Smitha S. / Elixir Appl. Math. 111 (2017) 48630-48633 48630 Introduction The State of Kerala, India, well known as God's own land is abundantly rich with marine, backwaters, rivers and fresh water resources. Kerala being a maritime State has tremendous potential resources teeming with fish. It is one of the leading maritime states in India. The coast of Kerala provides one of the richest fishing zones in the world. The fishermen resources include both artisanal and mechanized groups. The population of fisher folk of Kerala is about 12 lakhs, which includes 8.46 lakhs in the marine sector and 3.2.lakh in the inland sector. Out of this the number of active fishermen is estimated as 2.54 lakhs, of this 1.91 lakh is in the marine sector. The fishermen settlements are spread over in 222 fishing villages in marine sector. Those who depend upon the marine sector of the State for the livelihood constitutes about 8.46 lakh, which comes to about 2.51% of the State‟s total population. The number of fishermen households is estimated to be 1.61 lakhs. The number of active fishermen is 1.91 lakh and almost an equal number of people are presently engaged in fishery related activities such as vending, processing and marketing. The density of population in the marine fishing villages works out to 2162 per sq. km as against 819 of the average density of Kerala. Fisher Folk Community and Problems of Education Fisher folk form an important community in Kerala, but remain neglected and marginalized in spite of the higher socio-economic progress the state has made as a whole. While we consider fisher folk, they remain isolated from the main stream of development. Although, Kerala boasts of the highest quality of life in the country as measured by human development indicators, the state's fishing community has largely been left out of the general development experience. For example, the literacy level, educational attainment of fisher folk is much lower than that of the general population (Department of Fisheries, 2005).Other development related indicators such as lack of income-earning opportunities, poverty and deprivation, insanitary and overcrowded living conditions, lack of access to basic services such as water, sanitation, electricity, poor health conditions amongst men and women, higher infant mortality rates, lower sex ratio and lack of access to health facilities, also show evidence of this neglect and marginalisation of the fisher folk in the state (Asian Development Bank, 2003). Review of Literature One of the most rigorous studies of literacy in fishing communities in South Asia is presented by George and Domi (2002). Their paper is part of a broader study of educational disadvantage (George 1998) and discusses „Residual Illiteracy‟ in Poovar Village in Thiruvanathapuram district of Kerala. The broader context of the study is Kerala, where rates of literacy are higher than in many other States of India. This can be attributed to multiple factors including cultural and educational traditions, economic policy and widespread access to schooling. Their in-depth statistical survey of the fishing village used census methods to assess literacy rates of fisherfolk and other occupational groups. They found that literacy rates among the population over seven years of age were 78%, with women‟s literacy rates (79.6%) being higher than those of men (76.6%). They found that within working adults around two thirds of people were literate, and within the fisherfolk, 53.22% of fishermen were literate, and 43.84% of fish-vending women (ibid., p25-28). George and Domi argue that the literacy rates within fishing communities are low compared with other occupational groups. They cite statistics from Kurien (1995) that indicate that within Kerala in 1981, the literacy rates of fish workers was lower than all working adults as a group (George and Domi 2002:15). They suggest that low rates of literacy are the result of multiple factors (such as community values, economic vulnerability, migration, and male and female child labour in fishing related activities and domestic responsibilities) (ibid. p28). However, they argue that the primary cause of educational disadvantage Tele: E-mail address: smithakailas2@gmail.com © 2017 Elixir All rights reserved ARTICLE INFO Article history: Received: 16 August 2017; Received in revised form: 22 September 2017; Accepted: 5 October 2017; Keywords Capacity Building, Vedic Mathematics. Capacity Building in Fishermen Community through Vedic Mathematics Smitha S Sree Narayana Training College, Nedunganda, Varkala, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India. ABSTRACT Fisher folk form an important community in Kerala, but remain neglected and marginalized in spite of the higher socio-economic progress the state has made as a whole. While we consider fisher folk, they remain isolated from the main stream of development. They remained educationally backward also. It is well known that a rapid growth in educational attainment is the most successful medium for social empowerment of the disadvantaged. The path towards our goal of achieving progress and prosperity of the nation is necessarily through equipping the backward sections through knowledge and skills. They need to be empowered by equipping them with self-sufficiency and existence skills such as Self Confidence, Problem Solving Ability, Logical thinking, Decision Making Power, Computational Speed and Reasoning etc. The present paper throws light on the Supreme power of Vedic Mathematics in enhancing these skills. © 2017 Elixir All rights reserved. Elixir Appl. Math. 111 (2017) 48630-48633 Applied Mathematics Available online at www.elixirpublishers.com (Elixir International Journal)