According to the Department of Statistics figures, got from the 53rd round of the National Sample Survey (NSS) in 1997, the literacy level in India has gone up to 62 per cent. But according to UNICEF, which sourced its data from the 1991 Census, India's literacy is a poor 52 per cent, compared to sub-Saharan Africa's 59 per cent.

Though the Department of Statistics had given the HRD Ministry data to counter UNICEF's indictment of India's low literacy level two months ago, the latter chose to sit on it. The Ministry was jolted into action only when the UNICEF report was released two weeks ago.

This is the first time the NSS has taken the trouble to process literacy data, though it has been collecting this information from its 6,000 field officers since its inception in1950. Education is one of the four basic questions (the others are sex, age and marital status) NSS asks the 40,000 sample households it studies every year -- it goes up to 1,20,000 sample households every five years.

The Ministry does quote the NSS' 50th round of 1993-94, which says 51.5 million children in the 6-14 age group were not attending schools, and it also quotes its own ``projections'' to say that the literacy rate in 2001 will be 65 per cent. But it has still not digested the figures NSS' 53rd round has provided.

The 1997 data shows the rural literacy rate as 56 per cent, the urban literacy rate as 80 per cent and, encouragingly, says the female literacy rate has gone up to 50 per cent, while the male equivalent is 73 per cent. Importantly, the increase in rural literacy has been higher than in urban areas, as has been the rise in rural female literacy. The overall literacy rate has seen a progressive increase since the 1991 Census: it was 56 per cent in 1993, 57 per cent in 1994, 58 per centin 1995, and 59 per cent 1996.

Though some states have shown a remarkable rise in literacy levels (in Arunachal Pradesh, it increased from 34 per cent to 60 per cent between 1993 and 1997, and in Rajasthan, it rose from 43 per cent to 55 per cent), in Jammu and Kashmir, it has actually declined, from 62 per cent to 59 per cent.