1. International Reseach Journal,November,2010 ISSN-0975-3486 RNI: RAJBIL 2009/300097 VOL-I *ISSUE 14
36 RESEARCH ANALYSIS AND EVALUATION
This paper studies the gender difference in literacy attainment in Osmanabad district with their
temporal changes between 1991 and 2001 and Tahsil wise variations. Since independence remarkable
progress has been taken place in female literacy as well as in gender differential in literacy at both
national and state level. In spite of this female- male differential in literacy rate is still very high in some
Tahsil and very low in some Tahsils of Osmanabad district.
Keywords:SexRatio,Urbanization,Literacy,Migration,Childenrolment.
Introduction:-
Literacy has been defined as the ability to
read and write with understanding. Literacy reflects
the socio-economic and cultural set up of a nation,
ethnic group or community. Literacy is essential not
only for eradication of poverty, but also for mental
insolationforcultivatingpeacefulandfriendlyinter-
national relations and for permitting the free play of
demographicprocessaswell. Thereareinter-regional
and intra-regional variations in literacy rate. The
literacy variations are quite significant between de-
veloped and the developing nations. In India literacy
rate is low as compared to developed countries. The
literacy rate of Osmanabad District is lower if com-
pared to state average. The social benefit of literacy
attainment is much higher than its economic return.
Literacyaltersperception,attitudesandbehaviors.It
generates awareness and builds personality in such
a way as to promote development and welfare of a
nation and its people. Girl’s education affects the
economic well being of a country including gross
national product, per capita income, female labour
forceparticipation,self employment,participationin
informalsectorandmarketandhomeproduction.Ac-
cordingtoSenguptaandGuha,women’seducationis
instrumental in reducing fertility and infant child
mortality rates in improving the nutritional status of
children and health care practices, and in improving
children’s school enrolment.
Objective:-
1) To Study gender gap in literacy in Osmanabad
district 2) To compare gender disparity in literacy
among Tahsils. 3) To Study causes of gender dispar-
ityinliteracy.
StudyArea:-
Osmanabad is district in the state of Maharashtra in
India. The district headquarters is located at
Osmanabad. Temple of goddess Tuljabhavani at
TulajapurisfamousinIndia.Thedistrictoccupiesan
areaof7512.4 km²ofwhich241.4 km²isurbanareaand
has a population of 1,486,586 of which 15.69% were
urban (as of 2001).
Location: - Osmanabad district lies in the southern
part of state. It lies on the Deccan plateau, about 600
mabovesealevel.PartsoftheManjaraandTernaflow
through the district. The district is located on east
sideofMarathwadaregionwithintherange latitude
17.35 to 18.40 degrees north, and latitude 75.16 to
76.40 degrees east.
Climate:-InOsmanabadDistrictgenerallytherainy
seasonstartsfrommid-Juneandcontinuestilltheend
of September. The climate is humid in October and
November and dry and cool from mid-November to
January.FromFebruarytoJunetheclimateisdryand
becomes increasingly hot. During summer the tem-
perature of Osmanabad district is low compared to
other districts of Marathwada region. The average
annualrainfallinthedistrictis730 mm.Temperature
Max.:42.1°C;Min.:8°C,butnowdaysthereisgrowth
in temperature up to 44°C.
Tahsils: - There are eight talukas (Tahsil) in
Osmanabaddistrict.i.e.Osmanabad,Tuljapur,Omerga
,Lohara,Kallamb,Bhoom,Paranda,Vashi.
Neighboring districts: - Solapur lies to the south-
west, Ahmednagar to the North-west, Beed to the
north, Latur to the east and the districts of Bidar and
Gulbarga in Karnataka to the south.
