Gujarat on backfoot in sending ST, SC, OBC females to educational institutions: NSS

By A Representative

In an alarming revelation, a September 2012 report, prepared by the National Sample Survey Organization (NSSO), has suggested huge gaps in the female education levels of Gujarat, especially among those belonging to the three socially-deprived groups, scheduled tribes (STs), schedules castes (SCs) and other backward classes (OBCs). Findings have been reported the NSS report, “Employment and unemployment situation among social groups in India”. The survey (rural plus urban) results show that in the age-group 5-14, 75.1 per cent ST females attended any educational institution; this dropped to 22.4 per cent in the age-group 15-19, and further to 1.8 per cent in the age-group 20-24. If the survey results are to be believed, there isn’t much of a difference for SCs and OBCs, either. Worse, in each of these social groups, Gujarat ranks among rock-bottom Indian states as far as females attending educational institutions are concerned.
Among SCs, 71.2 per cent females in the age-group 5-14 were found to be attending an educational institution, which is down to 18 per cent in the age-group 15-19, and further to 7.2 per cent in the age-group 20-24. As for OBCs, 78 per cent females attended an educational institution in the age-group 5-14; this went down to 23.8 per cent in the age-group 15-19, and further to 2.5 per cent in the age-group 20-24. While in every state the percentage females, attending an educational institution, goes down with a higher age-group, things are not as bad as with Gujarat. One can safely conclude that the Narendra Modi government’s drive to create an awareness to educate young females through the Kanya Kelavni drive, begun in 2004, has miserably failure. The state policy makers would do well to do some re-thinking about their strategy to send babus for just three days every year for the drive. No followup action is ever contemplated. Help from voluntary agencies is never sought.
One can see inter-state comparisons to show where Gujarat stands. First about STs; as against 75.1 per cent female STs attend an educational institution in Gujarat in the age-group 5-14, all states fared better than Gujarat with the exception of Andhra Pradesh with 69 per cent and Rajasthan with 70.2 per cent. Even Bihar was found to be sending 76.9 per cent ST females in this age group to an educational institution. Other states’ percentage is also worth noting – Odisha 86.6 per cent, Assam 86.9 per cent, Chhattisgarh 84.7 per cent, Jharkhand 81.9 per cent, Madhya Pradesh 83 per cent, Uttar Pradesh 87.4 per cent, and so on. In the age-group 15-19, Gujarat is, again, found to be ranking fourth from the bottom, with only Odisha (11.4 per cent), West Bengal (21.1 per cent) and Uttarakhand (12.8 per cent) performing worse than Gujarat. As for the age-group 20-24, Gujarat’s 1.8 per cent is the worst.
A scrutiny of the percentage of SC females attending an educational institution would tell almost the same story. Gujarat was found to be sending 71.2 per cent of female SCs in the age-group 5-14 to an educational institution, which is lower than most states except Jharkhand (59.8 per cent). In the age-group 15-19, 18 per cent SC females go to an educational institution, which is lower than all other Indian states. And in the age-group 20-24, the corresponding figure for Gujarat is 7.2 per cent, which is worse than all states except Haryana (4.1 per cent), Jharkhand (2 per cent), Karnataka (5.3 per cent), Rajasthan 3.4 per cent) and West Bengal (4.4 per cent).
As for OBC females, Gujarat’s 78 per cent in the age-group 5-14 is worse than all states except Bihar (72.6 per cent); in the age-group 15-19, Gujarat’s 23.8 per cent is worse than all states, including Bihar (42.1 per cent). Again, in the age-group 20-24, Gujarat’s 2.5 per cent is worse than all the Indian states. Even for higher castes, categorized as “others”, Gujarat’s young females do not show a better performance most of the Indian states, though here the situation is slightly better.
Glancing through overall literacy figures (of the 5 plus age group), there is reason to believe that other states, including the states so far identified as Bimaru, are all set to overtake Gujarat in future. This can be concluded from the fact that Gujarat’s overall literacy figures for the three social groups is not as bad as many states, and is almost equal to the national average. However it is the younger group of 5-24 that Gujarat fares badly. Overall literacy figures how, Gujarat’s 54 per cent ST females are literate, while the all-India average is 54.4 per cent. Gujarat’s literacy among SC females is 56.7 per cent as against the all-India figure of 55.5 per cent. And as for OBC females, Gujarat’s literacy levels are 61.6 per cent, as against the all-India figure of 62.1 per cent. The table below shows how things deteriorate if one examines the younger age groups going to educational institutions.

Comments

Plastic burning in homes threatens food, water and air across Global South: Study

By Jag Jivan In a groundbreaking study spanning 26 countries across the Global South , researchers have uncovered the widespread and concerning practice of households burning plastic waste as a fuel for cooking, heating, and other domestic needs. The research, published in Nature Communications , reveals that this hazardous method of managing both waste and energy poverty is driven by systemic failures in municipal services and the unaffordability of clean alternatives, posing severe risks to human health and the environment.

