RAS question
What is the literacy rate of Rajasthan as per Census 2011?
Correct answer: (B) 66.1%.
As per Census 2011, Rajasthan's literacy rate was 66.1 per cent.
Explanation
Rajasthan's overall literacy rate in Census 2011 was 66.11 per cent, rounded to 66.1 per cent for comparison. Rajasthan's Census 2011 gender break-up was 79.2 per cent male literacy and 52.1 per cent female literacy. The official Economic Review notes that literacy in Rajasthan rose from 60.40 per cent in 2001 to 66.11 per cent in 2011, so 66.1 per cent is not a later estimate or a district-level figure. The state-level Census 2011 literacy rate must be distinguished from the higher male rate and the lower female rate.
Why the other options are wrong
- (A) 73.0 per cent does not match the official Census 2011 state literacy rate of 66.11 per cent for Rajasthan.
- (C) 80 per cent is close to the male literacy figure of 79.2 per cent, but it is not Rajasthan's overall literacy rate in Census 2011.
- (D) 55 per cent is far below the official overall state literacy rate and is closer to the female literacy figure of 52.1 per cent than to the total.
Concept
Census-based demographic indicators are part of Rajasthan Geography. RAS repeatedly asks such figures because literacy links population geography with education, gender disparity and district-level development analysis.