Book explores literacy among migrant children after 1991 reforms

A new book has explored the impact of 1991 economical reforms on literacy, especially among the migrant labourers of Delhi and their children.

Titled "From Shanties to School", the book by educationist Manimala Roy was launched here Saturday by senior journalist and former member of parliament H K Dua together with former vice-chancellor of Delhi University Dinesh Singh. Speaking at the launch event, Dua said that it is an important book because it chooses slums of Delhi and its outskirts as the area of research.

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"She (the author) has spoken to the people uprooted from villages in Bihar and UP, and seen that there signs of a new aspirational class determined to change their lives through education in an emerging India," he added.

The book, published by Konark Publishers, also explains the surge in literacy after the 1991 liberalisation rolled in by the then finance minister Manmohan Singh under the leadership of PV Narasimha Rao. It also makes a point about migration from Bihar, which went up by "75.77 per cent" between 1991 and 2001, and slum literacy in Delhi, that rose from "57.18 per cent" in 1991 to "64.4 per cent" in 2001. 

According to the book, the impact of literacy on migrant life is also visible from the fact that the decade 1993-94 to 2004-05, which was right after the liberalisation, saw the growth of regular workers in Delhi went up by "22.4 per cent".  It further noted that during the same period the number of casual workers in Delhi fell by a whopping "71.3 per cent".

"At last, a detailed insight on the education related realities of India's migrant children that combines a deep analytical understanding of the ground situation with hard and extensive data. Policymakers, economists and sociologists must take note," Singh said. 

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