India has an effective literacy rate (among people aged 7 and above) of 74%, a marked improvement from 2001, when the rate was just 64.84%, according to Census 2011 data released on Friday .
In rural areas, the rate is 68% while in urban areas it is 84%. More than 38.42% of the 24.88 crore households in the country have at least four literate members above the age of seven. But there are also 2.42 crore households (9.74%) which don’t have even one literate member.
In 2001, 35.28% of house holds had at least four literate members and 14.4% had none.A `household’ is a group of persons who live together and eat from a common kitchen. Overall, literacy has gone up due to schemes like Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan and higher enrolment in schools in the last 10 years. Prior to this, many did not have a chance to enter a school, especially in remote areas,“ said an educationist.
“Households without even a single literate member must be in tribal areas and among migrant labourers. In these areas, not many are aware of schools and there are no schools for the younger ones to join,“ said Unicef child protection specialist R Vidyasagar.
“While the rural households without any literate member must be in isolated areas like mountainous regions, in urban areas they consist of migrant labourers working in brick kilns and at construction sites,“ he said.
Among the big states, Bihar has the maximum number of households without a single literate member -33.59 lakh (17.79%) households. While Kerala, the most literate state in the country, has the least number of such households -1.21 lakh or 1.5% of the total household in the state.