Journal of Global Resources
Volume 6 (01)August 2019-January 2020
Page 16-24
UGC–CARE Listed Journal in Group D
ISSN: 2395-3160 (Print), 2455-2445 (Online)

03
ECOLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF LITERACY IN RAJASTHAN:
AN APPLICATION IN SOCIAL GIS
Urmi Sharma 1, Seema Jalan2 and Purnima Singh3
1
Assistant Professor, 2Professor,
Department of Geography, MLS University, Udaipur (Rajasthan) India
3
Assistant Professor, Govt. Meera Girls' College, Udaipur (Rajasthan) India
Email: seemajalan1@gmail.com
Abstract: Literacy, the ability to ‘read’ and ‘write’ in any language, provides the basal stratum
for the multi-level educational pyramid, a major component of Human Development Index. The
overall literacy rate of Rajasthan is 66.11 percent as per Census 2011 which has increased by
5.70 percent over 2001. The dismal status of literacy in the State is manifest in its 33rd position
among all the States and Union Territories in the country. It also lags behind on otherparameters, viz. male, female, rural and urban literacy significantly. The present study
undertakes a multifaceted investigation of the status and spatial patterns of literacy inRajasthan based on the Census data of 2011 at tehsil level. A robust methodology including
cartographic, statistical and geospatial tools has been employed to identify priority areas.
Spatial variations in levels of literacy have been mapped and analysed in context of the socioeconomic characteristics of the region. Results reveal high spatial variation in literacy with aclear north-east and south-west divide in the State. Western, southern and south-western partsof the State form a cold spot for rural-urban literacy hence need top priority in policy making.
Key words: Literacy Rate, Social GIS, Hot Spot Analysis
Introduction
The study of human behaviour, their attitudes and their responses to their natural and culturalmilieu have been the focal theme of human geography. The concept of ‘Space’ i.e. the spatial
context or geographical location, is of overarching significance for explaining social
phenomenon effectively revealing the complex relationship between various factors, directly or
indirectly affecting them. “One of the strongest arguments for looking at society through aspatial lens—through maps, GIS, and spatial analysis—is that it provides observations with
context: processes can be examined in their geographic settings” (ESRI July, 2009). The
significance of geospatial techniques to infer solutions to social problems and other socioeconomic aspects is a novel field of research. GIS is being used to analyse spatial patterns ofhuman health (Shekhawat et. al. 2011) and concentration of SC/ST population for purpose ofelectoral delimitation by Jalan (2015). Geographical Information System (GIS) with its vastcapabilities of dynamic mapping, visualization, integration, spatial analysis and modelling
enables more robust analysis and unique insights into geographical underpinnings of socioeconomic phenomenon. It has also facilitated an interdisciplinary approach towards researches
specifically dealing with spatial phenomenon. Application of GIS in social science research iscommonly termed as ‘Social GIS’.
Literacy is a significant milestone in the developmental journey of a nation as it acts asa yardstick for its socio-economic progress. According to census 2011 Rajasthan has a dismal
status in literacy. Ranking 33rd among all the States and Union Territories with total literacy rate
at 66.11 percent only above Arunachal Pradesh (65.4 percent) and Bihar (61.8 percent)(Census 2011). Literacy rates in the State are below national averages in all categories viz.
total, rural, urban, male and female literacy. It also accounts for the lowest female literacy in the
country. The challenge is to elevate the status of literacy in the State with paramount focus onregions which are lagging and simultaneous bridging of the disparities. For effective
implementation of mitigation measures and policies, understanding the regional variation andidentification of priority areas having lowest literacy and highest regional disparity is imperative.
Various studies have explored the spatial patterns and trends of literacy rates for different partsof the country including Rajasthan. Recent among these are by Chand (2015), Sharma (2015),
16

