New Delhi: The Socio
Economic and Caste Census (SECC) 2011 today painted a grim picture of rural
India, indicating that one out of three families living in villages is landless
and depends on manual labour for livelihood.
The SECC 2011, also the first paperless
census conducted on hand-held electronic devices by the government, said 23.52
percent rural families have no literate adult above 25 years, suggesting a poor
state of education among rural masses.
The census, carried out in 640
districts under the aegis of the Rural Development Ministry, was released
jointly by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and Rural Development Minister
Chaudhary Birendra Singh here.
According to the census, there
are a total number of 24.39 crore households in the country, of which 17.91
crore live in villages. Of these, 10.69 crore households are considered as
deprived. The deprivation data reveals that 5.37 crore (29.97 percent)
households in rural areas are 'landless deriving a major part of their income
from manual labour'. As many as 2.37 crore (13.25 percent) families in villages
live in houses of one room with 'kaccha' walls and roof.
It further said that 21.53 percent, or 3.86 crore, families living in villages belong to SC/ST categories. Releasing the census, Jaitley said, "It's after seven-eight decades that we have this document after 1932 of the caste census... It's going to be very important document for all policy makers both at Central and State governments... this document will help us target groups for support in terms of policy planning."
The data, Singh said, "Addresses the multi-dimensionality of poverty and provides a unique opportunity for a convergent, evidence based planning with a Gram Panchayat as unit".
India
News Desk