Define the term 'literate'. Describe the features of literacy rate in India

Define the term ‘literate’. Describe the features of literacy rate in India.

Definition of Literate:
According to the census 2001 data, a person aged 7 years and above who can read and write with understanding in any language is termed as literate.
Features of literacy rate in India:
(i) The literacy rate is steadily improving in India.
(ii) As per census 2011 data, die literacy rate of India is 74.04%.
(iii) The male literacy rate is 82.14%
(iv) The female literacy rate is 65.46%
(v) India has large gap in literacy rate between male and female population.
(vi) It also shows the social inequality between male and female.
(vii) This gap in literacy rate is further increased by the declining sex ratio.
Literacy is an important quality of population. For the development and economic improvement of the country, there should be high literacy rate both among male and female.