Ram (2014), Chitragar & Hurakadli (2013), Sangwan et al. (2014), Zaidi, and Kundu and Rao(1982). The underlying geographical perspective of these studies is to investigate the regional(rural – urban) differential, gender disparity, caste and class bias in levels of literacy. The socioeconomic aspects of population and their relationship with literacy have also been investigated(Singh, 2014). Heretofore traditional statistical tools and choropleths have been used to map
the spatial phenomena. The insights obtained using choropleth techniques are not very reliable
since the patterns are prone to vary by changes in class categories. GIS based spatial
statistical techniques are capable of providing significant insights into the distribution of thephenomenon unaffected by the class categories. These tools incorporate ‘space’ into analysis,
unlike traditional methods and open a completely new world of exploring and answering
complex realities by identifying statistically significant clusters (hot spots and cold spots). Theseclusters ought to be basis of identifying priority for regional policy making. Spatial analyticaltechniques in geospatial domain have been used to analyse spatial patterns of crime by Ansari& Kale (2014), road accidents by Aghajani et. al (2017). Present paper undertakes ecologicalanalysis of spatial patterns of literacy in the state of Rajasthan at tehsil level based on Census
2011 data. Status and regional variations in literacy have been analysed in socio-economic
context. The study also explores the application of spatial analytical tools implemented in GIS
to identify the priority areas for policy formulation and decision making.
Study Area
Rajasthan is the largest state of India administratively divided into 33 districts and 244 tehsils
As per Census 2011, the total population of the State is 6.86 crores which is approximately 5.6
percent of the country’s total population. Major concentration of the population is in eastern partof the state as around 61 percent of its total area is desert in the west. The urban population isrelatively more concentrated in the eastern half of the State. Despite a large population basethe total literacy rate of Rajasthan is pegged at 66.11 percent. Wide disparities in rural-urban
and male-female literacy rates are witnessed for Rajasthan with urban literacy as 79.7 percent
while rural literacy being 61.4 percent. Similarly, overall male literacy in the State is 79.2
percent whereas its female counterpart is just 52.1 percent.
Methodology
Entire analysis is based on Census 2011 data. Standard census definitions for computation of
total, rural, urban, male and female literacy have been followed. All relevant variables havebeen joined to tehsil map in GIS environment and choropleth maps have been prepared to map
spatial patterns of variation in literacy levels. Spatial statistics implemented in GIS has been
employed for further analyses. Factor analyses and multiple regression have been used tomodel the socio-economic correlates of literacy. Geospatial data generation and analysis havebeen performed in ArcGIS version 10.2.2. SPSS version 23 has been used for statisticalanalysis. Major steps of methodological workflow subsequent to data generation may besummarized as under:
Identifying Clusters of Low and High values of Literacy
Using Anselin’s Local Moran’s I and Getis Ord Gi* statistics, statistically significant clusters ofhigh and low total literacy have been demarcated. Anselin’s Local Moran’s I (Cluster andOutlier Analysis) emphasizes on how much each feature (spatial unit) is similar or dissimilar to
its neighbours (Mitchell, 2009). The clusters of similar values (high-high; low-low) and dissimilarvalues (high-low; low-high) have been obtained. Clusters of dissimilar values highlight the
specific socio-economic processes operating at local scale which need tailored solutions to the
problems. Getis Ord Gi* statistics (Hot Spot Analysis) identifies areas of statistically significant
concentration of high and low values called as hot spots and cold spots respectively (Mitchell,2009). These hot and cold spots are interpreted in terms of clusters of high and low values
respectively with statistically significant difference from the regional mean. Cold spots (ofliteracy in present context) indicate specific factors and challenges operating at regional scaleand demand highest priority in policy making in line with these underlying factors.
Quantifying Socio-economic Correlates of Literacy
Thirteen variables relating to demographic composition, literacy rates of population sub-groups,
rural-urban character and occupational structure of the tehsil have been selected to understandthe relative importance of various socio-economic correlates and determinants of literacy(Table 1). In case of variables with perfect correlation, viz. proportion of male and female
17population, rural and urban population of a tehsil, only one of the pair of variables has beenchosen- including female population and rural population in the model. Owing to purely ruralcharacter of 64 tehsils, urban literacy (having null values for these tehsils) has been excluded
from the model. Exploratory factor analysis has been performed for identifying the underlying
uncorrelated socio-economic dimensions. Principal Component method for extraction and
Varimax with Kaiser normalization method for rotation of extracted components resulted in 5
factors (with eigen values greater than 1). Relative importance of various socio-economic
dimensions in explaining the spatial variability of literacy has been quantified using multiple
regression with factor scores of extracted components as independent variables and total
literacy as dependent variable.
Table 01: Socio-Economic Variables Input to Factor Analysis#

