Handbook on Social Welfare Statistics, 2016

Planning Commission data shows that the percentage of persons below the poverty line in rural areas in India reduced from 41.8 to 25.7 per cent between 2004-05 and 2011-12. In urban areas, it reduced from 25.7 to 13.7 over the same period.

For SCs, the percentage of persons below the poverty line in rural areas reduced from 53.5 per cent in 2004-05 to 31.5 per cent in 2011-12; in urban areas, it reduced from 40.6 to 21.7 per cent over the same period. (The report does not include corresponding numbers for STs.)

For OBCs, the percentage of persons below the poverty line in rural areas reduced from 39.8 per cent in 2004-05 to 22.6 per cent in 2011-12; in urban areas, it reduced from 30.6 to 15.4 per cent over the same period.

Census 2011 states that the literacy rate for India’s total population increased from 28.3 per cent in 1961 to 73 per cent in 2011. For SCs, it increased from 10.3 to 66.1 per cent over the same period – 16.9 to 75.2 per cent for males, and 3.3 to 56.5 per cent for females.

The report cites data from the Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India, noting that the ‘gross enrolment ratio’ in primary education (Classes 1-5) for all students in 2013-14 was 99.3 per cent – 98.1 per cent for boys and 100.6 per cent for girls. (GER is the ratio of the ‘total enrolment of pupils’ in a grade or level of education – regardless of their age – to the ‘official age-group population’ for a given school year; GER is expressed in percentages.)

In 2013-14, the GER for SC students in primary education (classes I-V) was 110.8 per cent for boys, 112.2 per cent for girls and 111.5 per cent total.

The GER for all categories of students in higher education (typically, for students between 18 and 24 years) in 2013-14 was 22.3 per cent for boys, 19.8 per cent for girls and 21.1 per cent in total.  In the same period, the GER for SCs was 16 per cent for boys, 14.2 per cent for girls and 15.1 per cent in total.

The National Sample Survey’s report Household Consumer Expenditure Across Socio-Economic Groups, 2011-12, states that the ‘average monthly per capita consumer expenditure’ in rural areas was Rs. 1,252 for SCs, Rs. 1,122 for STs, Rs. 1,439 for OBCs, and Rs. 1,430 for all categories. In urban areas, it was Rs. 2,028 for SCs, Rs. 2,193 for STs, Rs. 2,275 for OBCs, and Rs. 2,630 for all categories.

Data from the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, government of India, states that 17.3 per cent of those employed in central government services were SCs and 17.98 per cent were OBC as of January 1, 2013. In 2013-14, 18.14 per cent of those employed in the central government’s public sector enterprises were SCs and 28.53 per cent were OBCs. (The report does not include corresponding numbers for STs.)

Census 2011 observes that India had a total of 372,217 ‘beggars and vagrants’ – 197,725 males and 174,492 females. Rural India had 236,850 ‘beggars and vagrants’ (118,048 males and 118,802 females), whereas urban areas had 135,367 such persons (79,677 males and 55,690 females).

West Bengal, Census 2011 notes, had the most number of ‘beggars and vagrants’ at 55,089 persons (19,304 males and 35,785 females); followed by 39,483 in Uttar Pradesh (24,521 males and 14,962 females); 22,543 in Bihar (10,795 males and 11,748 females); 18,863 in Assam (5,926 males and 12,937 females), and 16,791 persons in Madhya Pradesh (10,256 males and 6,535 females).

The report cites data from the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, noting that there were 72,693 ‘beneficiaries’ of projects for preventing substance abuse which were sanctioned or assisted by the government in 2014-15. Odisha had the maximum number of ‘beneficiaries’ (8,118 people), followed by Maharashtra (7,749), Uttar Pradesh (7,749), Manipur (5,904) and Kerala (5,535).

Focus and Factoids by Parijat Lal.

PARI Library's health archive project is part of an initiative supported by the Azim Premji University to develop a free-access repository of health-related reports relevant to rural India.