EDUCATION AND SKILL DEVELOPMENT: A PRE- REQUISITE FOR INCLUSIVE GROWTH EDUCATION AND SKILL DEVELOPMENT: A PRE- REQUISITE FOR INCLUSIVE GROWEDUCATION AND SKILL DEVELOPMENT: A PRE- REQUISITE

8/3/2019 EDUCATION AND SKILL DEVELOPMENT: A PRE- REQUISITE FOR INCLUSIVE GROWTH EDUCATION AND SKILL DEVELOP

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EDUCATION AND SKILL DEVELOPMENT:

A PRE- REQUISITE FOR INCLUSIVE GROWTH

Dr. Shyam Sunder Singh Chauha*

Dr. Deepti**

Mrs. Radha Parmar***India is one of the fastest growing economies of the world. With a population of more than 120

million; India has an advantage of demographic dividend as more than 57% of its population is

in the age group of 15 to 60 years; however the basic requirement for harvesting the

demographic dividend is skill development of the work force. Since majority of the labour

force resides in the rural area and is dependent on the agricultural sector under which, the skill

component of labour force is not so important, and owing to the presence of disguised

unemployment in agriculture, there is a large scale migration of unskilled rural labourers from

rural areas to urban areas in search of better employment opportunities. Again the poor level of

skill of migrant workers prevents them to find better remunerative jobs in cities. So far as skill

development is concerned, lack of elementary education is in the core of the problem. Despite

several programmes of elementary education and literacy enhancement such asNational Literacy

Mission, Total Literacy Campaign, Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, Operation Blackboardetc, the

overall literacy rate has not improved to the desired level. In the last decade there has been a

significant increase in gross enrollment ratio at primary and secondary level; but there is still a

huge gap in the gross enrolment ratio at the higher education level. How unfortunate we are that

the largest number of illiterates in the world is in India. The policy makers and their mentors

perhaps have no answer to this bare reality of the society that the state could not provide enough

opportunities for its people to get themselves able to read and write. It is a proven fact that ability

of an illiterate person to acquire desired skill is certainly less than a literate person. Nevertheless,

the 2011 census points to a positive phenomenon regarding literacy growth rate in the country.

Every census since 1881 had indicated rising literacy in the country, but the population growth

rate had been high enough so that the absolute number of illiterates rose with every decade. The

2001-2011 decade is the second census period (after the 1991-2001census period) when the

absolute number of Indian illiterates declined indicating that the literacy growth rate is now

*Associate Professor &HOD, Department of Economics, Government Girls PG College,SIRSAGANJ (Firozabad)**Assistant Professor, Department of Humanities, Faculty of Engineering, Agra College, Agra

*** Research Scholar, Department of Education, R.B.S. College, Agra


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outstripping the population growth rate. Inclusive growth is a buzz word nowadays for the policy

makers and academicians not only in India but also in rest of the world. Education and Health are

the key components of inclusive growth. Literacy, a key indicator of human development, gender

development and gender empowerment, has a direct bearing on inclusive growth. Low literacy

level results into a low HDI, GDI, and PQLI etc.

In the light of above observations the present paper, entitled Education and Skill Development:

A Pre-Requisite for Inclusive Growthexamines the state of literacy in India in relation to skill

development of the workforce, so as to garner the demographic dividend. It will be extremely

difficult or rather impossible to encash the demographic dividend unless the literacy rate and

consequently the skill of the people are not enhanced. In the present scenario, the dream of

inclusive growth will be rather utopian. The paper is divided in three sections namely 1. The

State of Literacy in India, 2.Inter-state and Intra-state Disparities in Literacy: and 3. Concluding

Observations.

METHODOLOGY

The paper is based on the secondary data received from Census of India 2001 and 2011.The

district wise literacy rates for total population; male population and female population are further

segregated for each state and union territories into seven groups (Literacy rate less than 30%, 30-

40 per cent, 40-50 per cent, 50-60 per cent ,60-70 per cent,70-80 per cent , 80-90 per cent and

90-100 per cent).Finally an intensive analysis is done by fixing the threshold limit of literacy rate

less than forty per cent through the identification of districts under three categories-(i)literacy

rate less than 30 per cent ,(ii).30-40 per cent and (iii) 40-50 per cent.

