Journal of Global Resources

Volume 2

January 2016
Page 84-89
ISSN: 2395-3160 (Print), 2455-2445 (Online)

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RURAL URBAN REGIONAL DISPARITIES PATTERN OF LITERACY IN
RAJASTHAN STATE, INDIA
Anju Ojha
Assistant Professor, Geography
Govt. Lohia College, Churu (Rajasthan), India
Email: draj2280@gmail.com

Abstract: Literacy is an important indicator of the socio economic development of an area. It
acts as a catalyst for social upliftment enhancing the returns on investments made in almost
every aspects of development effort, be it population control, health, hygiene, environmental
degradation control, empowerment of women and weaker section of the society. The trends inliteracy are indicative of the pace at which the life and economy of a particular society is beingtransformed. Rajasthan is predominantly a rural state where education continues to have little
economic and social relevance. Female literacy is also low in urban areas as compared tomale literacy because the cities and towns have a large number of male immigrants who are
educated; towns and cities attract large number of male students. The male-female literacy
difference is witness to be highly variable throughout the state. The present paper is anattempt to analyze the trends of differential in literacy rate, spatial patterns of urban-ruraldifferential and the relationship between differential index and selected variables ofdevelopment among the districts of Rajasthan.
Keywords: Rural, Urban, Regional, Disparities, Literacy, Rajasthan state
Introduction
Literacy is one of the main components of socio-economic development of an area or country.
It is also one of the main components of Human Development Index (HDI) with life expectancy
and per capita income. There is a strong empirical correlation between literacy and life
expectancy (Khan, 2004). In international usage, literacy is defined as the ability to read andwrite at least a simple message in any language (Hassan, 2005). There is no common
definition of literacy in world; it varies from country to country on their historical backgroundand social development. UNESCO defined literacy as the “ability to identify, understand,interpret, create, compute and use printed, use printed and written material associate withvarying contracts. Literacy involves a continuum of learning in inability individual to achieve
their goal, to developed their knowledge and potential and to participate fully in theircommunity and wider society”. There is also change in the definition of literacy over time. But
at present time, census of India defined literacy as “a person age above six year who can both
read and write with understanding in any language is called literate”. Children up to six year
age are treated as illiterate in the country. Literacy is one of the important demographic
elements, which is good measure of human process towards modernization. It is an important
indicator of the socioeconomic development of an area. It acts as a catalyst for social
upliftment enhancing the returns on investments made in almost every aspects ofdevelopment efforts, be it population control, health, hygiene, environmental degradation
control, empowerment of women and weaker sections of the society. Illiteracy, on the other
hand takes away from man his dignity, perpetuates, ignorance, poverty and mental isolation,
deters peaceful and friendly international relations and free democratic processes and hamper84

