He said in a message on World Literacy Day that “India has made
great strides in the area of literacy in the decades since
independence. This has happened due to concerted efforts by the
Government and society, the path breaking work of social reform
movements, Non-Government Organizations and civil society action. While
we have substantially increased the number of people who are literate
we still have a large female non-literate population.”

“We need to intensify our efforts in the direction of total female
literacy which has the maximum multiplier efforts on development. It is
the task of every literate Indian to contribute to this goal and is a
collective challenge to be owned by both Government and society,” he
added.

The Prime Minister said in the end that I am happy that citizens,
panchayat representatives, NGO’s, private sector and social service
organizations are all coming forward to address this challenge. Our
collective re-dedication to the task of universal female literacy will
ensure that India becomes the knowledge society that we seek to build
to realize our potential in the new century. (ANI)