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At the societal level, gender bias persists in key areas in the form of society’s preference for boys
over girls, the continuation of the dowry system, early marriage and violence, including sexual
violence against women in both private and public spaces and women’s lack of decision-making
powers. Only 52 per cent of women reported being involved in decisions even when it concerned
their own healthcare. Barring Kerala, the juvenile sex ratio has worsened in every major state,
even though there has been some improvement in the overall sex ratio. Perhaps the most striking
evidence on women’s low status is that 21 per cent (NFHS-2 1998-99) reported being victims of
domestic violence from age 15 on. Illiterate and poorer women experienced higher than average
rates of violence.
Table 5: Literacy rates: All India and Major States, 2001
State Male Female Gap Decadal increase, Decadal increase,
rate rate
male rate
female rate
All India 75.96 54.28 21.68 11.83 15.00
Andhra
Pradesh
70.85 51.17 19.68 15.72 18.45
Karnataka 76.29 57.45 18.84 9.03 13.12
Uttar Pradesh 70.23 42.98 27.25 15.40 18.61
Source: Census of India, 2001; Paper 1 of 2001 – Provisional Population Totals, Series 1– India:
Statement 35, pp.126
While most observers would agree that at least in the education sector - tremendous progress has
been made in the decade of the 1990s, a ‘hard core’ of 5 to 15 per cent of children (depending on
the region and social groups) continue to remain outside the ambit of primary schooling.
Additionally, irregular attendance, high drop out rate and poor learning achievement appear
endemic among certain specific sections / groups in society. Recent studies have also highlighted
the phenomenon of children from different social and economic groups accessing different types
of schools – regular government primary schools, alternative / Education Guarantee Scheme
schools (EGS), private schools (Vimala Ramachandran 2002). Given the gradual increase in the
number of private schools on the one hand and an exponential rise in the number of alternative /
habitation specific schools on the other, children from different socio-economic groups are
increasingly attending different kinds of schools. As the more powerful and the better-off shift
their children to private or special schools, societal pressure on government schools to function
well reduces considerably (Aggarwal 2000). Similarly, where children of relatively better-off
communities in rural and urban areas rely on private tuitions, the importance of ensuring requisite
teaching/learning in schools also goes down. This phenomenon, for example, has recently been
highlighted as a major area of concern in West Bengal (The Pratichi Education Report 2002)
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