In order to understand the catch-22 that exists between illiteracy and other socio-economic problems in a society, one needs to carefully analyse and bifurcate the term "illiterate" in order to define it aptly and study its various forms and kinds. They do so from a conviction that how we define the term has substantial impact on the goals and methods that are set for literacy education, in particular, and for education overall. Definitions of literacy today are multiple, complex, and shifting, and often they add to each other.