Saakshar Bharat

Saakshar Bharat , the new variant of earlier NLM, a centrally sponsored scheme of Department of School Education and Literacy (DSEL), Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD), Government of India (GOI), was launched on the International Literacy Day, 8th September, 2009 with the following goals:

• to create a literate society through a variety of teaching learning programs for non-literate and neo-literate of 15 years and above. 
• to raise literacy rate to 80%,
• to reduce gender gap to 10% and minimize regional and social disparities, with focus on Women, SCs, STs, Minorities, other disadvantaged groups.
• All those districts that had female literacy rate below 50% (as per census 2001) including Left Wing Extremism affected districts (irrespective of literacy level) are being covered under the programme.
• The principal target of the programme is to impart functional literacy to 70 million non-literate adults in the age group of 15 years and beyond.
  • This Includes coverage of 14 million Scheduled Castes(SCs), 8 million Scheduled Tribes(STs), 12 million minorities & 36 million others.
  • The overall coverage of women is aimed at 60 million.

Government expects increase in female literacy to become a force multiplier for all other social development programmes. However, this is only the instrumental value of female literacy.

Its intrinsic value is in emancipating the Indian woman through the creation of critical consciousness to take charge of her environment where she faces multiple deprivations and disabilities on the basis of class, caste and gender.