Lok Sabha Question No. 1136 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2025-02-10
Subject: Initiatives to Rise Literacy Rates in Rural Areas
Ministry: EDUCATION
Asked by: Dr. Gumma Thanuja Rani

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF EDUCATION DEPARTMENT OF SCHOOL EDUCATION & LITERACY

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.1136 ANSWERED ON 10.02.2025

## Initiatives to Rise Literacy Rates in Rural Areas

## 1136. Dr. Gumma Thanuja Rani:

Will the Minister of EDUCATION be pleased to state:

- (a)   the details of the current literacy rate across the rural areas of the country, State-wise;
- (b)  the  steps  being  taken  by  the  Government  to  improve  literacy  rate  in  these  areas specifically for women and other vulnerable communities;
- (c)   whether any specific initiatives have been taken by the Government in this regard during the last three years; and
- (d)   if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION (SHRI JAYANT CHAUDHARY)

- (a)   A statement indicating State/UT-wise literacy rate across the rural areas of the country as per Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS), Ministry of Statistics and Programme implementation is at Annexure .

(b) to (d) In order to improve the literacy rate including rural literacy rate among adults in the country, the Government of India has introduced a Centrally Sponsored Scheme called Nav Bharat  Saksharta  Karyakram  (NILP),  popularly  known  as  ULLAS:  Understanding  of Lifelong  Learning  for  All  in  Society  from  1 st April,  2022  upto  2027.  The  scheme,  aligned with  NEP 2020, targets  adults  (aged  15  years  and  above)  who  couldn't  go  to  school.  The scheme has five components, namely: (i) Foundational Literacy and Numeracy, (ii) Critical Life Skills, (iii) Basic Education, (iv) Vocational Skills, and (v) Continuing Education.

The scheme is implemented in a hybrid mode, allowing States/UTs the flexibility to adopt  offline  or  online  mode  focusing  on  imparting  foundational  literacy  and  numeracy including  critical  life  skills,  digital  &  financial  literacy.  ULLAS  works  with  the  vision  of making Bharat 'Jan Jan Saakshar', driven by Kartavyabodh (a sense of duty), utilising school platforms  and  community  engagement  through  volunteerism  to  achieve  full  literacy.  The scheme focuses on rural areas,  educationally backward areas,  women and other vulnerable communities etc.

A  dedicated  ULLAS  Mobile  App  has  been  developed  for  registering  learners  and volunteer teachers and also enables teaching learning process by providing access to primers in  26  languages.  With  continuous  efforts,  under  ULLAS,  more  than  2  Crore  learners  have been registered and more than 1 Crore learners have already appeared in the Literacy Test named Foundational Literacy and Numeracy Assessment Test (FLNAT) across the country

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STATEMENT  REFERRED  TO  IN  REPLY  TO  PART  (a)  OF  THE  LOK  SABHA UNSTARRED  QUESTION  NO.1136 FOR  10.02.2025  ASKED  BY  DR.  GUMMA THANUJA RANI HON'BLE MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT REGARDING INITIATIVES TO RISE LITERACY RATES IN RURAL AREAS.

## State wise Rural Literacy Rate of India

| Sl. No.   | State\UT            | 2023-24   |
|-----------|---------------------|-----------|
|           | All India           | 77.5      |
| 1         | Andhra Pradesh      | 67.5      |
| 2         | Arunachal Pradesh   | 82.9      |
| 3         | Assam               | 86.2      |
| 4         | Bihar               | 73.3      |
| 5         | Chhattisgarh        | 76.6      |
| 6         | Delhi               | 84.8      |
| 7         | Goa                 | 92.8      |
| 8         | Gujarat             | 79.6      |
| 9         | Haryana             | 81.3      |
| 10        | Himachal Pradesh    | 88.1      |
| 11        | Jharkhand           | 74.3      |
| 12        | Karnataka           | 78.1      |
| 13        | Kerala              | 94.2      |
| 14        | Madhya Pradesh      | 71.6      |
| 15        | Maharashtra         | 83.2      |
| 16        | Manipur             | 90.9      |
| 17        | Meghalava           | 93.6      |
| 18        | Mizoram             | 98.1      |
| 19        | Nagaland            | 95        |
| 20        | Odisha              | 76.9      |
| 21        | Punjab              | 81.1      |
| 22        | Rajasthan           | 72.5      |
| 23        | Sikkim              | 82.2      |
| 24        | Tamil Nadu          | 81.2      |
| 25        | Telangana           | 69.9      |
| 26        | Tripura             | 92.8      |
| 27        | Uttarakhand         | 82.2      |
| 28        | Uttar Pradesh       | 76.5      |
| 29        | West Bengal         | 80.3      |
| 30        | Andaman &NIsland    | 90.6      |
| 31        | Chandigarh          | *         |
| 32        | Dadra &Nagar Haveli | 75.8      |
| 33        | Daman &Diu          |           |
|           | Jammu               |           |
| 34        | &Kashmir            | 81.4      |
| 35        | Ladakh              | 79.8      |
| 36        | Lakshadweep         | 99.5      |
| 37        | Puducherry          | 90.2      |

Source of Data - Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) Ministry of Statistics and Programme implementation