Jagan calls Lokesh’s claim of 82.1% literacy in Andhra false, cites Centre’s survey showing 71.4%
Former Andhra Pradesh CM Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy has challenged current IT Minister Nara Lokesh's claim of an 82.1% literacy rate in the state. Jagan cites official government survey data to argue that the claim is misleading and lacks statistical basis for the current year.
Why it matters
This highlights the ongoing political tension in Andhra Pradesh regarding the use of data and statistics to validate government performance claims.
YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) president and former Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy said IT and HRD Minister Nara Lokesh’s claim that Andhra Pradesh’s literacy rate had risen from 72.60% in 2024 to 82.10% in 2026 was shocking, since no literacy statistics for the calendar year 2026 had been released by any authority, the year being yet to end.
Mr. Lokesh had made the claim in a post on X on Tuesday (September 2, 2026) , sharing a newspaper report to that effect. “I’m SUPER EXCITED to announce that AP has shot up in literacy to 82.1% in 2026 from 72.6% in 2024!” he wrote, adding that the State had been “among the lowest in India in 2024” when he took charge of the department.
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