SECTION- I

STATUS OF LITERATCY IN INDIA

Demographic trends show that India has a demographic dividend. India has the potential to

encash this demographic dividend, provided the working population is adequately educated and

skilled through proper education and training. According to the census of India data, while the

proportion of population in 0-14 age group declined from 41 per cent in 1961 to 35.3 per cent in

2001, the proportion of population in the age group 15-59 increased from 53.3 per cent to 56.9


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per cent during the same period. In terms of absolute numbers, the increase in the 15-34 age

group of population is even more dramatic from 174.26 million (31.79%) in 1970 to 354.5

million (34.43%) in 2000, the youth segment of the population is projected to peak at 484.86

million in 2030 (Altbach and Jairam 2010). Indias labour force is around 526 million in 2011

and would be 653 million in 2030 from 472 million in 2006.It is worth mentioning here that the

rate of growth of labour force will continue to be higher than that of population growth until

2021. According to the Indian labour report, 300 million youth would enter the labour force by

2025 and 25 per cent of the world workers in the next three years would be Indians .According to

UN Population Division Projections the youth segment of the population in India will be massive

441.1 million in 2050 (Altbach Philip G. and N. Jairam 2010) Since the majority of the youth

knock at the doors of the labour market right from the age of 15 years, so the employability of

the youth of 15-34 age group is of paramount importance. However the demographic dividend

is not going to last long. China is a tough competitor of India in world labour market. The

reaping of demographic dividends depends largely on the level of education and skill

development of the working age population. One cannot be too optimistic about the higher

advantages of demographic dividend considering Indias poor education system. Indias

literacy rate after 64 years of independence is 74.04 per cent in 2011 as compared to 93 per cent

in China. A large part of Indias schools are of poor quality, teachers are inadequately prepared,

weakly motivated, poorly paid and frequently absent. The adult and youth literacy rates for India

and some neighboring countries show that India lags far behind its neighboring countries (Table-

1).

TABLE -1: LITERACY RATE IN SELECTED COUNTRIES (2007)

COUNTRY ADULT LITERACY RATE YOUTH LITERACY RATE

Male Female Male Female

China 93 91 99 99

Sri Lanka 92 89 97 99

Myanmar 95 90 96 95

Iran 89 81 99 99

India 75 51 88 74

Nepal 72 41 87 77

Pakistan 69 40 79 61

Bangladesh 61 51 74 77


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The reaping of demographic dividend depends largely on the level of literacy which is improving

since 1951. Literacy rate for total population increased from 18.33 per cent in 1951 to 74.06 per

cent in 2011.Male literacy rate increased from 27.16 per cent to 82.14 per cent and female

literacy rate increased from 8.36 per cent to 65.43 per cent during the same period. Percentage

point increase in female literacy rate during 1951-2011 is 57.1 which are higher than percentage

point increase in male literacy (54.98). There has been marked improvement in literacy during

2001-2011.In absolute terms 21.77 crore additional persons have become literate during the

decade 2001-2011.A significant milestone reached in census 2011, is that total number of

illiterates has come down from 30.41 crore in 2001 to 27.29 crore in 2011, a decline of 3.12

crore persons. One of the interesting features of census 2011,is that out of the total of 21.77

crore literates added during the decade, females (11.01 crore) outnumber males (10.76 crore).A

reverse trend was noticed during 1991-2001 . The decadal increase in number of literates among

male is 31.98 percentage points, while the corresponding increase in case of females is 49.11

percentage points. Out of the total decrease of 3.12 crore in the number of illiterates, the females

(1.71 crore) outnumber males (1.407crore). The gap of 21.59 percentage points recorded

between male and female literacy rates in 2001 census reduced to 16.68 percentage points in

2011. The Planning Commission had set up a target of reducing this gap to 10 percentage points

by 2011-12.These changes are a clear indication of the fact that gender gap in literacy is

shrinking which will have far reaching consequences on the development of the society (GOI,

2011) The decline in gender gap in literacy also indicates the greater awareness for educating the

girls in the society. These achievements seem quite impressive.

