Bhopal, March 31: Alirajpur has added an unflattering label to a showcase that now boasts mangoes, a fort and a bridge: the district with the lowest literacy rate in the country.

According to the provisional figures of Census 2011, the Madhya Pradesh district has registered a literacy rate of 37.22 per cent.

Carved out of the tribal district of Jhabua, Alirajpur serves as the last signpost of Madhya Pradesh bordering with Gujarat and is famous for its Noor Jahan mangoes, Rajwada fort and the remains of the Victoria Bridge.

The “lowest literacy” tag has not come as a surprise for non-government organisations and officials working in the region.

Rahul Banerjee, a former civil engineer with IIT Kharagpur and now working with Bhil tribals under the Khedut Mazdoor Chetna Sangath (KMCS), said large-scale migration to Gujarat was responsible for the poor state of education.

“I am not at all surprised,” Banerjee said. “If 3,00,000 households migrate every year for about four to six months, how do they teach their children?” he asked.

Banerjee said both central and state governments had neglected livelihood issues such as agriculture and forestry. “Simply, there are no opportunities in Alirajpur other than brewing mahua and getting the NREGA (rural job scheme) dole whereas booming construction in Bharuh, Ahmedabad, Surat and Baroda in Gujarat provides lucrative jobs,” he added.

A study conducted by the KMCS has found that migrant labourers bring in between Rs 30 crore and Rs 40 crore a year to Alirajpur.

“It is a big paradox. Employment in Gujarat is depriving Bhil children education in their home district. Maybe nobody in Yojana Bhavan (the headquarters of the Planning Commission in New Delhi) knows that more and more money is detrimental to primary education.”

Privately, politicians and bureaucrats blamed high rates of dropout, crime and consumption of country-made liquor.

Chief minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan, Union tribal affairs minister Kantilal Bhuria (who hails from Jhabua) and Madhya Pradesh tribal affairs minister Ranjana Bhagel declined comment, saying they would first ascertain the facts.

Formerly a princely state of central India, the district is hilly and most of its inhabitants are aboriginal Bhils. The chief of the tribes was then called “Rana”. The massive Victoria Bridge over Narmada at Alirajpur was built to commemorate the state’s diamond jubilee in 1897.

The Noor Jahan, an exotic and delicious mango, now grows on only a few dozen trees that have survived.