Literacy rises by 9.2 percent, now 74.04 percent
New Delhi: India's effective literacy rate has recorded a 9.2 percent rise to reach 74.04 percent, according to provisional data of the 2011 census released on Thursday. Effective literacy rate in the 2001 census was 64.83, which improved to 74.04, said Registrar General of India and Census Commissioner C. Chandramauli. Interestingly, literacy rate improved sharply among females as compared to males. While the effective literacy rate for males rose from 75.26 to 82.14 percent marking a rise of 6.9 percent, it increased by 11.8 percent for females to go from 53.67 to 65.46 percent. According to provisional totals of the latest census, literates constitute 74 percent of total population aged seven and above. Chandramauli said it was encouraging to note that out of total 217,700,941 literates added during the decade, females at 110,069.001 outnumbered males at 107,631,940. He said a significant milestone reached in 2011 census was the decline of illiterates by 31,196,847. Ten states a...