TABLE- 2: LITERACY RATE IN INDIA

Year Male Female Total

1951 27.16 8.36 18.33

1961 48.40 15.35 28.30

1971 45.96 21.97 34.45

1981 56.38 29.76 43.57

1991 64.13 39.29 52.21

2001 75.26 53.67 64.86

2011 82.14 65.46 74.06


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SECTION II

INTER-STATE AND INTRA-STATE VARIATION IN LITERACY

Achievements on literacy front are not same across the states in the country. There exist wide

variations in the level of literacy among the various states as well as within the state. While the

effective literacy rate for males rose from 75.26 to 82.14 per cent marking a rise of 6.9

percentage point, it increased by 11.8 percentage for females from 53.67 to 65.46 per cent during

the decade 2001-2011. Ten states and union territories, including Kerala, Lakshadweep,

Mizoram, Tripura, Goa, Daman and Diu, Pondicherry, Chandigarh, National Capital Territory of

Delhi and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, have attained literacy rate of above 85 per cent, the

target set by the Planning Commission to be achieved by 2011-12.

Kerala is the most literate state in India, with 93.91% literacy, followed closely by Lakshadweep

at 92.28%. Bihar is the least literate state in India with 63.82% literacy. Bihar is the only

remaining Indian state in the 2011 census where less than 65% of the population is literate. It is

also only one of two states where less than 75% of the male population (the other being

Arunachal Pradesh) is literate and only one of two states where less than 55% of the female

population (the other being Rajasthan) is literate. Six Indian states account for about 70% of all

illiterates in India: Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh and West

Bengal. Slightly less than half of all Indian illiterates (48.12%) are in the six Hindi speaking

states of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh.


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TABLE 3: STATEWISE LITERACY RATE IN INDIA: 2011

Source: Census of India 2011, District wise Literacy Rate in India

Rank State Literacy Rate Literacy Rate-Male Literacy Rate-Female

1 Andaman & Nicobar Islands 86.3% 90.1% 81.8%

2 Andhra Pradesh 67.7% 75.6% 59.7%

3 Arunachal Pradesh 67.0% 73.7% 59.6%

4 Assam 73.2% 78.8% 67.3%

5 Bihar 63.8% 73.5% 53.3%

6 Chandigarh 86.4% 90.5% 81.4%

7 Chhattisgarh 71.0% 81.5% 60.6%

8 Dadra & Nagar Haveli 77.7% 86.5% 65.9%

9 Daman & Diu 87.1% 91.5% 79.6%

10 Delhi 86.3% 91.0% 80.9%

11 Goa 87.4% 92.8% 81.8%

12 Gujarat 79.3% 87.2% 70.7%13 Haryana 76.6% 85.4% 66.8%

14 Himachal Pradesh 83.8% 90.8% 76.6%

15 Jammu and Kashmir 68.7% 78.3% 58.0%

16 Jharkhand 67.6% 78.5% 56.2%

17 Karnataka 75.6% 82.8% 68.1%

18 Kerala 93.9% 96.0% 92.0%

19 Lakshadweep 92.3% 96.1% 88.2%

20 Madhya Pradesh 70.6% 80.5% 60.0%

21 Maharashtra 82.9% 89.8% 75.5%

22 Manipur 79.8% 86.5% 73.2%23 Meghalaya 75.5% 77.2% 73.8%

24 Mizoram 91.6% 93.7% 89.4%

25 Nagaland 80.1% 83.3% 76.7%

26 Orissa 73.5% 82.4% 64.4%

27 Puducherry 86.5% 92.1% 81.2%

28 Punjab 76.7% 81.5% 71.3%

29 Rajasthan 67.1% 80.5% 52.7%

30 Sikkim 82.2% 87.3% 76.4%

31 Tamil Nadu 80.3% 86.8% 73.9%32 Tripura 87.8% 92.2% 83.1%

33 Uttar Pradesh 69.7% 79.2% 59.3%

34 Uttarakhand 79.6% 88.3% 70.7%

35 West Ben al 77.1% 82.7% 71.2%WholeINDIA 74.04% 82.14% 65.46%


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Intra-state variations in literacy rate are even more severe. A comparison is given in Table-4

which shows that no district of the country has literacy rate below 30 per cent in 2011,while in

