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6th
September, 2003
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Ministry
of Human Resource Development |
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LITERACY IN INDIA: STEADY MARCH OVER THE YEARS
Eighth September is
the International Literacy Day.
When India gained independence, four
out of five of her citizen could not read. Thanks to various initiatives
and interventions over the years, three out of five Indians can
now read and write. The fast growth in literacy in the recent
decades even in the face of huge additions to the population depicts
a remarkable positive trend. At the same time, we cannot lose
sight of the fact that India still have a long way to go towards
the goal of total literacy. Out of about 87 crore illiterate adults
in the world, 30 crore are Indians.
The figures here sketch a picture
of literacy in India vis-à-vis her neighbours and how it
has grown since 1951. Statewise figures of literacy are given
to show regional variations, especially to highlight the educationally
backward areas of the country.
Highlights of Census 2001
- Literacy rate has increased
to 65.38%, which reflects an overall increase of 13.17%, the
fastest decadal growth ever. This is the highest rate since
independence.
- Male literacy rate has increased
to 75.85%, which shows an increase of 11.72%. On the other
hand, female literacy of 54.16% has been reached at a much
faster rate of 14.87%.
- The male-female literacy gap
has reduced from 24.84% in 1991 to 21.70% in 2001. Mizoram
has the smallest gap (4.56%) followed by Kerala (7.45%) and
Meghalaya (8.27%).
Year
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Literacy Rate
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Total
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Male
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Female
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Differential
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1951
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18.33
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27.16
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8.86
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18.30
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1961
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28.30
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40.40
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15.35
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25.05
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1971
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34.45
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45.95
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21.97
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23.98
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1981
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43.57
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56.38
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29.76
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26.62
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1991
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52.21
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64.13
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39.29
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24.84
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2001
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65.38
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75.85
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54.16
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21.69
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Comparison
of male and female literacy rates since 1951
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- All States and Union Territories
without exception have shown increase in literacy rates during
1991-2001.
- In all the States and Union
Territories male literacy is now over 60%.
- For the first time since independence
there has been a decline in the absolute number of illiterates
during the decade. In the previous decades, there has been
a continuous increase in the number of illiterates, despite
the increase in the literacy rates, but now for the first
time the total number of illiterates has come down by 31.96
million.
- The number of literate persons
has increased to 562.01 million in 2001 thus adding an additional
203.61 million literates in the country.
- Rajasthan has recorded the highest
increase in the literacy rate among the States/UTs of India.
Literacy rate of Rajasthan in 7+ population in 1991 was 38.55%
which has increased to 61.3% in 2001.
- Rajasthan has also recorded
very good increase in the female literacy. It was 20.44% in
1991 which has increased to 44.34% in 2001.
- The female literacy rate of
Chhattisgarh in 7+ population in 1991 was 27.52% which has
increased to 52.40% in 2001. Thus the rise in female literacy
rate in Chhattisgarh has been to the extent of 24.88% which
is the highest among all the States/UTs of the country.
On the basis of literacy rate,
State/UTs can be grouped as under:
- High Literacy Rate
(80% and above) – Kerala (90.92%), Mizoram (88.49%), Lakshadweep
(87.52%), Goa (82.32%), Delhi (81.82%), Chandigarh (81.76%),
Pondicherry (81.49%), A & N Islands (81.18%) and Daman
& Diu (81.09%).
- Literacy Rate above national
average (65.4%) and below 80% - Maharashtra (77.27%),
Himachal Pradesh (77.13%), Tripura (73.66%), Tamil Nadu (73.47),
Uttaranchal (72.28%), Gujarat (69.97%), Punjab (69.75%), Sikkim
(69.68%), West Bengal (69.22%), Manipur (68.87%), Haryana
(68.59%), Nagaland (67.11%) and Karnataka (67.04%).
- Literacy Rate below national
average (65.4%) – Chhattisgarh(65.18%), Assam (64.28%),
Madhya Pradesh (64.11%), Orissa (63.61%), Meghalaya (63.31%),
Andhra Pradesh (61.11%), Rajasthan (61.03%), Dadra
& Nagar Haveli (60.03%), Uttar Pradesh (57.36%), Arunachal
Pradesh (54.74%), Jammu & Kashmir (54.46%), Jharkhand
(54.13%) and Bihar (47.53%).
Other comparisons
There are differences in literacy
between urban and rural areas, there being perceptibly higher
incidence of illiteracy in the villages.
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Persons
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Male
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Female
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All Areas
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56.6 (65.20%)
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33.9 (75.64%)
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22.6 (54.03%)
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Rural
Areas
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36.6 (59.21%)
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22.6 (71.18%)
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14.0 (46.58%)
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Urban
Areas
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20.0 (80.06%)
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11.3 (86.42%)
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8.6 (72.99%)
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The literacy in
India as compared to other SAARC countries may be seen in
the graph here. While Maldives and Sri Lanka have much higher
rates of literacy, other countries have literacy below the
Indian level. |
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Literacy rates among SAARC countries
in 2000
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