31 per cent of rural populace in Karnataka is illiterate: Census

Bengaluru: Contrary to the global image of Karnataka being the hub of IT, BT, education and manufacturing sectors, the socio-economic and caste census – 2011 has revealed that over 31 per cent of the rural population is illiterate.

The SECC-2011, which was released on Monday by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has also revealed that the literacy rate in rural areas was only around 68.46 per cent while the graduates among rural population account only for 3.61 per cent.

While Dakshina Kannada tops the literacy rate with 83.55 per cent, Yadgir district figures at the bottom of the list with only 43.68 per cent. While senior citizens comprise 8.98 per cent of the total population, indicating that Karnataka has a young workforce, most of them live in rural areas. They constitute 9.58 per cent of total rural population.

Interestingly, 63.66 per cent of the over 5.99 crore population still live in rural areas. And, Bengaluru stands out with the lowest male-female ratio at 1000: 857 as compared with the state average of 1000:956. At the top of the list are Udupi and Kodagu districts 1000:1036 and 1000:1002 ratios respectively.

The rural area accounts for some interesting statistics, where more than 91 per cent people own houses and around 6.91 per cent people live in rented houses. While 26.6 per cent of people own irrigated land, 47.04 per cent of population own unirrigated land. Mobile phones have reached more than 77% of the rural population and over 23.75 per cent of people own motor vehicles. However, the number of people owning refrigerators is only 5.95 per cent, the survey noted.

The survey was initiated by the Union government in 2011. Karnataka was the second state, next only to Assam to complete the survey and submit the report to the Union Government. Though caste survey was also included in the preamble, the Union government withheld caste statistics from making it to the public domain.

However, the caste statistics of SC and ST has been published. While the SC population accounts for 16.06 per cent, ST accounts for 6.45 per cent of population. In rural area, the SC population is around 18.31 per cent, while ST population is around 8.39 of total rural population, the report noted.

Stating that the Union Government should have released the caste census statistics too, Mr Siddaramaiah said the state government, which was conducting caste census, would release it soon, on completion of compilation of statistics.