2001 one district (Alirajpur-29.87% of M.P) had literacy rate less than 30 per cent for total

population and five districts had female literacy rate less than 30 per cent in 2001 (Alirajpur and

Jhabua of M.P, Bijapur and Dakshin Baster, Dantewada of Chhattisgarh and Mewat of Haryana)

The situation slightly improved in 2011, however,11 districts have female literacy rate between

30-40 per cent, one district has male literacy rate between 30-40 per cent and 3 districts have

literacy rate between 30-40 per cent for total population . Only 20 districts have total literacy,105

districts for male literacy and 16 districts for female literacy has literacy rate more than 90 per

cent in 2011.Regarding literacy for total population in 2011, 391 districts (61.1 per cent) have

literacy rate more than 60 per cent ,while 581 districts have male literacy rate more than 60 per

cent. Women of the country are at a disadvantageous position, as only 32.7 per cent (209)

districts have female literacy rate more than 60 per cent. (Table 4) A close study of bottom

twenty districts regarding literacy rate for total population, male and female reveals the following

startling facts

TABLE 4: DISTRIBUTION OF DISTRICTS ACCORDING TO LITERACY RATE

Level of Literacy DistrictsMale Female Total

2001 2011 2001 2011 2001 2011

0- 30 per cent

No. - - 5 - 1

Percentage - - 0.78 - 0.16 -

30-40 per centNo. 1 - 51 11 3 1

Percentage 0.16 - 7.97 1.7 0.47 0.2

40-50 per cent No. 14 1 148 72 55

Percentage 2.19 0.2 23.13 11.3 8.6 1.6

50-60 per centNo. 67 10 197 160 173 52

Percentage 10.5 1.6 30.8 25.00 27.0 8.1

60-70 per centNo. 198 46 143 188 219 186

Percentage 31.0 7.2 22.3 29.4 34.2 29.1

70-80 per centNo. 260 194 80 138 162 225

Percentage40.6 30.3 12.5 21.6 25.3 35.2

80-90 per centNo. 100 284 16 55 27 146

Percentage 15.63 44.4 2.5 8.6 4.2 22.8

90-100 Per centNo. - 105 - 16 - 20

Percentage - 16.4 - 2.5 - 3.1

Source: GOI; Census of India, 2001 and Census of India 2011(Provisional Population Tables)


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TABLE- 5: DISTRICTS WITH EXTREME LOW LITERACY RATE IN INDIA 2001

Source: GOI, 2002 ;Census of India 2001.

State Total Population Male Female

Literacy Rate 20-30 30-40 20-30 30-40 20-30 30-40

Arunachal

Pradesh.

Anjaw38.2, Kurung Kumey36.8

,Tirap34.5

ChhattisgarhBijapur 35.0

Dantewada 36.5

Bijapur 26.6

Dantewada 28.2Bastar 37.9, Narayanpur33.8.

Gujarat Dahod 40.0

Jammu&

Kashmir

Badgam 37.3

Bandipore 39.1

Ganderbal 39.6, Kishtwar36.6

Ramban 32.2, Reasi39.0

JharkhandGodda 36.8 Pakur33.3 W.

Singhbhum39.2 Sahibganj35.9

Haryana Mewat 29.2

Karnataka Yadgir34.9

Madhya

Pradesh.

Alirajpur

29.8Jhabua 35.4

Alirajpur

34.8

Alirajpur 24.9

Jhabua 27.5Barwani35.1 Sheopur37.0

Orissa

Gajapati37.6, Koraput 33.0

Malkangiri 32.4

Nabarangapur 31.2

Nuapada 39.0 , Rayagada34.3

Rajasthan

Banswara 36.0

Barmer 33.2

Dungarpur 39.2

Jaisalmer 32.3

Jallor 32.2Pratapgarh 35.4, Sirohi 33.7

Tonk39.8, Sirohi33.7,

Pratapgarh35.4

Uttar

Pradesh

Bahraich 33.1,

Balrampur 33.4 Budaun 34.3

Rampur 38.8 Shrawasti 30.1

Bihar

Araria35.9, Darbhanga 39.4,

Katihar36.3, kishanganj38.2

Madhepura 34.2, Madhubani

39.9, W.Champaran 37.6,

E.Champaran 38.0,

Purnia 34.6, Saharsa 34.1,

Sheohar38.1, Sitamarhi35.1

Supaul37.7.


