The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : More literates among Muslims than Hindus

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Sep 16, 2004

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

More literates among Muslims than Hindus

By Aniket Alam

HYDERABAD, SEPT. 15. The biggest surprise emerging from a religion-wise analysis of census data for Andhra Pradesh is that Muslims report a significantly higher literacy rate than Hindus but have the lowest percentage of workers among all communities. The data also reveals that only the Christian community, as at the national level, has a positive sex ratio.

An analysis of the 2001 census data shows that three out of five Hindus, seven out of 10 Muslims and three out of four Christians can read and write. Literacy rate among Sikhs (79 per cent) and Jains (93 per cent) is also high, while among Buddhists (55 per cent) it is significantly lower than the State average of 61 per cent.

Women's literacy

The relatively high literacy rate among Muslims is despite the fact that in urban areas Muslim literacy (73 per cent) is lower than that of Hindus (76 per cent). It is in rural areas where Muslim literacy (61 per cent) is much higher than Hindus (54 per cent). What is even more noteworthy is that literacy among Muslim females (59 per cent) is a full 10 per cent higher than among Hindu females (49 per cent).

Working population

Data for workers shows that in urban areas less than a third (32 per cent) of the population is employed. Less than 28 per cent of Muslims are recorded as workers in urban Andhra Pradesh, indicating an even higher unemployment rate. Even in rural areas, where the average proportion of workers stands at 51 per cent, Muslims (42 per cent) report a far lower proportion of workers than any other community.

Part of the reason for the low urban worker rate is the extremely poor percentage of female workers in urban areas, which stands at just 13 per cent for the State, 14 per cent among Hindus and eight per cent among Muslims.

Sex ratio

Data on sex ratio (females per 1,000 males) shows that there are only 796 Sikh females for 1,000 Sikh males, paralleling the extremely low sex ratio of Punjab and Haryana. Even among Jains the sex ratio (936) is significantly lower than the State average of 978. This is particularly surprising as female literacy among Sikhs (73 per cent) and Jains (90 per cent) is much higher than the State average of 51 per cent.

Only the Christian community reports an extremely healthy sex ratio of 1,037. Sex ratio stands at 979 among Hindus, 961 among Muslims and 960 among Buddhists.

Child sex ratios (0 to 6 years) are much lower than general sex ratios for all communities, except Sikhs (864). It is 961 among Hindus, 959 among Muslims, 912 among Jains and 956 among Buddhists. This may indicate a growing prevalence of gender-specific abortions spreading across all communities.

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