Literacy in india

1.    Literacy and level of education are basic indicators of the level of development achieved by a society. Spread of literacy is generally associated with important traits of modern civilization such as modernization, urbanization, industrialization, communication and commerce. Literacy forms an important input in overall development of individuals enabling them to comprehend their social, political and cultural environment better and respond to it appropriately. Higher levels of education and literacy lead to a greater awareness and also contributes in improvement of economic and social conditions. It acts as a catalyst for social upliftment enhancing the returns on investment made in almost every aspect of development effort, be it population control, health, hygiene, environmental degradation control, employment of weaker sections of the society.
2.    According to the Census 2001, as many as 560,687,797 persons in the country are literate. Of these 336,533,716 are males and 224, 154,081 are females. While the overall literacy rate works out to be 64.8 %, the male literacy rate is 75.3% and that for females is 53.7%, showing a gap of 21.6 percentage points between the sexes at the national level. The gap is more in the rural areas. In the urban areas, higher literacy rate has been recorded both for males and females and the difference among the sexes is lower (13 percentage points ). Kerala, Mizoram, Lakshadweep, Goa and Chandigarh occupy the top five positions in literacy while Dadra & Nagar Haveli, Uttar Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Arunachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, and Bihar, are at bottom.
3.     The literacy rates for rural population are the highest in Kerala, followed by Lakshadweep, Mizoram, Goa, and Delhi. Fourteen (14) States / Uts have recorded less than 60 percent rural Literacy rate.    In urban population, the literacy rate is 79.9 % at the national level. Many States/Uts have achieved literacy rate higher than the national average. These are Kerala, Lakshadweep, Mizoram, Goa, and Delhi, which have achieved literacy rate in the range of 88 % to 96 %. Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Jammu & Kashmir and Uttar Pradesh rank in the last five states
5.     The number of villages or UAs/Towns has been grouped in different ranges of literacy rate in Table 8.This helps to evolve specific intervention strategies. Among the UAs/Towns, 2,516 out of 4,378 UAs/Towns fall in the literacy range 75.0 percent or above. More than 294 thousands villages come under the literacy range of 50-75 %. There are still as many as 3,077 villages in the country, which do not have a single literate. Out of them, 341 villages have population of at least 100 persons. The number of villages not having a single female literate in 9,899 out of which 2,351 villages have population of at least 100 persons.
6.    Out of 561 million literates in the country, 145 million literates are educated only up to ‘Below Primary’ level and another 147 million up to ‘Primary’ level. Number of literates educated up to these two levels account for 52 % of the total literates in the country. 79 million (or 14.1%) of literates have attained Matric/Secondary level. There are 37 million persons in the country who are ‘Graduates & above’ which also include 12 million females. The category wise break up is given in the table below :