When the British rule ended in India in the year 1947 the literacy rate was just _____.
- A.22 percent
- B.12 percent
- C.20 percent
- D.18 percent
Correct answer
Explanation
The correct answer is B, 12 percent. India's literacy rate at independence in 1947 is put at about 12 per cent.
Colonial education reached only a thin urban layer, and the figure for women was far lower, around six per cent. The first census after independence, in 1951, recorded 18.33 per cent literacy, and the number has climbed steadily since: 28.3 per cent in 1961, 52.2 per cent in 1991 and 74.04 per cent in the census of 2011. Kerala has long stood first among the states and Bihar last. A person aged seven years or above who can read and write with understanding is counted as literate.
Options A, C and D are wrong. Twenty and twenty-two per cent are higher than any figure recorded in that decade, and 18 per cent is the 1951 census reading, not the 1947 one, which is the usual trap in this question.
Exam tip: 1947 about 12 per cent, 1951 census 18.33 per cent, 2011 census 74.04 per cent.
Practice Questions
View allAccording to the law of diminishing marginal utility, as the amount of a good consumed increases, the marginal utility of that good tends to
- A.improve
- B.diminish
- C.remain constant
- D.first diminish and then improve
Show answer
Each extra unit of a good gives a consumer less additional satisfaction than the unit before it, so marginal utility falls as consumption rises.
Read the full explanation →Consider the following statements about impact of tax : 1. A tax is shifted forward to consumers if the demand is inelastic relative to supply. 2. A tax is shifted backward to producers if the supply is relatively more inelastic than demand. Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
- A.1 only
- B.2 only
- C.Both 1 and 2
- D.Neither 1 nor 2
Show answer
The burden of a tax falls more heavily on whichever side of the market is less elastic, the side that cannot easily walk away.
Read the full explanation →UBI, as an alternative for subsidies in poverty alleviation, stands for
- A.Union Basic Income
- B.Undefined Basic Income
- C.Unconditional Basic Income
- D.Universal Basic Income
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UBI is the idea of paying every citizen a fixed sum of money regularly, without conditions, in place of a large number of separate subsidies and welfare schemes.
Read the full explanation →Who among the following is the Chairman of the Fourteenth Finance Commission?
- A.C. Rangarajan
- B.Vijay Kelkar
- C.Y. V. Reddy
- D.Rakesh Mohan
Show answer
The Fourteenth Finance Commission, set up in 2013 for the award period 2015-2020, was chaired by Y. V. Reddy, a former Governor of the Reserve Bank of India.
Read the full explanation →Why was constitutional amendment needed for introducing GST?
- A.States were not willing to agree with the Union for introduction of GST without amendment in the Constitution.
- B.GST was to be implemented on concurrent base and Article 246 was inadequate for such a case.
- C.The Empowered Committee of Finance Ministers had recommended for constitutional amendment.
- D.The GST Council had recommended for constitutional amendment so that its power enhances.
Show answer
GST is levied by the Union and the States together on the same supply, and Article 246, which splits taxing powers between them through separate lists, did not allow such a concurrent tax.
Read the full explanation →