In a country like India literacy is a key for socio-economic progress. It is defined as the ability to identify, understand, interpret, create, communicate, compute and use printed and written materials associated with varying contexts. The earliest system of gurukul declined gradually and in British India a large number of English primary schools grew and correspondingly the literacy rate in India rose from 3.2 per cent in 1881 to 12.2 per cent in 1947. In independent India the provision of universal and compulsory education for all children in the age group of 6–14 was cherished as a priority in the Directive Policy in Article 45 of the Constitution. In a major breakthrough the Parliament passed 86th Amendment Act, 2002 to make elementary education a Fundamental Right for children. In order to provide more funds for education an education cess of 2 percent was imposed on all direct and indirect central taxes through the Finance Act, 2004. Despite government programmes and efforts slow increase in literacy rate and wider gender disparity in the literacy rate continued to be an unhealthy sign for literacy prospect in the country.
Literacy, Meaning and Rate, Census 2011, Skill
