Some 30% rural households belong to SC/ST category: Census

New Delhi, Jul 3: About 30 per cent of rural households belong to Scheduled Caste (SC) and Scheduled Tribe (ST) group, revealed Socio Economic and Caste Census 2011.

As per the census, 29.43 per cent of the households belong to the SC and ST category across the country. Punjab leads the the states with the highest number of SC population with 36.74 per cent, followed by West Bengal (28.45 per cent), Tamil Nadu (25.55 per cent) and Himachal Pradesh (23.97 per cent).

As far as ST population is concerned, Mizoram has the highest percentage with 98.79 per cent, followed by Lakshadweep (96.59 per cent), Nagaland (93.91 per cent) and Meghalaya (90.36 per cent). The average percentages of SC and ST category are 18.46 per cent and 10.97 per cent, respectively.

On other households that do not belong to this category, the census said, Kerala with 86.16 per cent leads the pack, followed by Daman and Diu (81.27 per cent).

Bihar comes next at the third spot with 81.19 per cent. Chandigarh with 80.45 per cent is at the fourth spot followed by Delhi at 78.16 per cent. The all-India average in this category is 68.52 per cent.

As for no caste and tribe households, the census puts the all-India average at 2.04 per cent.

Andaman and Nicobar Islands has highest number of such households with 36.99 per cent followed by Assam with 35.52 per cent. Goa with 30.67 per cent comes third followed by Daman and Diu at 10.39 per cent.

PTI