A Comparative Study of Literacy Rate in Mewat and Mahendragarh Districts of Haryana, 2011

INTRODUCTION

Economic development depends on many factors of which human factor are the real capital of any country. Therefore, there should be greater investment on human factor for the country‘s growth and development, so that human being of the country can contribute a lot to the progress and development. Economic backwardness of the country and many social evils can be overcome by encouraging the human being with more knowledge, skills, new ideas, techniques, etc. That is possible only by training and education. Education is the most important factor to investigate such human abilities which contribute in economic, social, political, and physical development of a country. Education is the systematic process through which a child gets knowledge, experience, skill and new ideas. (John Parankimalil, 2012) Literacy, like other basic resources, is the essential need of our lives today. It is not limited to our own development, but is also a part of country‘s progress as improvement of economic and social conditions. It has deep connection with modernization, industrialization, communication, commerce and civilization, etc. Even today, of the 127 countries in the world, 101 are such that there is no full literacy; India is also one of them. The average literacy rate of the world is 84% and 74.04% (2011) of India is very low. At the end of Briticism (1947), literacy rate was around 12% but now it has increased sluggishly. A person is called literate if he can read and writes a simple paragraph in any language. This is an important indicator to measure the development of an area. The working definition of literacy in Indian census since 1991 is as the total percentage of the population of an area at a particular time aged seven years or above who can read and write with understanding (Census of India). There is a variation in average literacy rate in India, so there is a great variation in male and female literacy rates also. The female literacy rate (65.4%) is much lower than that of male literacy rate (82.14%) in India. The same situation has been observed in Haryana too. Haryana has seen upward trend in its literacy rate which increased to 75.55% in 2011. The male literacy rate stands at 84.06%, while female literacy rate is at 65.94% which is the lowest in India.

The study area comprises of Mehendragarh and Mewat districts of Haryana state. Haryana state came into existence on 1st November 1966 from Punjab state. It is situated in the northwestern part of India. It lies between 27ᴼ30‘ to 30ᴼ35‘ N latitude and 74ᴼ28‘ to 77ᴼ36‘ E longitude. It covers an area

Both the districts (Mehendragarh and Mewat) lie in the southern part of the Haryana state. Individually, Mehendragarh lies between 27ᴼ47‘50‘‘ to 28ᴼ28‘ N latitudes and between 75ᴼ54‘ to 76ᴼ22‘11‘‘ E longitudes (Figure 1.1). Mahendragarh district has a total area of about 1899 km2 which is approximately 4.3 per cent area of the Haryana state. It is bounded on the north by Bhiwani and Rohtak districts, on the east by Rewari district of Haryana and Alwar district of Rajasthan state, on the south by Alwar, Jaipur and Sikar districts of Rajasthan state; and on the west by Sikar and Jhunjhunu districts of Rajasthan state. Narnaul town is the administrative headquarters of the Mahendragarh district. Mewat lies between 26ᴼ39‘ to 28ᴼ32‘ 25‘‘ N latitudes and between 76ᴼ39‘30‘‘ to 77ᴼ20‘45‘‘ E longitudes (Figure 1.1). Mewat district has a total area about 1507 km2 which is approximately 3.4 per cent of the total area of Haryana state. It is bounded on the north by Gurgaon district, on the east by Palwal district of Haryana and Uttar Pradesh state, on the south by Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan states and on the west by Rajasthan state. It came into existence on 17th December, 2004 as the 20th district of the Haryana State. After the formation of Palwal district, Hathin sub-division was transferred to Palwal district. Nuh town is Mewat district's headquarters. This area is a unique cultural region which having the culture of Haryana, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh state (Administrative Atlas of Haryana, 2011). Before the formation of the district of Haryana state, Mewat was a part of Gurgaon district. Both the districts of the study area (Mahendragarh and Mewat) are parts of different administrative divisions of the state Haryana. Mahendragarh district is a part of Gurgaon division of Haryana and the district headquarters is located at Narnaul town. Table 1.1 shows the administrative setup of Mahendragarh district in 2011. Mahendragarh district having two sub – divisional offices at Mahendragarh and Narnaul and also controlling administratively the tehsils of the same name. To develop the rural area, Haryana Government has setup five community development blocks in Mahendragarh district during 2011. These blocks are Narnaul, Nangal Chaudhary and Ateli which come under Narnaul tehsil and Mahendragarh and Kanina blocks which come under Mahendragarh tehsil. As per Census of India (2011), there are 370 villages and 5 towns in the district. Out of the total of 370 villages, only one village is uninhabited (District Census Handbook of Mahendragarh, Census of India, 2011). Figure 1.2 presented the village wise administrative divisions of Mahendragarh district during 2011.

Source: Administrative Atlas of Mahendragarh and Mewat Districts, 2011

Mewat district comes under the control of Faridabad administrative division of Haryana and the district headquarters is located at Nuh town of the district. Table 1.2 presented the administrative setup of Mewat district in 2011. The district is divided into four administrative sub – divisions namely Taoru, Nuh, Punahana and Ferozepur Jhirka. Mewat district comprises 4 tehsils, 5 Community Development (C.D.) blocks, i.e., Taoru, Nuh, Punahana, Firozepur Jhirka and Nagina, 8 towns and 437 villages. Out of the total of 437 villages, 410 villages are inhabited and rest 27 villages are uninhabited. Out of total of 8 towns, 4 towns are census towns and 4 are statutory towns (District Census Handbook of Mewat, Census of India, 2011). Figure 1.3 presented the village wise administrative divisions of Mewat district during 2011. The maximum number of villages are found in Nuh C. D. block and the minimum number of villages are found in Nagina C. D. block.

