Illiteracy acts as an impediment to Democracy: 

It can be justified on the grounds of the following facts:

(a) Lack of political awareness: Illiteracy would contribute for political apathy. Illiterate masses due to their ignorance and indifferences do not take part in political process. They are not able to understand the importance of vote. They do not understand the ideologies of political parties, their manifestos and the performance of ruling party.

(b) Low percentage of votes: Low percentage of votes is common in all the elections. This is due to illiteracy and lack of political awareness. Political legitimacy cannot be achieved to a full extent by low percentage of polling.

(c) Money and muscle power: The nexus between politicians and businessmen is noticeable. The politicians are tactful enough to get votes from the poor people through dubious means who are illiterate.

(d) Politics of populism: The voters in India are attracted by politics of populous. Illiteracy and poverty force them to depend upon the facilities of the government. These populous programmes force them to remain useless category. This becomes an impediment to national development.

Constitutional Provisions to eradicate illiteracy: 

Constitutional provisions: The Parliament of India passed the 86^th Constitutional Amendment Act in 2002 aimed at making right to education a fundamental right for children between 6 and 14 years of age. 

Its main provisions are as follows:

(a) Compulsory education means obligation of the government to provide free elementary education and ensure compulsory admission and attendance and completion of education to every child in the age group of 6 to 14.

(b) It is compulsory duty of parents and guardians to send the children to schools.

(c) The schools must’have minimum facilities such as adequate pupil-teacher ratio, trained teachers, infrastructure and playgrounds.

(d) The central government and state governments bear the expenditure on the basis of agreed formula.

(e) The school management committee or the local authority should identify the dropouts or out of school children and admit them in classes appropriate to their age.