*TatipamulR.V **Dr.Anigunte.V.S ***Dr.Rathod.V.R
Research Paper—Geography
12345678901234567890123456789012123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901212345678901234567890123456789
12345678901234567890123456789012123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901212345678901234567890123456789
12345678901234567890123456789012123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901212345678901234567890123456789
12345678901234567890123456789012123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901212345678901234567890123456789
12345678901234567890123456789012123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901212345678901234567890123456789
12345678901234567890123456789012123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901212345678901234567890123456789
12345678901234567890123456789012123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901212345678901234567890123456789
12345678901234567890123456789012123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901212345678901234567890123456789
12345678901234567890123456789012123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901212345678901234567890123456789
12345678901234567890123456789012123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901212345678901234567890123456789
12345678901234567890123456789012123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901212345678901234567890123456789
November, 2010
GENDER DISPARITYIN LITERACYOF
OSMANABAD DISTRIC
AGEOGRAPHICALANALYSIS
A B S T R A C T
* -**S.M. Dnyandev Mohekar Mahavidyalaly.Kallam, Osmanabad
*** Vasantrao Naik College CIDCO, Nanded

2. International Reseach Journal,November,2010 ISSN-0975-3486 RNI: RAJBIL 2009/300097 VOL-I *ISSUE 14
37RESEARCH ANALYSIS AND EVALUATION
ConceptRelevancetoTopic:-
Theconceptofliteracy,whichvariesfromcountryto
country, generally refers to the minimum level of lit-
eracy skills. A person who can read and write with
understanding in any language is to be taken as liter-
ate by the Indian census. A person, who can merely
readbutcannotwrite,isnotliterate.Itisnotnecessary
thatapersonwhoisliterateshouldhavereceivedany
formaleducationorshouldhavepassedanyminimum
education standard.
MethodologyandDataCollection:-
This study is a Micro level study covering an entire
district as the study area. Therefore, the analysis is
purelybasedonquantitativedatacollectedfromdiffer-
ent secondary sources like the census of India, pub-
lished by the directorate of economics and statistics,
GovernmentofMaharashtra,Districtcensushandbook,
Gazetteers, Socio-Economic Review of Osmanabad
District 2003-04 and 1992-93. Through the literature
available, Survey and field knowledge of literacy sce-
nario in Osmanabad district has been used to supple-
ment the quantitative analysis of the present study.
DataAnalysis:-
The data is collected from secondary sources. The
analysis of data used various statistical methods are
used for the analysis of the collected data. The data
isdividedinvariouscategories.Forcomparisondata
convertedinpercentage.Thedatashownisbygraphs
(Table: 1) MALE – FEMALE SHARE IN TOTAL LITERACY IN 1991
Tahsil Area Total Male Female Male % Female%
143084 91694 51390 64.08 35.92
Osmanabad Rural 99927 65865 34062 65.91 34.09
Urban 43157 25829 17328 59.85 40.15
Kallam Total 97951 63039 34912 64.36 35.64
Rural 85966 55714 30252 64.81 35.19
Urban 11985 7325 4660 61.12 38.88
Total 123298 81073 42225 65.75 34.25
Omerga Rural 101962 67564 34398 66.26 33.74
Urban 21336 13509 7827 63.32 36.68
Tuljapur Total 87986 58006 29980 65.93 34.07
Rural 67720 45550 22170 67.26 32.74
Urban 20266 12456 7810 61.46 38.54
Paranda Total 53174 35505 17669 66.77 33.23
Rural 45946 30921 15025 67.3 32.7
Urban 7228 4584 2644 63.42 36.58
Bhoom Total 54837 35668 19169 65.04 34.96
Rural 46456 30483 15973 65.62 34.38
Urban 8381 5185 3196 61.87 38.13
District Total Total 560330 364985 195345 65.14 34.86
Rural 447977 296097 151880 66.1 33.9
Urban 112353 68888 43465 61.31 38.69
Source: Census of India, Osmanabad, District Census Handbook, Series 14, 1991
and tables.
DataInterpretation:-
Since independence and the consequent begin-
ningofplanningera,theliteracyrateinIndiaremained
increasing.Thedistrictasawholetheliteracyratefor
male is much higher than that of females.
Literacypercentageofmaleandfemalein1991of
OsmanabaddistrictGraph1
Aglanceintheyear1991revealsthatmales-female’s
literates in the district are in the ratio of 10:5 corre-
sponding to the ratio of 10:6 in the state. The share of
male literates varies between 64 to 67 % and that of
femalesvariesbetween33to36%amongtheTahsils.
Forthedistrictaswholethemaleshareinliteracyis65%
andfemaleliteracyshareis35%.Therespectiveshares
ofmalesandfemalesinruralareasare66%and34%and
intheurbanareas61%and39%respectively.Itisworth
nothing that share of male literates is higher in rural
compared to urban areas while that of female is higher
in urban compared to rural areas. This pattern is found
inallTahsilsinOsmanabad.(Table1&Graph1)
Literacypercentageofmaleandfemalein2001of
OsmanabaddistrictGraph2
Intheyear2001revealsthatmalefemaleliteratesinthe
districtareintheratioof10:6comparedto10:7instate.
The share of male literates varies between 60.86% to
61.17% and that female varies between 60.24% to
65.23%amongtahasils.Forthedistrictasawholethe