Source: Administrative Atlas of Mahendragarh District, 2011

Figure 1.3

DATA SOURCES AND METHODOLOGY:

The study is based on secondary data which are obtained from different government and semi-government publications. Statistical Abstracts of Haryana and district level publications have provided detailed information about various aspects of the state as well as of the district. Data regarding the village level and block level have been obtained from ‗District Census Handbook‘. Boundaries of villages, blocks, tehsils and district have been prepared from Administrative Atlas of Haryana, 2011. Various publications of Census of India, 2011 have provided valuable information related to sex ratio, child sex ratio, population of the study area, etc. Descriptive approach is adopted for this study. This approach has highlighted the spatial pattern of literacy rate as well as male and female literacy rate gap. The results of data analysis have been

addition to these cartographic and graphic techniques, statistical methods and formulae have been used to analyse the data.

Village wise Spatial pattern of literacy rate (Mahendragarh district, 2011) According to Census of India, 2011, the average literacy rate of Mahendragarh and Mewat districts is 77.72 per cent and 54.08 per cent respectively. The percentage of male and female average literacy rate of Mahendragarh district are 89.72 and 64.57 respectively. The spatial pattern of literacy rate of Mahendragarh district of Haryana state has been shown in Figure 1.4. The spatial pattern of Mahendragarh district shows great variations at village level. Table 1.5 and Table 1.6 respectively show five villages having highest and lowest literacy rate of Mahendragarh district during 2011. The highest total literacy rate, i.e. 88.53 per cent is found in Gomli village of Kanina block in Mahendragarh district during 2011. Whereas the lowest total literacy rate, i.e. 54.15 per cent is found in Ruppur Sarai village of Nagal Chaudhary block during the same time. The highest and lowest male and female literacy rate is also found in these villages also. Figure 1.5 presented C. D. blocks wise literacy rate of Mahendragarh district during 2011. Figure 1.5 also clearly indicate the C. D. blocks – wise gap between male and female literacy rate of Mahendragarh district. The maximum gap between male and female literacy rate is found in Nangal Chaudhary block.

Source: Primary Census Abstract of Mahendragarh District, Census of India, 2011.

Source: Primary Census Abstract of Mahendragarh, Census of India, 2011.

Figure 1.4

Village wise spatial pattern of literacy rate in mewat district during 2011.

Whereas the lowest total literacy rate is found in Zakopur village of Punahana C. D. block in which total literacy rate was only 7.14 per cent. All the females of Amka village of Punahana C. D. block are found illiterate. The lowest male literacy rate is also found in Zakopur village of Punahana C. D. block which is 10.47 per cent. Figure 1.7 presented rate of Mewat district. The maximum gap between male and female literacy rate is found in Nagina C. D. block.

Source: Primary Census Abstract of Mewat District, Census of India, 2011.

Source: Primary Census Abstract of Mewat District, Census of India, 2011.

Source: Primary Census Abstract of Mewat, Census of India, 2011.

Figure 1.6

The present research work has highlighted the existing situation of male and female literacy rates in two districts of Haryana comparatively. There is a large difference between the total literacy rate and male female literacy rate of both districts. Such a large difference in these two districts of same state can give rise to many other far-reaching consequences as like poverty, disparities between male and female, low child sex ratio and many other economic, social impacts. The spatial pattern of Mahendragarh and Mewat districts shows great variations at village level. The highest total literacy rate, i.e. 88.53 per cent is found in Gomli village of Kanina block and lowest total literacy rate, i.e. 54.15 per cent is found in Rupur Sarai of Nangal Chaudhary block in Mahendragarh district during 2011. The maximum gap between male and female literacy rates is found in Nangal Chaudhary block. The highest total literacy rate, i.e. 80.96 per cent is found in Kurthla village of Nuh block and lowest total literacy rate, i.e. 7.14 per cent is found in Zakopur village of Punhana block in Mewat district during 2011. The maximum gap between male and female literacy rates is found in Nagina block.

1. Bhargava A. (2008). Functional Literacy Rate in India: A Progress Report. New Delhi: ASPBAE, 04. 2. Census of India (2001). Socio-Economic Tables, C Series, available at http://censusindia.gov.in/census Data 2001/census data finder/census Data Finder.aspx 3. Census of India (2011). Directorate of Census Operations, India. Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India. 4. Census of India (2011). Administrative Atlas of Haryana, Annexure: Haryana-A Geo-Historical Outline, Director of Census Operations, Haryana. Chandigarh, pp. 228-235.

6. Census of India (2011). Provisional Population Totals”, Paper I of 2011 India Series, available at http://www.censusindia.gov.in/2011-Prov-results/Prov results Paper I India.html. 7. ENVIS Center (2011). Retrieved from http://www. Iipsenvis.nic.in/Newsheltters/ vol. 8 no.1/report _1.htm on dated 12-03-2012. 8. Mali, M.G. (1984). Adult Education in India, Deep and Deep publications, New Delhi, pp.17-28. 9. National Literacy Mission (2009). Alternative Approaches and Strategies for Basic Literacy. State Resource Centre, Shimla, December, pp.19-67.

Professor and Chairperson, Department of Geography, Indira Gandhi University, Meerpur, Rewari