social advancement, economic growth and political maturity. Above all, literacy influences
other attributes of population such as fertility, mortality, sex-ratio and occupation etc. Literacy
is one of the biggest and the most crucial issues that people in the developing countries arefacing. The developing countries of the world, of which India is a part, are characterized not
only by low literacy rates but also by a great disparity in the literacy rates between urban andrural, between male and females and between young and the aged, a disparity in consonancewith differences in necessity, prosperity, and opportunity to become literate. Equally striking
aspects are the regional disparities in literacy differentials itself.
Literacy is one of the most important demographic elements, which is good measure ofhuman process towards modernization. It is an important indicator of the socio economic
development of an area. It acts as a catalyst for social upliftment enhancing the returns on
investments made in almost every aspects of development effort, be it population control,
health, hygiene, environmental degradation control, empowerment of women and weakersection of the society. Illiteracy, on the other hand takes away from man his dignity,
perpetuates, ignorance, poverty and mental isolation, deters peaceful and friendly international
relation and free democratic processes and hamper social advancement, economic growthand political maturity. Above all, literacy influences other attributes of population such as
fertility, mortality, sex ratio and occupation etc. As per the definition of the Census of India
2001, a person who can read and write with understanding in any language is taken as
literate. All children below the age of 7 years have been treated as illiterate. In the 1961, 1971
and 1981 Censuses, children below the age of 5 years were considered as illiterates (Census
of India, 2001). Urban rural differences are essentially a function of the differential rates ofchange occurring in towns and villages. Literacy, like other innovations, originates in urban
places and diffuses subsequently into the countryside. The process depends on the intensityof interaction between the two. The degree of urban influence and the intensity of urban ruralinteraction are evidently two major factors involved in the reduction of disparities between
urban and rural literacy rates. Urban influence may also pay an indirect role by stimulating
diversification of the rural economy. A diversified economic base in village generally
accelerates the progress of rural literacy (Krishan and Shyam, 1978).
Patterns of literacy
Only 66.1 percent of Rajasthan was recorded as literate as per the 2011 census. The reasonsfor the prevailing illiteracy were a mix of historical, economic and cultural factors. Literacy has
direct functional value for the traditional subsistence agricultural economy, since until recently
rural life was largely self-contained and religious worship was primarily oral. Moreover, theurban and rural literacy rates (79.7 and 61.4 percent, respectively) also showed a wide gap;
the differential was larger for females (urban70.7 percent, rural 45.8 percent) than for males(urban 87.9 percent, rural 76.2 percent). Four basic main factors explain these disparities: (1)urban places are far better equipped with educational facilities (2) many educated realizes
migrate to urban places in search of employment, (3) the need for an education is greater inurban places than in the agricultural countryside, and (4) urbanities are socially more awareand economically more capable of imparting education to their children.
Objectives
1. To examine the relationship between rural and urban literacy rate.
2. To describe the spatial distribution of differential in literacy in the districts of Rajasthan in2011
3. To analyze the relationship between literacy rate and levels of development.

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Study Area
The north-western state of Rajasthan is the largest Indian state with an area of 3, 42,239
sq.km comprising of the 10.41 percent of the total geographical area of the country. This state
has a type of rhomboid shape and stretches lengthwise 869 km. from west to east and 826
km. from north to south. Rajasthan, the largest state of India is located in the north-westernpart of the subcontinent. The southern part of the state is about 225 km. from the Gulf of Kutch
and about 400 km from the Arabian Sea. Jaipur is the capital city and lies in the east-central
part of the state. The tropic of Cancer passes through its southern tip in the Banswara district.
The state has an area of 342,239 sq. km. In the west, Rajasthan is relatively dry and infertile;
this area includes some of the Thar Desert, also known as the Great Indian Desert. In thesouthwestern part of the state, the land is wetter, hilly, and more fertile. The climate varies
throughout Rajasthan. Winter temperatures range from 2° to 26° C and summer temperatures
range from 24° to 48° C.
Database and Methodology
The study is mainly based on the secondary sources of data obtained from the office of theRegistrar General of India and Census Commissioner, Government of India, New Delhi andState Planning Institute, Rajasthan, Jaipur. The district has been considered as the smallest
unit of study. The study is based on 2011 census data and urban rural differential literacy rateis calculated by using the following formula (Krishna and Shyam, 1978).
ID/

Where;
ID= Index of urban-rural differential in literacy
U= Percentage of literates in urban population
R= Percentage of literates in rural population
T= Percentage of literates in Total population.
For Rajasthan, this index would be= 79.7 -61.4 /66.1 =0.276
The discussion in this present paper is based on the index values obtained for districts ofRajasthan.
Result and Discussion
Trends of urban-rural differentials in literacy, 1991 to 2011
The analysis of literacy differentials by residence has not been possible for the preIndependence period because of the non-availability of census data for this period. Hence, thedata on growth of literacy have been provided for the post- Independence period from 19912011. Table No 1 reveals that the literacy rate improved from 38.55 percent in 1991 to 60.41
percent in 2001 and rose further to 66.10 percent in 2011. Similarly, the literacy rate for urban
areas which was 65.3 percent in 1991 rises to 76.2 percent in 2001 and then increased further
to 79.7 percent in 2011. In rural areas, the literacy rate which was only 30.4 percent in 1991
increased to 55.3 percent in 2001 and further improved to 61.4 percent in 2011 (Table 1). A
considerable growth has taken place in literacy during 20th century, but it has not beensatisfactory. It is however, well known that this progress is mainly concentrated in the urban
areas, while the vast rural areas are far behind. An encroaching feature is that the growth rateof literacy in the decade ending 2011 has been higher in the rural areas. Despite these
improvements, literacy in urban areas was 79.7 percent and that in rural areas, 61.4 percent.
The most important reason behind the increase in literacy is the new definition and concept ofliteracy in the census of 1991 which excludes the population in the age- group of 0 to 6 years
from the total population. In this way, the 1991 census uses the term “Literacy Rate” in relation
to the age group of seven years and above (Census of India, 2011).
86

