Highlights of the Socio-Economic and Caste Census 2011 for Rural India

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Friday released the Socio-Economic and Caste Census (SECC) and said that it would be an important input for policy makers.

These are the key points of the Census:

• In 75 per cent of 17.9 crore households in rural India, the monthly income of the highest-earning member is less than Rs.5,000
• Nearly 40 per cent are landless and work as manual casual labourers
• 25 per cent of the rural households still do not own a phone
• 25 per cent rural households have no access to irrigation
• Only 8.29 per cent of rural households have a member earning over Rs.10,000 per month
• 10.69 crore rural families, or 60 per cent, qualify for "deprivation"
• Of these over 100 million deprived households, 21.5 per cent belong to scheduled castes or tribes.
• This census takes caste into account for the first time in any such exercise since 1931.