CCSAP Report - Ministry of Home Affairs

Where they appear to do badly in is education, with youth literacy having
changed only by 39% compared to 200% and 228% among SCs and STs.
However, this lack of improvement is deceptive, since the average Muslim
education in the base year, 1983, was a “high” 3.6 years in 1983 compared to
1.6 years and 0.9 years for SCs and STs, respectively. What has happened is
catch-up – the SCs and STs have caught up with the rest of the population in
education.
OBCs
Data for OBC communities were gathered by the NSS only since the 1999/00
survey year. The percentage change for OBCs in youth literacy in Telangana
between 1999/00 and 2007/8 at 29% was marginally lower than the state
average of 31%. Years of education show an even better improvement (after SCs
and STs) with the improvement being the highest in Telangana among the three
regions and higher than the state average. OBC female literacy improved the
most in Telangana followed by Rayalaseema and coastal Andhra. Thus overall,
there have been good improvements in literacy and years of education for the
OBCs.
Given that levels of poverty were low for OBCs in 1999/00 (16 percent and equal
to the state average), the decline in poverty levels for this group is impressive. At
4 percent poor, the level is the lowest for OBCs, and also equal to the state
average. Across regions, Telangana OBC‟s have the lowest poverty levels and the
highest (along with coastal Andhra) per capita consumption levels. Among all
social groups in Telangana, OBCs are above the SCs and STs and equal to
Muslims, both in terms of consumption and poverty levels. In terms of
consumption growth between 1999 and 2007, OBCs have a lower than average
growth – 35 percent versus a state average of 41 percent.
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