Articles by Vachaspati Shukla

The progress in literacy among the Indian states is evaluated here from an age cohort perspective. The primary observation relates to literacy deprivation being different across the age cohorts. Interstate comparison reveals that lower levels of aggregate literacy for a state do not mean lower levels of literacy for all age cohorts. Group disparity in literacy is highest among the oldest age cohort and lowest for the youngest age cohort. With an appreciation of the concept of proximate literacy, the literacy pattern is verified in a household perspective. The observations would be helpful to guide policymakers in targeting households for adult literacy programmes.