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TABLE -6: DISTRICTS WITH EXTREME LOW LITERACY RATE IN INDIA 2011

State Total Population Male Female

Literacy Rate 0-40 40-50 0-40 40-50 0-40 40-50

Arunachal

Pradesh

Anjaw 46.4, Kurung Kumey

44.3, Tawang 48.6, Tirap 41.9

Andhra

PradeshMahbubnagar 45.7

Chhattisgarh

Bijapur 41.6,

Dantewada 42.7,

Narayanpur 49.6

Bijapur 31.6,

Dantewada 32.88

Bastar 44.5,

Kabeerdham 49.0,

Narayanpur 40.2

Gujarat Dahod49.0

Jammu&

Kashmir

Badgam46.6, Bandipore46.2,

Ganderbal47.6 , Kishtwar44.1

Kulgam49.7, Ramban40.0 ,

Reasi47.5

Jharkhand

Dumka49.6, Garhwa49.4,

Godda44.9, Pakur41.2,

W. Singhbhum47.0,Sahibganj44.3

Haryana Mewat 37.6

Karnataka Raichur 49.6, Yadgir 41.3

Madhya

Pradesh

Alirajpur

37.2Jhabua44.5

Alirajpur

43.6

Alirajpur 37.2,

Jhabua 34.3

Barwani 43.1, Dhar 49.7,

Rajgarh 49.8, Sheopur 44.5,

Shivpuri 49.5, Singrauli 49.96

Orissa

Koraput 49.9,

Malkangiri 49.5,

Nabarangapur48.2

Koraput 38.9,

Nabrangpur

37.2,

Malkangiri 38.9

Raigadh 39.9

Gajapati 43.59,

Kalahandi 47.27,

Nuapada 45.21

Rajasthan Jallor38.7

Banswara 43.5,Barmer 41.0,

Bhilwara 47.9, Bundi 47.0,

Chittaurgarh 47.0,

Dungarpur 47.0,Jaisalmer 40.2, Jhalawar 47.1Karauli 49.2, Nagaur 48.6, Pa

48.4, Pratapgarh 42.4,

Rajsamand 48.4,

Sawai Madhopur 47.8,

Sirohi 40.1, Tonk 6.0,

Udaipur 49.1

Uttar Pradesh Shrawasti 49.1 Shrawasti 37.1

Baharaich 40.8, Balrampur

40.9, Budaun 41.8, Gonda 49.1

Moradabad 49.6, Rampur

46.2, Sidharthnagar49.6

Bihar

Araria 45.2, Banka 49.4,

Darbhanga 46.9, Jamui 49.4,Katihar 48.0, Kishanganj 47.0

Madhepura 42.8, Madhubani

48.3, W.Champaran 46.8,

E.Champaran47.4, Purnia

43.2, Saharsa42.7,

Sheohar47.3,Sitamarhi 43.4,

Supaul 46.6

Source: GOI, 2011; Census of India 2011. Provisional Population Tables.


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LITERACY RATE FOR TOTAL POPULATION

y Majority of districts in bottom 20 districts list of 2011 for literacy rate of total population arein the states of Arunachal Pradesh (2), Bihar (2), Chhattisgarh (3), Jharkhand (1) , and

Karnataka (1) M.P. (3),U.P. (4), Orissa (4).

y Only one district (Alirajpur of M.P.) has literacy rate below 40 per cent in 2011 and 8 districtshave literacy rate between 40-50 per cent (Table 4)

y District Alirajpur (MP) is at the bottom in 2011 as was in 2001. However, literacy rateimproved by 9.35 percentage points.

y District Bijapur (Chhattisgarh) still remains at 639th place in 2011. Jhabua (MP) improved its position and reached at 637th place in 2011 from 638th place in 2001. But Dakshin Bastar

Dantewada (Chhattisgarh) slipped to 638th

place in 2011 from 637th

place in 2001. So is the

case with Nabarangpur (Orissa) and Shrawasti (UP) which changed their places.

y Katihar and Madhepura (Bihar) have managed to go out of the bottom 20 districts lists. ButBudaun (UP) and Yadgir (Karnataka) joined the league of bottom 20 districts.

