Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh called for a social movement for total universal female literacy. 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 organisations and civil society action. While we have substantially increased the number of people who are literate, we still have a substantial number of female illiterates. We need to intensify our efforts in the direction of total female literacy which has the maximum multiplier efforts on development, the PM said in his message on the occasion of International Literacy Day.
Earlier in the day, President Pratibha Patil also reflected similar sentiments, calling for extending the power of literacy to women. Our special efforts should be directed towards extending the power of literacy to women who currently constitute two-thirds of the illiterates in the world. In India, we have had success stories of women moving out of poverty as a result of literacy movements. Imparting education to women and girls is important for bringing about a social change and for the full development of societies, she said. She said that education must reflect and move with the needs of the time and pointed out that in a world where cyber crime is becoming common, education needs to be a step ahead.