For once the Northeast is in the news for the right reasons. Tiny Mizoram has overtaken Kerala as India’s most literate state. And five other states-Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Assam, Sikkim and Nagaland-have recorded the highest growth in literacy in the years 1991-97.
The latest nsso figures reveal that Mizoram’s literacy in ’97 stands at 95 per cent, two percentage points higher than Kerala’s 93. In fact, according to officials of the directorate of adult education here, the ’98-’99 figures show that 96 per cent of Mizoram’s seven lakh-odd population is literate.