LITERACY RATE FOR MALE POPULATION

y So far as the male literacy is concerned no district falls in the below 40% range of literacy;however, only one district viz. Alirajpur (43.6%) is in the category of 40-50. Alirajpur (MP)

is at 640th

place in 2011, as was in 2001. The difference is that male literacy rate of this

district in 2011 improved points.

y Tirap (Arunachal Pradesh), Budaun (UP) and Koraput (Orrisa) joined the league of bottom 20districts in 2001 replacing Sahibganj (Jharkhand), Sitamarhi and Madhepura (Bihar) which

were at 623rd, 622nd, and 621st places in 2001.

LITERACY RATE FOR FEMALE POPULATION

Gender differentials are higher in the districts with low literacy rate. The gender differential

decreases with the increase in literacy rate. It is the irony of the country that 11districts namely

Bijapur (31.6%), Dakshin Bastar Dantewada (32.9%) both from Chhattisgarh, Mewat (37.6%)from a well-developed state Haryana; Alirajpur (37.2%) and Jhabua (34.3%) from Madhya

Pradesh, Nabrangpur (37.2%), Koraput (38.9%), Malkangiri (38.9%) and Raigadh (39.9%) all

from Orissa, Jallor (38.7%) from Rajasthan and Shrawasti (37.1%) from U.P. have female

literacy rates well below 40%.


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y Alirajpur is at the 640th place in 2011 as was in 2001. However, female literacy in this districtimproved by 6.0 percentage points.

y 11 districts have female literacy rate less than 40 per cent in 2011 as compared to 56 districtsin 2001.

y 83 districts have female literacy rate less than 50 per cent, out of which 18 districts (54.5 percent of total districts of the state) are in Rajasthan, 15 (39.5 per cent of total districts in the

state) are in Bihar, 8 in Uttar Pradesh, 7 in Orissa, 8 in M.P., and 6 in Jharkhand.

y Female literacy rate improved in Saharsa and Madhepur (Bihar) during 2001-2011 as a resultthey moved out of bottom 20 list.

y District Yadgir (Karnataka) performed poorly during 2001-2011 and slipped to 621st place in2011 from 616th place in 2001. Rests of the districts in both the lists are same with slight

changes in their respective position.

SECTION III

CONCLUDING OBSERVATION

The issues of backwardness at intra-state level have been discussed by several committees and

task forces appointed by the Planning Commission since 1960*.Educational backwardness in

terms of illiteracy has been one of the key indicators for the identification of backward districts

in these committees.

For the purpose of exclusion of population on literacy front we have categorized districts on the

basis of literacy rate into seven categories (i) Less than 30 per cent (ii) 30-40 per cent ,(iii) 40-50

per cent (iv) 50-60 per cent (v) 60-70 per cent; (vi) 70-80 per cent (vii) 80-90 per cent and (viii)

90-100 per cent. We have fixed a threshold limit of poor educational standards at less than 50 per

cent literacy rate in 2011.No district of the country has literacy rate below 30 per cent in census

2011. The districts appeared in two most vulnerable categories of literacy (i) Between 30-40 per

cent and (ii) between 40-50 per cent are given in table 5&6. Thus, 243 districts have poor state of

female literacy level, 11 districts have poor state of male literacy and 63 districts have poor state

of literacy as a whole in the census 2011. The comparison of tables- 5&6 reveals that districts in

*These committees/ Study Group/ task Force are: (i) Study Groups (1964); (ii) The Pande Committee;

(iii) Sukhamoy Chakravorty (1972); (iv) The Wanchoo Committee (1986); (v) The Shivraman Committe (1978);

(vi) The E.A.S. Sharma committee (1997); (vii) Inter-Ministerial Task Group (2007).


