INTRODUCTION
 

Literacy greatly expands the range of human potentialities and is a worthwhile goal in its own right. Literacy is also an important driving force behind economic and social development, and it is a powerful influence that tends to reduce fertility and therefore helps to ameliorate India's pressing population problem.

The goal of free and compulsory education through the age of 14 is enshrined as a Directive Principle of India's Constitution. Over the years a great deal of thinking has gone into how to achieve this goal. In 1948-50 the Kher Committee considered the prospects of primary education in detail (Ministry of Education, 1950). In 1964- 66, the Kothari Commission did another comprehensive study of education in India (Ministry of Education, 1966). The National Policy of 1968 was a milestone that stressed the need for a radical reconstruction of the education system to achieve the goal laid out in the Constitution (Ministry of Education and Social Welfare, 1968). In 1976, a Constitutional Amendment established Education in the Concurrent List (the official list of subjects for which the Centre and the States assume joint responsibility). This was a vital step which called for a new sharing of responsibility between the Union Government and the States in this vital area of national life. Before 1976, education was a State subject.

Unfortunately, the strategies in the 1968 National Policy and the 1976 Constitutional Amendment were not fully realized. As a result, problems of school access, educational quality and financial outlay accumulated for a number of years. This necessitated a major review of the National Policy in 1986, which recognized that the current rate of improvement in education was insufficient to meet India's needs. The 1986 policy resulted in a substantial increase of resources devoted to education. At the time of this writing, the policy is again under review, illustrating the Government's continued concerns in this area.

Despite the shortfalls, a great deal of progress has been made. At 'the present time there are more than 810 thousand schools and colleges, with more than 4 million teachers and an

2 Literacy Trends in the 1980s in India

annual budget of more than Rs. 120,410 million. Nevertheless, at the time of the 1991 Census, the literacy rate (literates as a per cent of population for persons aged 7 and over) was only 52.2 per cent, and for females it was only 39.2 per cent. Moreover, literacy rates were highly variable, with some States and Union Territories having much higher literacy rates than others. Also, literacy rates for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes were considerably lower than literacy rates for the Non-Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe population in 1981, the latest date for which rates for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes have so far been published.

The present study updates and expands a previous study of literacy trends in India up to 1981, which was published by the Office of the Registrar General & Census Commissioner, India, as Occasional Paper No. 1 of 1987 (Sharma and Retherford, 1987). Here we utilize, in addition to data from the 1991 Census, data from the Department of Education of the Government of India in order to provide a broader perspective. However, because age-specific literacy data have not yet been published from the 1991 Census, it has not been possible to update the age-specific analyses included in our earlier study. It has also not been possible to update the earlier findings on quality of literacy (where we utilized information on educational levels of literates) and developmental correlates of female literacy.

This study focuses on the intercensal period 1981-91, principal data sources being the 1981 and 1991 Censuses. The reference date for these two censuses was 1 March. Because the 1981 Census could not be held in Assam, due to disturbed conditions then prevailing in that State, and because the 1991 Census has yet to be taken in Jammu & Kashmir, these two states are excluded from our analysis of census data, in order to make comparable the 1981 and 1991 data.

Problems of comparability also arise from a slight change in the definition of literacy in the 1991 Census. Before 1991, literacy was defined as the ability to read and write with understanding in any language. To be classified as literate, a person need not have received any formal education or passed any minimum standard. A person who could read but not write was not defined as literate. Persons below age 5 were defined as illiterate. In the 1991 Census, the definition was changed slightly so that persons be-

Introduction 3

low age 7 were defined as illiterate. We have adjusted the 1981 literacy data to conform to the 1991 redefinition, so that both sets of data refer only to persons aged 7 and over.

In our previous study, literacy rates were calculated by dividing literates, as defined in the 1981 Census, by total population irrespective of age, and then multiplying by 100, so that the rate is expressed as a percentage. In the present study, literacy rates are calculated differently, by dividing the number of literates at ages 7 and over by population aged 7 and over. Thus the literacy rates for 1981 presented in this study are not comparable to the literacy rates for 1981 presented in our previous study, cited above. In this study, literacy rates for both 1981 and 1991 are calculated according to the new 1991 definition.

This study begins by examining literacy trends for India, with breakdowns by sex and rural-urban residence. Literacy rates are also presented for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and NonScheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes, but only for 1981, since the 1991 results for these groups are not yet available. We also present literacy data for households, again limited to 1981. These results for India as a whole are followed by a similar analysis for States and Union Territories. In the case of India as a whole, the discussion of literacy trends and rates is followed by an analysis of enrolment trends in Classes I-V. The final part of the study presents some rough projections of literacy rates for States and Union Territories. These projections are compared with projections made in our earlier study. Appendix Tables 1-8 present detailed census and other data on which the analysis is based.