Punjab has again overtaken the Centre in the literacy race with its rate of 76.7 per cent topping the Centre’s performance at 74.04 per cent. Despite it being an agricultural State, literacy in Punjab has shown remarkable improvement over the last four decades, as recorded in the Provisional Population Census of India 2011.
In 1971, Punjab was lagging behind 34.12 per cent while Centre recorded 34.45 per cent. And, in the last four consecutive decades, Punjab figured at 43.37 per cent in 1981 while the Centre recorded 43.57 percent, 58.51 per cent in 1991 (Centre 52.21%), 69.7 per cent in 2001 (Centre 64.83%) and 76.7 per cent in 2011. The female literacy rate of Punjab is 71.3 per cent which is also higher than the Centre’s 65.5 per cent.
However, the data recorded 82.1 per cent literate males in India with Punjab lagging at 81.5 per cent. With a total population of over 2.77 crore, 2,77,04,236 in actual and ranking 15th in India, Punjab still has as many as 87.15 lakh illiterates, that is 87,15,625. Of 28 States and seven Union Territories, Punjab ranks 21st in literacy rate.
According to the provisional data of Census operations of Punjab reveals that the hinterland of Malwa region, comprising Mansa, Muktsar, Sangrur, Barnala and Bathinda has the literacy rate less than 70 per cent even as the State’s overall literacy has gone up in the last four decades. Hoshiyarpur, Mohali, Rupnagar, Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Gurdaspur and SBS Nagar reported more than 80 per cent literacy rate.
Meanwhile, Punjab’s literacy rate has improved only by a mere seven per cent during 2001 to 2011. The State recorded just 6.93 per cent rise from 69.75 per cent in Census 2001 to 76.68 per cent according to provisional figures of Census 2011. The Census figure also States that 23.32 per cent population continues to be illiterate in the State; Punjab is still nearly 10 per cent behind the Planning Commission’s target of having above 85 per cent literacy rate, to be achieved by 2011-12. Female literacy rate improved sharply in comparison to males of the State.
While the literacy rate for males rose from 75.23 per cent to 81.48 per cent marking a rise of 6.25 per cent, it increased by 7.98 per cent for females to go from 63.36 to 71.34 per cent. The gap between male-female literacy rates has also squeezed with the women becoming more aware regarding their Right to Education. The literacy rate gap abridged from 11.87 per cent in 2001 census to 10.14 per cent in Census 2011. As per Census 2011, literate person is one who, aging seven years and above, can both read and write with understanding in any language.