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less than 30 per cent category of literacy rate in 2001 have crossed over to the category between

30-40 per cent in 2011; likewise districts in 30-40 per cent category in 2001 have shifted to 40-

50 category in 2011.But, the structure of bottom 20 districts in both the censuses (200l & 2011),

with minor changes, remains the same for literacy rate for total population, male population, and

female population. It is an irony that neither the central government nor the state government

were able to provide required opportunities to people of these most backward districts to get

themselves able to read and write despite the implementation of several programmes of

advancement of adult literacy and elementary education during the last 60 years of planning.

The districts with extreme poor literacy rates have many commonalities which are listed below,

y All of these districts, except Mewat (Haryana), Yadgir (Karnataka) and Rampur (U.P.), have been included in the lists of most backward districts identified by above mentionedcommittees// Study Groups / Task forces.Majority of districts of this list have predominantly

large population of Scheduled Tribes, Schedule Castes. However, some districts such as

Mewat (Haryana), Rampur (UP) Bahraich (UP) Balrampur (UP) Budaua (UP), Shrawasti

(UP), Tonk (Rajasthan) and all the six districts of Jammu & Kashmir have large number of

Muslim population. Census data 2001 reveals that Muslim literacy rate, particularly female

literacy rate, in the state of Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Rajasthan, Haryana is relatively

low as compared to literacy rate of other communities (South Asia Voice,2004)

y STs and SCs are in the grip of vicious circle of unemployment- poverty-ignorance- illiteracy-mal-nutrition. They are poor because they are either unemployed or employed in poorly paid

jobs; they are unemployed or employed in poorly paid job because they are unskilled; they

are unskilled because they are illiterate.

y All these districts, except a few like Rampur lack infrastructural facilities in educationalsector.

y Tribal districts in the states of M.P, Chhattisgarh, Orissa, Jharkhand and Bihar are facing leftwing extremism. Extremists in these areas have destroyed the buildings of many primary and

junior high schools, rural roads and other infrastructural facilities causing further damage to

the drive of literacy.

Exclusion ofTribals, Dalits andMuslims from the main stream of higher economic growth is

a matter of serious concern. It paved the way for the spread of leftwing extremism mostly in


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tribal belt. Breaking of vicious circle of unemployment-poverty-ignorance-illiteracy-mal-

nutrition is of paramount importance. An area specific approach based on the local socio-

economic characteristics has to be adopted. Any programme of adult literacy or elementary

education cannot be successful unless it addresses the problem of poverty. Low income base

of households, (for whom survival is of utmost importance rather than acquiring literacy),

forces them to engage their children into income generating activities instead of sending

them into schools for learning. Poor Gross enrolment ratio and high dropout ratio among

tribals, dalits and Muslims are the result of higher poverty among these groups. So the

programmes of literacy enhancement, employment generation and poverty alleviation should

run side by side or be converted into a wider programme of Literacy, employment

generation, poverty alleviation and skill development.

REFERENCES

y Altbach Philip G and N. jainam (2010); Can India Garner the Demographic dividendTheHindu, New Delhi, Dec 1

y Government of India (2007); Report of the Inter-Ministerial Task Group on RedressingGrowing Regional Imbalance, Planning Commission.

y Government of India (1997); Report of the Committee on the identification of BackwardDistricts, Planning Commission, New Delhi; (EAS Sharma, Principal Advisor to the

Planning Commission)

y Debroy, Bibek and Bhandari, Laveesh (2003); District Level Deprivation in the MillenniumKonask Publisher, New Delhi;

y Government of India (2003); Report of the Task Force on Identification of Districts forWage and Self Employment Programme, Planning Commission, New Delhi (Dr. Rohini

Nayyar, Advisor Planning Commission.)

y South Asia Voice (2004); Religion and Demographics in India, Oct.y Government of India(2011):Census of India,2011,Provisional Population Tables-1,State of

Literacy p98.

Documents

EDUCATION AND SKILL DEVELOPMENT: A PRE- REQUISITE FOR INCLUSIVE GROWTH EDUCATION AND SKILL DEVELOPMENT: A PRE- REQUISITE FOR INCLUSIVE GROWEDUCATION AND SKILL DEVELOPMENT: A PRE- REQUISITE