India, Oct. 20 -- Jammu and Kashmir declared itself fully literate in September, becoming the 10th state or Union territory (UT) to do so since June 2024, under the Centre's adult literacy programme Ullas, for people aged 15 and above who missed formal schooling.

The 10 states are Ladakh, Mizoram, Goa, Tripura, Himachal Pradesh, Chandigarh, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Sikkim, Uttarakhand and Jammu and Kashmir. According to the Union education ministry's benchmark, a state or UT is considered fully literate once at least 95% of its population aged 15 and above can read and write, still allowing for up to one in 20 adults who still cannot.

The declarations rest largely on door-to-door surveys that the states conduct on their own by count...