Variable

Abbreviation

1

Rural population as percentage of total population of the tehsil

R_P

2

Female population as percentage of total population of the tehsil

F_P

3

Sex Ratio

S_R

4

Male literacy rate

M_L

5

Female literacy rate

F_L

6

Rural literacy rate

R_L

7

Scheduled caste population as percentage of total population of the tehsil

SC

8

Scheduled tribe population as percentage of total population of the tehsil

ST

9Working population as percentage of total population of the tehsil

W_P

10

Cultivators as percentage of total working population

CL

11

Agricultural labourers as percentage of total working population

AL

12

Household industry workers as percentage of total working population

HH

13

Percentage of other workers to total working population

OTH

Results and Discussion
Literacy in the State exhibits clear spatial patterns with notable spatial divide in level of overall
literacy. Regions of high and low literacy correspond with district boundaries which underline
regional disparities in level of socio-economic development in the State at district level.
Spatial Patterns of Total Literacy
Mean total literacy in the State at tehsil level is 63.38 percent with a standard deviation of 7.92
percent and coefficient of variation of 12.49 percent. Maximum and minimum literacy occurs in
Jaipur (Jaipur) (82.68 percent) and Kotra (Udaipur) tehsils (26.57 percent) respectively. Figure
1 and 2 (a to d) illustrate various aspects of distribution of literacy rates across tehsils. Table 2
summarizes the regional distribution of tehsils across the scale. Only two tehsils -Kotra andLasadiya (both are part of Udaipur District) - have exceptionally low literacy (below 40 percent)(Figure 1a).
Figure 01: Distribution of Literacy (a) Box Plot (b) Distribution of Tehsils Across Various Levels of
Literacy

18

The overall distribution of literacy is approximately normal with small negative skewness(-0.523) and kurtosis as 1.69. Marked variation exists in inter-tehsil level of literacy with majorityof the tehsils having literacy ranging between 50 to 80 percent with a few having extremely highor low literacy levels (Figure 1b). Nevertheless, it is not a very promising scenario as only 20
percent of the tehsils have literacy rates above 70 percent which can be accepted as aminimum desirable level at par with the national average (Table 2). Figure 2a shows distributionof total literacy rate across the tehsils. Figure 3b shows the spatial variation from tehsil levelmeans in terms of z-scores. Results of cluster and outlier analysis and hot spot analysis havebeen shown in Figure 2c & d respectively. Levels of total literacy manifest a clear north-eastand south west divide wherein the tehsils in northern and north-eastern parts of the State have
literacy higher than the average. On the other hand, western and south-western parts of theState invariably have below average literacy.
Another notable feature of distribution of total literacy is co-occurrence of high/low
literacy pockets. A contiguous region comprising tehsils of Jhunjhunu, Sikar, western parts ofJaipur and Alwar districts form a significant hotspot representing spatial concentration and cooccurrence of tehsils with similarly high levels of literacy (Figure 2c) wherein the overall literacy
is invariably above 70 percent. Two hot spots comprising tehsils of Bharatpur andSriganganagar districts indicate high levels of literacy in the entire surrounding region (Figure2d). Similar hot spot exists in south-eastern part of the State comprising tehsils of Kota andwestern part of Baran districts. Highest literacy has been recorded in Jaipur and Sanganer(Jaipur district), Ladpura (Kota district) and Ajmer (Ajmer district) tehsils having more than 80
percent total literacy which can be attributed to their urban character. Some tehsils comprising
district headquarters viz. Jodhpur, Bikaner, Bhilwara and Girwa also have relatively highliteracy rates.
Occurrence of contiguous cold spot of total literacy comprising tehsils of western, southwestern and southern districts underlines the dismal state of literacy in the entire region. The
situation is most grave in region comprising Jaisalmer, Barmer, Jalor and Sirohi districts (Figure3d) wherein the overall literacy hovers around a dismal 40 to 50 percent. A significant cold spot
also covers large contiguous region in eastern part of Udaipur and Dungarpur, Banswara andPratapgarh districts; and scattered regions in Bhilwara and Jhalawar districts which reveal
lowest levels of literacy in southern and western Rajasthan.
Table 02: Total Literacy Rates at Tehsil Level in Rajasthan and their Main Regions
†

#.

TLR
(%)

No. ofTehsils

1

20-30

1

(Kotra*) Udaipur

2

30-40

1

(Lasadiya) Udaipur

3

40-50

6

Southern and south-western districts of Jalor, Sirohi, Banswara, Barmer
and Pratapgarh

Main Regions

Major tehsils of Jaisalmer, Bikaner, Jodhpur, Barmer, Sirohi, Jalore andscattered tehsils of central, southern and south-eastern regions
Clusters of these tehsils are confined to Ganganagar, Hanumangarh,
5
60-70
115
Churu, Nagaur and Tonk, Dausa, Karauli, Dhaulpur, Sawai Madhopur
districts mainly in eastern half of the State
North-eastern and south-eastern regions with scattered tehsils ofJodhpur, Bikaner, Pali, Bhilwara and Girwa being district headquarters
6
70-80
47
of their respective districts.
7
80-90
4
Countable few tehsils of Ajmer, Jaipur and Kota districts
Source: Directorate of Census Operations Rajasthan, Report 2011†
Total Literacy Rate *Names in italics are tehsil names
4

