There has been a substantial increase in the literacy rate among the 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 has seen a jump from 64.3 per cent to 73.9 per cent while the urban literacy has increased from 75 per cent to 83 per cent, according to a presentation given by deputy director of census operations, Puducherry, J Jayapragasam, at a workshop here on Wednesday.
The male literacy rate has gone up from 78.4 per cent to 85.2 percent, while the female literacy rate has increased from 60.1 per cent to 71.1 per cent
The work participating rate of SC has gone down from 40.2 per cent in 2001 to 38 per cent in 2011. More significantly, in rural areas, the rate has decreased from 44.4 per cent to 39.7 per cent. But in urban areas, it has gone up from 34.9 per cent to 35.9 per cent. While 66 per cent are male workers, 44 per cent are female workers.
A total of 18.98 per cent of the SC population in Puducherry town lives in slums, while 56 per cent of the population lives in slums in Yanam, 9.71 per cent in Mahe and 30.88 per cent in Karaikal.
While cultivators in the general population has declined from 3.18 per cent to 2.71 per cent in the last decade, among the SC population, it has marginally increased from 1.18 per cent to 1.62 per cent.
The literacy rate in slums is 82.37 per cent in Puducherry, 97.18 per cent in Mahe and 83.78 per cent in Karaikal. The agricultural labourers have declined from 55.36 per cent to 39.11 per cent. The percentage of SC population employed in household industry as compared to other industries has increased from 0.83 per cent to 1.03 per cent. In other industries also it increased from 42.63 per cent to 58.24 per cent.