The Accelerated Female Literacy Programme was initiated in districts where the female literacy rate, based on the 2001 census, was _______.

Correct — D. Under the National Literacy Mission, the districts singled out for the Accelerated Female Literacy Programme were those the 2001 Census showed with female literacy below 30 per cent.

There were 47 such districts, most of them in Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh and Odisha - Orissa in the mission's own papers.

Eight of Uttar Pradesh's low-literacy districts were taken up first, worked through a network of about 100 NGOs, and nine districts in Odisha were sanctioned under the programme.

Why the others are wrong

• (a)
  below 35% — 35 per cent is not the mission's line. The list that defined AFLP districts was drawn at 30 per cent on the 2001 Census, and that is what put 47 districts on it.
• (b)
  below 50% — 50 per cent is far above the cut-off. National female literacy in 2001 was itself in the low fifties, so a 50 per cent line would have listed hundreds of districts, not 47.
• (c)
  below 45% — 45 per cent is also above the line. The programme was aimed deliberately at the worst-off districts, and the census threshold that defined them was 30 per cent.

The National Literacy Mission, launched in 1988 to eradicate adult illiteracy, worked through district campaigns run by Zilla Saksharata Samitis.

Within it, a special focus was reserved for districts where women were furthest behind. The selection rule was mechanical: take the 2001 Census female literacy figure and list every district under 30 per cent.

That is the shape of most Indian schemes - a scheme name, a selection rule, and a number the rule turns on. The number is what an exam can ask.

Key facts

• The National Literacy Mission was launched in 1988 for the eradication of adult illiteracy.
• Census 2001 found 47 districts with female literacy below 30 per cent, concentrated in Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh and Odisha.
• Eight low female literacy districts of Uttar Pradesh were brought under the accelerated programme first, implemented through a network of about 100 NGOs.
• The Accelerated Female Literacy Project was sanctioned to nine districts of Odisha, among them Kalahandi, Koraput, Rayagada and Malkangiri.

Common traps

• Reaching for the round number - 50 per cent looks like a policy threshold, but the mission's line was 30.
• Using the 2011 Census figure when the programme's selection rule is fixed to 2001.
• Remembering 47 as the percentage. It is the number of districts, not the cut-off.

No directly related past PYQ was found.