Prof Brij Kothari and Prof Tathagata Bandhopadhyay from IIM-A conducted a study among 17,782 people in around 20 villages of four districts in four Hindi-speaking states to analyse the literacy level.
The Professors adopted two methods for the sample survey: census method (asking the head of the family or the person if they can read) and the reading method (making the people read a paragraph).
The results showed that only 52.6 per cent of the people were ‘reading literate’ as against the 68.7 per cent figure by the government.
The finding were published in the paper titled ‘Can India’s ‘literates’ Read?’. The findings suggest that if the definition of literacy is restricted to persons who can demonstrate a minimum reading ability of Grade 2 (Class 2) level, the reading literacy rate drops further to 25.8 per cent.
In that case, the census has overestimated the literacy rate in the country by around 42.9 per cent.
The paper has also stated that an average of Grade 9 education is needed to become a good reader and Grade 10 education to become a lifelong reader.
According to the 2011 Census, the literacy rate of the country is 68.7 per cent with 55.7 per cent literacy among women and 80.4 per cent among men.
