Union Government releases first ever Socio-Economic and Caste Census in 80 years

July 6, 2015

Union Government released the first ever Socio-Economic and Caste Census (SECC) after 80 years on the lines of the 1931 census.
It was released by Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in New Delhi.
The SECC findings reflect the state of poverty and deprivation as well as crucial social trends in rural India such as ownership of assets, marital status, gender dynamics educational and employment in rural India.
According to the census

There are 24.39 crore total number of households in the country, of which 17.91 crore live in villages. Of these, 10.69 crore households are considered as deprived.
50 percent or 5.37 crore deprived households in rural areas are landless and depends on manual labour for livelihood.
House hold size: Average size of a rural Indian household is 4.93. Highest in Uttar Pradesh at 6.26. Lowest in Andhra Pradesh at 3.86.
Male dominance: majority of 87 per cent households is male-headed. Nearly 13 per cent do have a female head.
In rural areas of Rajasthan, around 91 per cent households are headed by men. In Kerala 26 per cent are women-headed households (highest among the states).
Literacy: Over one-third of population living in rural areas is illiterate. Higher literacy in terms of percentage is in Kerala (88.62), Delhi (86.42), Goa (84.58), Sikkim (79.88) and Himachal Pradesh (77.95).
Lowest literacy is in Rajasthan (58), Madhya Pradesh (44.19), Bihar (43.85), Telangana (40.42) and Chattisgarh (39.59).
SC and ST Population:Large proportion of the households across the country belong to the SC and ST category i.e. about 30 per cent of rural households.
Employment: Rural India is largely self-employed or employed in the unorganised sector. Around 10 per cent households are on salaried jobs of which the majority are in government jobs.