50-60

70

Ecological Analysis of Spatial Patterns of Literacy
Table 3(a to c) summarize the results of factor analysis. Table 3a shows the extracted rotatedcomponents with eigen value greater than 1. Table 3b shows the variable groups having factor
loadings higher than 0.4 on individual factors. Socio-economic dimensions underlying thevariables grouping on various factors have been identified in Table 3c. Robustness of themodel is manifest in the variance explained. The five components explain 88.3 percent ofvariance in the data.
19

Factor loading is the correlation between a variable and a factor. Higher factor loadings indicatethat a variable is closely associated with the factor. Based on scores greater than 0.40, Factor
1 has been identified as Rurality Index. R_P, W_P and CL load highly positively on the factor
while HH and OTH load highly negatively. The variable combination is representative of ruralcharacter of a region. Moderate negative factor loading of female literacy is suggestive ofwidespread female illiteracy in rural areas. Factor 2 correlated highly positively with M_L, F_L
and R_L. These represent regional and gender aspects of literacy. Factor 3 represents female
concentration in the tehsils with extremely high positive loadings (> 0.95) of F_P and S_R. SC
and ST load together on Factor 4 with high positive and negative loadings respectively
indicating that Factor 4 is a scale measure of social backwardness. With AL loading at 0.956
and moderate negative loading of CL, Factor 5 is an index of agricultural poverty of the region.
Figure 02: Distribution of total literacy rates at tehsil level (a) Total literacy, (b) Z-Scores of total*
literacy, (c) Anselin’s Local Moran’s I and (d) Getis-Ord Gi values rendered according
to statistical significance

Rurality Index
Figure 3a shows the distribution of factor scores of rurality index thereby indicating the spatial
variation in level of urbanization in the region. Positive factor scores represent areas with larger
proportion of rural population with larger work participation rate and agricultural economy. On
the other hand, negative factor scores indicate higher proportion of urban population at tehsil
level with larger majority engaged in non-agricultural- household and other occupations. Major
part of the study area is predominantly rural. Most urbanized tehsils are the ones comprising
district headquarters. Remaining parts of the state do not have any significant urban clusters.
Sikar, Nagaur, Pali, Sirohi, eastern part of Jalore district, western part of Ajmer and central partof Jaipur districts comprise a continuous belt along the foothills of the Aravalis which scores low
on the index. Another region comprises parts of Hadoti region and Chittaurgarh district.

20

Table 03: Results of factor analysis (a) Extracted components with eigen values greater than 1 (b)Rotated component matrix and factor loadings, and (c) Interpretation of extracted
components.

(a)Component

Rotation Sums of Squared Loadings% of Variance
Cumulative %28.44528.44521.26349.70816.11965.827
12.46378.2919.981
88.271

Total
3.698
2.764
2.096
1.620
1.297

1
2
3
4
5

(b)
Variable
R_P
F_P
S_R
M_L
F_L
R_L
SC
ST
W_P
CL
AL
HH
OTH

1
.826

Component
3

2

4

5

.967
.967
-.454

.904
.822
.942
.860
-.855

.738
.852

-.437
.956

-.767
-.904

(c)
Components
F1

Variables (Sign of factor loading)
R_P (+), W_P (+), CL (+), HH (-), OTH (-)

Index
Rurality

F2

M_L (+), F_L (+), R_L (+)

Subgroup Literacy

F3

F_P (+), S_R (+)

Female Concentration

F4

SC (+), ST (-)

Social Backwardness

F5

AL (+), CL (-)

