part of the country to the other. On the one hand, it is the state of Kerala having literacy rate as high as the 90.92 percent and on the other extreme is the state of Bihar, where this rate is only 47.53 percent. In the Union Territories, Lakshadweep has the highest rate of literacy where it is 87.52 percent and the lowest rate is in Dadra & Nagar Haveli (60.03 percent).

The rate of literacy varies between males and females also. The average rate of literacy among the males in India is 75.85 percent which is higher than the females (54.16). Kerala has the distinction of highest literacy among both, males and females (94.20 and 87.86 percent respectively), whereas Bihar has the lowest literacy rate among both males and females (60.32 and 33.57 percent respectively).

From the literacy point of view of rural-urban population there is a huge difference between rural and urban area. The literacy rate in urban areas is 73.01 percent where as in rural areas it is as low as 44.54 percent.

Though the rate of literacy in India is low, it is increasing in each successive census. In 1911 it was less than 6 percent and it could rise to only about 16.7 percent by1951. The most noteworthy progress in this regard has been made after 1951 census. In 1961, the literacy rate was about 24 percent which rose to 65.38 percent by 2001. The most significant development in this regard has been the rate of increase in female literacy. The proportion of literate among the females was only 1.1 percent in 1911 which has increased to 54.66 percent in 2001.

To a great extent, this is a result of the policies of the government, emphasising upon the universalisation of Elementary Education. The extended facilities of schools in the rural areas have helped considerably in raising the literacy rate in the country, especially among the females.

Though the literacy rate is increasing percentage wise in successive censuses, the number of illiterate is also increasing in absolute number in each successive census. For the first time in 2001 census, there is a decline in number of illiterates in comparison to previous census i.e. 1991. However their number is still very high. To solve this problem, Government has taken up various programmes like National Literacy Mission, Sarv Shiksha Abhiyan, etc.

District Level Pattern

District level pattern analysis of literacy reveals that the literacy rates vary between 96.64 percent in Aizwal districts of Mizoram to 30.01 percent in Dantewara districts of Chhatisgarh. Out of 591 districts in India, 59 districts have literacy rate of more than 80 percent. Majority of these districts are located in southern parts of India.

It includes all the 14 districts of Kerala, 4 districts in Tamil Nadu, 3 districts of Pondicherry, 2 districts in Karnataka and one district each in Lakshadweep and Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Apart form southern India, north-eastern region has 10 districts. Out of these 10 districts, 7 districts are in Mizoram, 2 districts in Nagaland and 1 district in Manipur.

In western part, there are 11 districts out of which 9 districts are in the state of Maharashtra. In the northern part of India, there are also 11 districts, out of which six districts are in National Capital Territory of Delhi. The remaining 3 districts are in Himachal Pradesh and one each in Chandigarh and Uttarakhand. Eastern India has only two districts, one each in West Bengal and Orissa. The Central part of India has not got a single district in this category.

On the contrary there are 26 districts in the country where literacy rate is below 40%. These districts are scattered in seven states. Of these 26 districts, 11 are in Bihar, 5 in Uttar Pradesh, 4 in Orissa, 3 in Jharkhand and one each in Chhatisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Jammu & Kashmir.

Summary

• A person who can read and write with an understanding in any one language is called literate.
• According to 2001 census the rate of literacy in India is 65.38 per cent.
• The highest rate of literacy is in Kerala (90.92%) and the lowest rate is in Bihar (47.53%).
• The rate of literacy is higher among the males than among the females and in Urban areas than the rural areas.
• The rate of literacy is rising rapidly in India since independence.