Reading between the lines
Joint families have more young readers. And most teens would prefer a
book to watching TV. Surprising nuggets from India's first youth
readership survey.
At a time when India is looking to reap the demographic dividend of having a young population, the need for education cannot be over emphasised. With developed countries ageing, it is India's young (38 per cent of Indians are 13 to 35 years of age) who will power the country's growth.
But they cannot be India's competitive edge without education and knowledge. While the National Literacy Mission and other government schemes aim for expanding literacy, what about those who are lucky to be in a school or have completed their schooling? Do they read for knowledge, for fun?
The National Youth Readership Survey or NYRS sought to find this out in 2009. The data suggests a worrying trend where the young spend an overwhelming amount of time with TV, radio and the Internet.
But there is hope for the printed word. While newspapers in the West are struggling for readership, the survey finds that newspaper reading is the second most preferred leisure activity after TV watching, for Indian youth. And three quarters of the literate youth surveyed agreed that reading is more important than watching TV and surfing the Net. The NYRS polled 662,483 individuals in the age group of 13-35 years, across the country, and interviewed 38,575 of them. The results are encapsulated in Indian Youth: Demographics and Readership, by Rajesh Shukla.
The report attempts to trace the socio-economic and cultural influences that have a bearing on these trends. The survey finds a strong association between newspaper and magazine subscription and the religion of the youth. Compared with Sikh and Muslim families, Christians are more likely to subscribe to newspapers and magazines. Also, joint families have more subscriptions than nuclear families.
Then, one would expect the retired to cut down their bills. But households depending on pension benefits tend to be big on print subscriptions. The reading and media consumption behaviour of individuals are determined by peer pressure, the education background of their parents, their own habits and so on. Christians are seen as better readers: very few literate Christians work in the fields. They are mostly in casual labour or salaried jobs.
Out of India's 459 million youth, 333 million are literate. Of this, 62 per cent or 206.6 million live in rural areas and the rest are urban dwellers. It is not clear if the overall 'leisure' readers have gone up, as this is the first baseline study done on the subject. However, what is apparent is that younger people tend to read more than their elders, possibly because the older group gets involved in family responsibilities. A quarter of the literate youth, or 83.2 million, read books for pleasure, relaxation and knowledge enhancement.
Younger people- those 13-19 years old - had a share of 24 per cent. But the bulk was found concentrated in the 20-24 age group (29 per cent), while it was 24 per cent again in the 25-35 age group.
What is the way forward? As the author says, the survey clearly indicates that the publishing sector is simply not meeting the hunger for books. In India, around eight book titles are published per 100,000 population. That was the level in the United States back in 1950. By the year 2000, the US figure had gone up to 43.2 per 100,000, Britain was at 212.2 and Germany at 100.
Worse, while the maximum readers are in Hindi, Marathi and Bengali, in that order, books published in English account for 35 per cent of the total.
But they cannot be India's competitive edge without education and knowledge. While the National Literacy Mission and other government schemes aim for expanding literacy, what about those who are lucky to be in a school or have completed their schooling? Do they read for knowledge, for fun?
The National Youth Readership Survey or NYRS sought to find this out in 2009. The data suggests a worrying trend where the young spend an overwhelming amount of time with TV, radio and the Internet.
But there is hope for the printed word. While newspapers in the West are struggling for readership, the survey finds that newspaper reading is the second most preferred leisure activity after TV watching, for Indian youth. And three quarters of the literate youth surveyed agreed that reading is more important than watching TV and surfing the Net. The NYRS polled 662,483 individuals in the age group of 13-35 years, across the country, and interviewed 38,575 of them. The results are encapsulated in Indian Youth: Demographics and Readership, by Rajesh Shukla.
The report attempts to trace the socio-economic and cultural influences that have a bearing on these trends. The survey finds a strong association between newspaper and magazine subscription and the religion of the youth. Compared with Sikh and Muslim families, Christians are more likely to subscribe to newspapers and magazines. Also, joint families have more subscriptions than nuclear families.
Catching the pulse India has 333 million literate youth, of which... 25% prefer reading beyond curriculum 41% belong to the 25-35 age group 54% view TV for entertainment, 22% for news 63% read newspapers for information 24% have newspaper subscriptions 8% subscribe to magazines 65% of youth household a TV 54% own mobile phones 5% have computers at home |
Then, one would expect the retired to cut down their bills. But households depending on pension benefits tend to be big on print subscriptions. The reading and media consumption behaviour of individuals are determined by peer pressure, the education background of their parents, their own habits and so on. Christians are seen as better readers: very few literate Christians work in the fields. They are mostly in casual labour or salaried jobs.
Out of India's 459 million youth, 333 million are literate. Of this, 62 per cent or 206.6 million live in rural areas and the rest are urban dwellers. It is not clear if the overall 'leisure' readers have gone up, as this is the first baseline study done on the subject. However, what is apparent is that younger people tend to read more than their elders, possibly because the older group gets involved in family responsibilities. A quarter of the literate youth, or 83.2 million, read books for pleasure, relaxation and knowledge enhancement.
Younger people- those 13-19 years old - had a share of 24 per cent. But the bulk was found concentrated in the 20-24 age group (29 per cent), while it was 24 per cent again in the 25-35 age group.
What is the way forward? As the author says, the survey clearly indicates that the publishing sector is simply not meeting the hunger for books. In India, around eight book titles are published per 100,000 population. That was the level in the United States back in 1950. By the year 2000, the US figure had gone up to 43.2 per 100,000, Britain was at 212.2 and Germany at 100.
Worse, while the maximum readers are in Hindi, Marathi and Bengali, in that order, books published in English account for 35 per cent of the total.
