Abstract: Literacy and educational attainment are considered to be the hallmark of modern society. The traits of modern society such as urbanisation, industrialisation and modernisation are closely associated with the level of literacy and education. The scheduled caste population is socially a backward class in Indian society. In the past they were downtrodden illiterate people of the Indian fabric. Even in the middle part of twentieth century the literacy rate among them was very low. However in the later part of the twentieth century and in the current millennium due to the developmental measures implemented by the central as well as state governments of India and also due to the influence of mass media there has been a change in the pattern of literacy.