The urban-rural differential index in literacy rate in Rajasthan decreased continuously
from 0.90 percent in 1991 to 0.27 percent in 2011. India has also made remarkable differencesin literacy since independence. It has decreased during the same period from 0.54 percent in1991 to 0.22 percent in 2011, the urban- rural differential index in Rajasthan has been
decreasing continuously over the time since 1991, when it was sharper (0.90 percent), as
there was only the rural literacy rate for nearly every two (1:2.1). This disparity ratio has
declined from 2.1 in 1991 to 1.29 in 2011. The rural literacy had, nonetheless, registered as
gradual increase from 30.4 percent in 1991 to 61.4 percent in 2011 and differential index
narrowed down gradually from 0.90 in 1991 to 0.27 in 2011. From 2001 to 2011, the urban
rural difference index fell sharply to 0.27 and 0.22 points in the state and country, respectively.
If progress is noted at the same rate in the coming decades as well, then it would be possible
to remove illiteracy by 2040 AD. The narrowing down of the urban-rural differential index as
well as disparity ratio was associated with increasing degree of urban rural interaction,
increasing socio economic functional value of education in the country side, improving
standards of living, and increasing facilities for schooling in the countryside.
Table 1: Literacy Rate and Differential Index, Rajasthan, 1991-2011
CensusYear

1991

AgeGroup

Total
Areas

Rajasthan
Urban Rural Urban- rural
Area
Area
differential
index
65.3
30.4
0.90

7 and 38.55
above
2001
7 and 60.41 76.2
55.3
0.34
above
2011
7 and 66.10 79.7
61.4
0.27
above
Source: Computed from Census books, 1991, 2011

Total
Areas

Urban
Area

India
Rural
Area

52.2

73.1

44.7

Urban- ruraldifferential
index
0.54

64.8

79.9

58.7

0.33

74.04

84.98

68.91

0.22

Rural urban disparities of Literacy
The urban –rural differential in literacy is marked with notable variation in its distribution among
the districts of Rajasthan state. It varies from 0.57 in Pratapgarh to 0.04 in Jhunjhunu district
with a state average of 0.27 in 2011(Table no. 2). These variations may be conveniently
grouped into five categories. Nine districts of the state fall under very high grade (>0.40)
comprising the district Banswara (0.56), Barmer (0.42), Bhilwara (0.41), Chittaurgarh (0.42),
Dungarpur (0.45), Jaisalmer (0.42), Pratapgarh (0.57), Sirohi (0.53), Udaipur (0.53) in theSouthern and South Western part of the state. These districts have very differential index
which is more than double of the state average (0.27). The reasons for these differentials are
the low level of urbanization, primarily traditional agricultural economy and high concentrationof socio-economically backward sections of the society, inadequate educational infrastructure
and late start of educational in rural areas. Only seven districts have high differential index of
0.30 t0 0.40 percent namely Ajmer (0.36), Bikaner (0.30), Bundi (0.33), Jalore (0.33), Jhalawar(0.38), Jodhpur (0.31), Rajsamand (0.36). The urban-rural differential has been reducing
continuously due to faster increase in rural literacy in recent decade. Five districts namely
Alwar (0.22), Baran (0.22), Pali (0.28), Sawai Madhopur (0.26), Tonk (0.26) which are very
close to the state urban-rural literacy differential average (0.27 percent) ranging from 0.20 to0.30 are found to be grouped into a number of regions of which the most important regions.
The urban-rural gap in terms of literacy is minimizing continuously due to increasing
educational facilities in rural areas and the rural population is more aware about the benefit ofliteracy. Nine district of the state fall under the category of 0.10 to 0.20 percent (low). These
districts namely are Bharatpur (0.16), Churu (0.13), Dausa (0.19), Ganganagar (0.18),
Hanumangarh (0.19), Jaipur (0.19), Karauli (0.12), Kota (0.17) and Nagaur (0.16). The
category of very low differential index (0.10 and below) encompasses only three district of the87state that are Dhaulpur (0.06), Jhunjhunu (0.04), Sikar (0.06 percent). The main reason of very
low differential index here is higher rural literacy rate then the urban literacy rate.
Table 2: Rural urban disparities of Literacy in Rajasthan, 2011
Sr. No
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33

