Question : NATIONAL LITERACY MISSION

(a) whether the targets set under the National Literacy Mission have been achieved;

(b) if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor along with the current literacy rate in the country and the total number of illiterate population recorded as per the last census, State/UT and gender-wise, category-wise;

(c) the details of the funds allocated/disbursed for the National Literacy Mission and for eradicating illiteracy in the country during the last three years and the current year, State/UT-wise;

(d) the details of the special steps taken/being taken by the Government to assist States where the literacy rate is below the national average along with funds allocated to them during the said period, State-wise; and

(e) the steps taken to improve the literacy rate in the country in a time bound manner?

MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT (SHRI UPENDRA KUSHWAHA)

(a) & (b) The targets set under the National Literacy Mission were to raise the literacy to 80 percent and reduce gender gap to 10 percent points by the end of the eleventh Five Year Plan. The Census 2011 reported the literacy rate as 72.99% and the gender gap of 16.25 percent points.

14 States/UTs have achieved/exceeded the literacy rate of 80%. These States/UTs are: Kerala, Lakshadweep, Mizoram, Goa, Tripura, Daman & Diu, Andaman & Nicobar Islands, NCT of Delhi, Chandigarh, Puducherry, Himachal Pradesh, Maharashtra, Sikkim and Tamil Nadu.

10 States/UTs have been able to reduce the gender gap to 10 percentile points or less. These States/UTs are Punjab, Chandigarh, Nagaland, Mizoram, Tripura, Meghalaya, Goa, Lakshadweep, Kerala and Andaman & Nicobar Islands.

Other States/UTs have not been able to achieve the two targets because of state specific reasons, large level of residual illiteracy and low female literacy being the most important of all.

The current literacy rate in the country and the total number of illiterates recorded as per the Census 2011, State/UT, gender-wise and category-wise are at Annexure-I and Annexure-II respectively.

(c) The details of the funds allocated/disbursed under Saakshar Bharat Scheme, the new variant of the National Literacy Mission, for eradicating illiteracy in the country during the last three years and the current year , State/UT-wise, is at Annexure-III.

(d) & (e) The Government of India is also helping the State to bring children into schools through the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan apart from the Saakshar Bharat Programme. Plan outlay of Rs.195726 crore has been provided for the two interventions with increased focus on equity, access and quality along with wide scale mass mobilization and awareness, community participation, capacity building and teachers’ training.

To give impetus to literacy in States with comparatively lower literacy levels, Saakshar Bharat Scheme is concentrated on districts where the adult literacy levels are much below the national average. All districts, that had adult female literacy of 50% or below (as per 2001 Census), are coverable under the scheme. The State/UT-wise details of funds sanctioned during the last three years and the current year, is at Annexure-III.