ABSTRACT
A study of literacy in spatial perspective assumes significance in a country such as India, which has about one-seventh of the world's population, and which is attempting to achieve socio-economic development in the context of a democratic system. Indian cities have a limited capacity to absorb sizeable numbers of illiterates in labour-intensive industrial and unskilled jobs. With female literacy increasing faster, the male-female differential has been consistently narrowing. Not only are the literacy rates among the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes far lower than those in other sections of the society, but also the rural-urban and male-female differentials are far accentuated. The moderate rates of urban literacy and the great rural-urban differential suggest that India's modernization is superficial. Low literacy rates are characteristic of cities which are entrenched in the traditional way of life and have a high percentage of scheduled caste population.