Districts
All Area
Urban Area
Ajmer
69.3
85.05
Alwar
70.7
84.25
Banswara
56.3
86.58
Baran
66.7
78.86
Barmer
56.5
79.52
Bharatpur
70.1
80.19
Bhilwara
61.4
82.63
Bikaner
65.1
78.65
Bundi
61.5
78.67
Chittaurgarh
61.7
83.60
Churu
66.8
73.63
Dausa
68.2
81.04
Dhaulpur
69.1
73.64
Dungarpur
59.5
85.79
Ganganagar
69.6
79.43
Hanumangarh
67.1
78.78
Jaipur
75.5
83.48
Jaisalmer
57.2
78.91
Jalor
54.9
71.97
Jhalawar
61.5
81.82
Jhunjhunu
74.1
77.33
Jodhpur
65.9
80.23
Karauli
66.2
73.93
Kota
76.6
82.61
Nagaur
62.8
72.11
Pali
62.4
76.78
Pratapgarh
56.0
85.46
Rajsamand
63.1
82.71
S. Madhopur
65.4
79.96
Sikar
71.9
76.64
Sirohi
55.3
79.24
Tonk
61.6
74.78
Udaipur
61.8
88.45
Rajasthan
66.1
79.7
Source: Computed from Census books, 1991, 2011

Rural Area
60.22
68.83
54.78
64.29
55.72
68.87
57.17
58.95
58.13
57.63
64.98
67.43
69.20
58.95
66.76
65.79
68.43
54.61
54.05
58.24
73.95
59.79
66.15
69.54
62.16
59.21
53.50
60.23
62.68
71.83
49.77
58.86
55.85
61.4

Differential Index
0.36
0.22
0.56
0.22
0.42
0.16
0.41
0.30
0.33
0.42
0.13
0.19
0.06
0.45
0.18
0.19
0.19
0.42
0.33
0.38
0.04
0.31
0.12
0.17
0.16
0.28
0.57
0.36
0.26
0.06
0.53
0.26
0.53
0.27

Table 3: Rural urban disparities of Literacy in Rajasthan, 2011
Category
Very low(< 0.10)
Low(0.10-0.20)
Medium(0.20-0.30)
High(0.30-0.40)
Very High(>0.40)

Name of District
Dhaulpur, Jhunjhunu, Sikar
Bharatpur, Churu, Dausa, Ganganagar,
Hanumangarh, Jaipur, Karauli, Kota, Nagaur
Alwar, Baran, Pali, S. Madhopur, Tonk
Ajmer, Bikaner, Bundi, Jalore, Jhalawar,
Jodhpur, Rajsamand
Banswara, Barmer, Bhilwara, Chittaurgarh,
Dungarpur, Jaisalmer, Pratapgarh, Sirohi,
Udaipur

Total
Source: Calculated from census of Rajasthan, 201188

No. ofDistrict
3
9Districts(percent)
9.10
27.27

5
7

15.15
21.21

9

27.27

33

100

Conclusion
The analysis clearly indicates that there is a wide range of variations in rural- urban differential
in literacy among the district of Rajasthan. The study further adds that the urban-ruraldifferential indices in the western and southern districts are relatively high and very high ascompared to the eastern and northern districts of the Rajasthan. The statistical analysis
reveals that low urban-rural differential in literacy is characteristics of areas marked byrelatively high degree of urbanization, literacy rate, educational facilities, medical facilities,
commercialization of agriculture and dance road network. The districts having low level ofdevelopment should be given top priority so that they may came up at par with developed
districts, and the concept of planning with social justice proves successful.
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