There has been a substantial increase in literacy among Scheduled Caste people with the literacy rate going up to 77.9 per cent in 2011 from 69.1 per cent in 2001. The rural literacy rate has jumped from 64.3 per cent to 73.9 per cent while the urban literacy has climbed from 75 per cent to 83 per cent, according to a presentation given by J Jayapragasam, deputy director, Census Operations, Puducherry, at a workshop on Wednesday.
The male literacy rate has gone up from 78.4 per cent to 85.2 per cent, while the female literacy rate has increased from 60.1 per cent to 71.1 per cent.
The work participation rate of SC has gone down from 40.2 in 2001 to 38 in 2011, more significantly in rural areas where from 44.4 per cent it has gone down to 39.7 per cent though in urban areas it has gone up from 34.9 per cent to 35.9 per cent .
A total of 18.98 per cent of the SC population in Puducherry town live in slums, while 56 per cent live in slums in Yanam, 9.71 in Mahe and 30.88 in Karaikal. The percentage of population in the age group 0 to 14 years has gone down marginally, while for 15 years plus population has increased. Cultivators among the SC population has marginally increased from 1.18 to 1.62 per cent
The literacy rate in slums are 82.37 in Puducherry, 97.18 per cent in Mahe and 83.78 in Karaikal . The agricultural labourers have declined from 55.36 per cent to 39.11 . The percentage of SC employed in households has increased from 0.83 per cent to 1.03 percent. In other industries it increased from 42.63 per cent to 58.24 per cent.