Agricultural Poverty

Subgroup Literacy Index
Spatial variation of subgroup literacy index has been illustrated in Figure 3b. It is imperative tounderstand the distribution of individual aspects of the component to understand the factor
scores. Mean rural literacy at tehsil level is 60.96 percent with tehsil level figures ranging from26.58 percent in Kotra (Udaipur district) to 79.12 percent in Behror (Alwar district) tehsils and astandard deviation of 7.37 percent. Mean Male literacy in the region is 77.28 percent with aminimum of 36.43 percent in Kotra and maximum of 91.10 percent in Behror and standard
deviation is 7.22 percent. In majority of the tehsils male literacy is on higher end of the scale.
Wide disparity exists in male and female literacy in the State with mean female literacy being
remarkably low at 48.6 percent with high spatial variability (standard deviation of 9.02 percent).
Kotra ranks lowest in female literacy too (16.49 percent) while the maximum occurs in Jaipur
tehsil (76.13 percent) which is also not very high. Relatively lower factor loading of F_L as
compared to M_L and R_L underlines relatively lower female literacy in areas of high male andrural literacy. Positive factor scores (especially >1) of the component imply high level of rural,male and female literacy in the tehsil and negative scores are indicative of low literacy among
these subgroups. Spatial distribution of factor scores of the index reveals three salient
characteristics:
1. All three aspects of literacy are highly spatially correlated.
2. Wide regional variation exists in literacy levels among all three population subgroups.
3. High and low literacy areas are highly spatially concentrated and markedly co-terminus
with district boundaries.
A clear north-east and west-south divide marks the distribution of the component. A
contiguous region in northern, north-eastern and eastern parts of the State scores moderate tohigh on the component comprising tehsils of northern, north-eastern districts and major part of21

Hadoti region. Central part of Udaipur district and eastern parts of Chittaurgarh and Pratapgarh
districts and a small pocket across south eastern Jodhpur, Sojat (Pali district) to Beawar-Bhim(Ajmer and Rajsamand districts respectively) also score moderate to high. Other than these, all
the tehsils of northern and north-eastern districts form a contiguous pocket of highest scoring
region. Another notable pocket of highest scores comprises a contiguous group of tehsils
including Digod and Sangod of Kota district, Antah and Baran of Baran district and Khanpur ofJhalawar district. On the other hand, a continuous belt comprising tehsils of Bikaner, Jaisalmer,
Barmer, Jalore, Sirohi and western part of Udaipur districts in western and south- western
Rajasthan scores lowest on the index.
Female Concentration Index
The third component is linearly positively related to proportion of females in total population of
the tehsil. Female population in individual tehsils ranges from 45.33 percent in Jaisalmer tehsil(S_R = 829) to 51.21 percent (S_R = 1050) in Kumbhalgarh tehsil of Rajsamand district with amean of 48.24 percent and standard deviation of 1.13 percent. Distribution of factor scores of
the index has been shown in Figure 3 (c). Visual comparison of distribution of these scores with
distribution of scores of Rurality Index and Subgroup Literacy Index suggests a clear negative
correlation between female concentration and former two.Tehsil scoring high on the latter havelower female concentration. A distinct north-south belt encompassing Churu, Jhunjhunu, Sikar,
Nagaur, Pali, Jalore, Tonk, Ajmer, Rajsamand, Bhilwara, Chittaurgarh, Udaipur, Dungarpur,
Banswara and Pratapgarh districts scores positively on the index. Notably a contiguous region
comprising eastern part of Pali, Rajsamand, western part of Bhilwara and major part ofChittaurgarh district scores highest on the index thereby implying larger proportion of females inthe total population of the tehsils. Lowest scoring tehsils are clustered in western and easternparts of the State especially Jaisalmer and parts of Barmer, and Bikaner districts in the west,
and Dhaulpur, Bharatpur and Karauli districts in the east. Except for Jhunjhunu and Sikar
districts, and a contiguous patch of tehsils partly covering Kota, Baran and Jhalawar districts,
areas of high female concentration have low levels of literacy.
Social Backwardness Index
The index has high positive loading of SC and equivalent high negative loading of ST. Thus,
positive scores of the component indicate relatively high proportion of SC population in thetehsil while high negative scores indicate concentration of ST population. Proportion of SC
population in the State varies from a minimum of 0.74 percent in Kotra (Udaipur district) to
48.11 percent in Karanpur (Ganganagar district). SC population is evenly distributed across theState with SC proportion being 10 to 30 percent in majority of the tehsils. Highest SC
concentration occurs in northern districts. Southern Rajasthan, particularly Udaipur, Banswara,
Dungarpur and Pratapgarh districts are an exception with negligible proportion of SC
population. Distribution of ST population in the State is highly skewed with high spatial
variability across the tehsils. Maximum concentration occurs in southern Rajasthan andKishanganj and Shahbad tehsils of Baran district. In tehsils located in Udaipur, Dungarpur,
Banswara and Pratapgarh districts ST population forms as high as 75 percent of total
population. Moderate concentration occurs in eastern Rajasthan too predominantly easterntehsils of Jaipur district, Dausa, Karauli, Sawai Madhopur and Dhaulpur district. ST distribution
is negligible in remaining part of the State upto as low as less than 1 percent in 54 tehsils
predominantly located in Ganganagar, Hanumangarh, Bikaner, Nagaur, Churu, Alwar andBharatpur districts. Figure 3 (d) shows distribution of factor scores for the index. The index
scores high in major part of the State excluding ST dominated region of extreme south andeastern Baran district. Map comparison with distribution of literacy does not reveal any direct
correspondence with SC distribution but literacy rates are invariably low in ST concentration
areas.
Agricultural Poverty Index
Agricultural labourers constitute the most neglected class in Indian rural sector lying in lowest
income strata. They belong to depressed social classes, are unskilled and lack any training foralternative employment, are unemployed for major part of the year, are unorganised andignorant. This component relates positively with agricultural poverty. High scores of the index(Figure 3e) show clear spatial concentration. Three contiguous regions of concentration
comprise tehsils of Ganganagar and western part of Hanumangarh disricts in the north,southern Nagaur, Pali, Sirohi, Udaipur, Dungarpur, Banswara and Pratapgarh in south-central22

