Education or jobs, SC/ST lowest:NSSO survey

New Delhi, Oct 31 (UNI) More than 50 years after the country introduced reservation for its suppressed classes, more than half of the people who do not know how to read and write belong to the Schedule Tribes (ST), says a survey by the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO).

According to the survey conducted last year, 34 per cent of the one billion-plus population of India are illiterate. The ST accounts for 52 per cent of this number.

Nearly 26 per cent of the rural households have no literate member of 15 years and above while the figures for urban areas is 8 per cent.

The proportion of households without any literate adult (15 years and above) member or without any literate adult female member is much higher among SC and ST households compared to OBCs in both rural and urban India.

The figures based on the seventh quinquennial survey on employment and unemployment, including that of SC, ST and OBC were released today.

This is the second report in a series of seven reports to be brought out on the basis of the survey. The report presents estimates of households and population, labour force, work force and unemployment rate among various social groups.

All states and Union Territories were covered under the survey, which was spread over 7,999 villages and 4,602 urban blocks covering 79,306 households in rural areas and 45,374 households in urban areas.

The NSSO figures say a little over 73 per cent of the households belonged to rural India and accounted for nearly 75 per cent of total population. Nine per cent of the households in the country belonged to the ST category, 20 per cent to SC category and 40 per cent belonged to OBC.

The proportions of households belonging to ST, SC and OBC were 11, 22 and 42 per cent respectively in rural areas and 3 per cent, 15 per cent and 36 per cent respectively in the urban areas.

Only one per cent of all SC households possess land of 4.01 hectares or more in size as compared to 3 per cent by ST and 4 per cent by OBC, says the survey.

Only two per cent of the ST population spent Rs 1,155 or more per month in rural areas in contrast to three per cent by ST and five per cent by OBC.

Fifty-one per cent of the labour force in the country were members of ST while it was 44 per cent for SC and 43 per cent for OBC.

The employment rate for the total population was 42 per cent with 44 per cent in rural areas and 37 per cent in urban areas.

About 55 per cent of rural male population and 33 per cent of rural female population are employed compared to 55 per cent of urban men and 17 per cent of urban women, says the survey.

The figure for ''chronically unemployed'' is the highest among SC.

UNI FZ AK HT1640