Economic superpower’s social failure? Inequality, malnutrition and crisis of India's democracy

By Vikas Meshram India may be celebrated as one of the world’s fastest-growing economies, but a closer look at who benefits from that growth tells a starkly different story. The recently released World Inequality Report 2026 lays bare a country sharply divided by wealth, privilege and power. According to the report, nearly 65 percent of India’s total wealth is owned by the richest 10 percent of its population, while the bottom half of the country controls barely 6.4 percent. The top one percent—around 14 million people—holds more than 40 percent, the highest concentration since 1961. Meanwhile, the female labour force participation rate is a dismal 15.7 percent.

Swami Vivekananda's views on caste and sexuality were 'painfully' regressive

By Bhaskar Sur* Swami Vivekananda now belongs more to the modern Hindu mythology than reality. It makes a daunting job to discover the real human being who knew unemployment, humiliation of losing a teaching job for 'incompetence', longed in vain for the bliss of a happy conjugal life only to suffer the consequent frustration.

From colonial mercantilism to Hindutva: New book on the making of power in Gujarat

By Rajiv Shah Professor Ghanshyam Shah ’s latest book, “ Caste-Class Hegemony and State Power: A Study of Gujarat Politics ”, published by Routledge , is penned by one of Gujarat ’s most respected chroniclers, drawing on decades of fieldwork in the state. It seeks to dissect how caste and class factors overlap to perpetuate the hegemony of upper strata in an ostensibly democratic polity. The book probes the dominance of two main political parties in Gujarat—the Indian National Congress and the BJP—arguing that both have sustained capitalist growth while reinforcing Brahmanic hierarchies.

History, culture and literature of Fatehpur, UP, from where Maulana Hasrat Mohani hailed

By Vidya Bhushan Rawat* Maulana Hasrat Mohani was a member of the Constituent Assembly and an extremely important leader of our freedom movement. Born in Unnao district of Uttar Pradesh, Hasrat Mohani's relationship with nearby district of Fatehpur is interesting and not explored much by biographers and historians. Dr Mohammad Ismail Azad Fatehpuri has written a book on Maulana Hasrat Mohani and Fatehpur. The book is in Urdu. He has just come out with another important book, 'Hindi kee Pratham Rachna: Chandayan' authored by Mulla Daud Dalmai.' During my recent visit to Fatehpur town, I had an opportunity to meet Dr Mohammad Ismail Azad Fatehpuri and recorded a conversation with him on issues of history, culture and literature of Fatehpur. Sharing this conversation here with you. Kindly click this link. --- *Human rights defender. Facebook https://www.facebook.com/vbrawat , X @freetohumanity, Skype @vbrawat

The greatest threat to our food system: The aggressive push for GM crops

By Bharat Dogra Thanks to the courageous resistance of several leading scientists who continue to speak the truth despite increasing pressures from the powerful GM crop and GM food lobby , the many-sided and in some contexts irreversible environmental and health impacts of GM foods and crops, as well as the highly disruptive effects of this technology on farmers, are widely known today.

UP tribal woman human rights defender Sokalo released on bail

By A Representative After almost five months in jail, Adivasi human rights defender and forest worker Sokalo Gond has been finally released on bail.Despite being granted bail on October 4, technical and procedural issues kept Sokalo behind bars until November 1. The Citizens for Justice and Peace (CJP) and the All India Union of Forest Working People (AIUFWP), which are backing Sokalo, called it a "major victory." Sokalo's release follows the earlier releases of Kismatiya and Sukhdev Gond in September. "All three forest workers and human rights defenders were illegally incarcerated under false charges, in what is the State's way of punishing those who are active in their fight for the proper implementation of the Forest Rights Act (2006)", said a CJP statement.

Would breaking idols, burning books annihilate caste? Recalling a 1972 Dalit protest

By Rajiv Shah A few days ago, I received an email alert from a veteran human rights leader who has fought many battles in Gujarat for the Dalit cause — both through ground-level campaigns and courtroom struggles. The alert, sent in Gujarati by Valjibhai Patel, who heads the Council for Social Justice, stated: “In 1935, Babasaheb Ambedkar burnt the Manusmriti . In 1972, we broke the idol of Krishna , whom we regarded as the creator of the varna (caste) system.”

May the Earth Be Auspicious: Vedic ecology and contemporary crisis in Ashok Vajpeyi’s poetry

By Ravi Ranjan* Ashok Vajpeyi, born in 1941, occupies a singular position in contemporary Hindi poetry as a poet whose work quietly but decisively reorients modern literary consciousness toward ethical, ecological, and civilizational questions. Across more than six decades of writing, Vajpeyi has forged a poetic idiom marked by restraint, philosophical attentiveness, and moral seriousness, resisting both rhetorical excess and ideological simplification.

Search This Blog