Rajasthan and almost entire Hadoti region. Except northern part of Ganganagar district
comprising Karanpur, Padampur, Sadulshahar and Ganganagar tehsils - regions scoring highon the index lag behind in literacy.
Figure 03: Factorial ecology of the study area (a) Rurality index (b) Subgroup literacy index (c)Female concentration index (d) Social backwardness index, and (e) Agricultural poverty index

Socio-economic Correlates of Literacy
Table 4 shows the results of multiple regression of tehsil wise total literacy on the five socioeconomic indices. The five indices almost completely explain the variability in total literacy(Adjusted R2 = 98.8 percent). The literacy status is positively associated with the subgroupliteracy and social backwardness indices. On the other hand, rurality, female concentration andagricultural poverty are negatively associated with literacy. The strongest explanatory variable
is F2 implying thereby that in high literacy areas gender as well as rural-urban disparity inliteracy is low and literacy rate among all the subgroups is high. Excluding F2, the coefficient ofdetermination (Adjusted R2) of the remaining four indices is 19.4 percent. Low literacy rates
predominantly prevail in rural areas, among female population and agricultural laborers andcultivators alike. Literacy also correlates significantly with social backwardness. Scheduled tribe
dominant areas are particularly lagging in literacy levels.
[

Table 04: Results of Multiple Regression of Total Literacy Rate on Socio-Economic Indices
Socio-economic IndicesIntercept (Constant)
Regression Coefficients
63.379F1
Rurality Index-3.050F2Subgroup Literacy Index
6.997
F3
Female Concentration Index-1.392F4Social Backwardness Index
1.215
F5
Agricultural Poverty Index-.510

Conclusion
Rajasthan has a long way to go to reach a satisfactory level of literacy. The picture is gloomy inmajor part of the state and marked regional divide in literacy rates underlines gross imbalancein level of human resource development and poor economic structure. Low explanatory powerof socio-economic indices (excluding Subgroup Literacy Index) underlines low literacy in allsocial and economic strata alike. Regions of high total, rural as well as urban literacy are23

spatially concentrated in northern and north-eastern part of the State whereas the status inremaining region specifically the tehsils of districts located in western, south-western andsouthern Rajasthan is dismal. These cold spots of low literacy deserve immediate attention in
future policy plans. Tailored policies drafted in accordance with the local conditions are urgently
required. Spatial statistical tools and interactive dynamic mapping enabled in GIS environmentis imperative to identify the priority areas categorically as it helps to uncover the cold spots
which may not be apparent by mapping simple percentages. Advanced statistical tools asfactor analysis enable analysis of literacy patterns in light of wider socio-economic contexts andalso the socio-economic-demographic groups which require immediate attention. Policy making
should thus be guided by informed decisions based on robust geospatial and statisticalanalysis. Further research at local scales is required to identify region specific factors
underlying the observed patterns. Geographically weighted regression implemented in GIS canbe used to unravel the local relationships between literacy rates and socio-economic
determinants. Additional variables as drop-out rates in schools, infrastructural facilities,
accessibility, government policies, public fund allocation and gender bias could further help tounderstand the patterns so observed.
Acknowledgement: We thank Directorate of Census Operations Rajasthan and Census ofIndia for providing us the Primary Census Abstract (PCA) data for 2011.
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