{"id":61390,"date":"2025-08-31T12:40:16","date_gmt":"2025-08-31T07:10:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=61390"},"modified":"2025-09-02T13:44:46","modified_gmt":"2025-09-02T08:14:46","slug":"kerala-becomes-indias-first-fully-digitally-literate-state","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/kerala-becomes-indias-first-fully-digitally-literate-state\/","title":{"rendered":"Kerala Becomes India\u2019s First Fully Digitally Literate State"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><b>Kerala Digital Literacy Latest News<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Recently, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan <\/span><b>declared Kerala as the first fully digitally literate State<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in India after completing the first phase of the <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Digi Kerala<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> programme.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The initiative, implemented through local self-government bodies, aimed to bridge the digital divide.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As part of the effort, 21.87 lakh people identified as digitally illiterate were trained and successfully cleared evaluations, marking a milestone in grassroots digital empowerment.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Trainees unfamiliar with digital devices learned to make voice and video calls on smartphones, use WhatsApp and social media, access government services, and perform digital transactions.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>Origins of Kerala\u2019s Digital Literacy Drive<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Kerala\u2019s <\/span><b>Digi Kerala programme<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> stemmed from a local initiative in <\/span><b>Pullampara panchayat<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, Thiruvananthapuram, in 2021.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Officials noticed long queues outside banks, where daily-wage and MGNREGS labourers often lost a day\u2019s income just to check balances.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This hardship inspired the idea of teaching basic digital skills to reduce dependency on physical banking.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><b>Launch of Digi Pullampara<\/b><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The panchayat launched the <\/span><b>Digi Pullampara project<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, surveying wards to identify 3,917 digitally illiterate residents.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Of these, 3,300 were trained, while bedridden individuals were excluded.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The training included <\/span><b>15 activities in three modules<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, covering essential digital tasks.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><b>Role of Volunteers and Training Methods<\/b><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Volunteers, including <\/span><b>students from NSS units<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, Kudumbashree members, SC\/ST promoters, and library council members, conducted the training.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Sessions were held at MGNREGS worksites, Kudumbashree neighbourhood groups, and even in households for senior citizens.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">After training, evaluations tested whether participants could perform at least <\/span><b>six out of 15 tasks<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">; retraining was offered to those who failed.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><b>Success and Statewide Expansion<\/b><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Pullampara achieved <\/span><b>96.18% success<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, becoming Kerala\u2019s first fully digitally literate panchayat in September 2022.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Encouraged by this, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan announced the <\/span><b>expansion of the initiative across the State<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, ultimately shaping Kerala\u2019s digital literacy revolution.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>Scaling Up the Pullampara Model Statewide<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">To expand the <\/span><b>Digi Pullampara model<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, the government brought Pullampara\u2019s core team to the <\/span><b>Kerala Institute of Local Administration<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to train master trainers.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">These trainers, in turn, prepared <\/span><b>2.57 lakh volunteers<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> across the State.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><b>Survey and Training Process<\/b><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Following the model of the <\/span><b>Total Literacy Campaign of the 1980s<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, surveys covered <\/span><b>1.51 crore people across 83.45 lakh households<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, identifying <\/span><b>21.88 lakh digitally illiterate individuals<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Training followed a structured process, and the <\/span><b>Economics and Statistics Department<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> conducted third-party evaluations.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Out of those trained, <\/span><b>21.87 lakh passed<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. Panchayats with more than <\/span><b>10% failures were provided re-training<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><b>Inclusivity Beyond Guidelines<\/b><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Unlike the <\/span><b>National Digital Literacy Mission<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, which mandates training only up to 60 years of age, Kerala included <\/span><b>all age groups<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, even those over 100.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Data shows 15,221 trainees above 90 years, 7.77 lakh between 60\u201375 years, and 1.35 lakh between 76\u201390 years were trained.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><b>Wide Participation Across Communities<\/b><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The programme saw participation from <\/span><b>over 13 lakh women, eight lakh men, and 1,644 transgender persons<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, showcasing its inclusive approach.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Officials noted that <\/span><b>Kudumbashree workers<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> helped volunteers focus only on households where residents were not already digitally literate, ensuring better targeting.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>Digi Kerala 2.0: Expanding the Mission<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">At the <\/span><b>Digi Kerala declaration<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, the Chief Minister launched <\/span><b>Digi Kerala 2.0<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, which will go beyond basic digital skills.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It will include awareness classes on cyber fraud, training to identify and reject fake news, and intensive sessions on accessing government services digitally.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><b>Smartphone-Centric Approach<\/b><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Unlike the <\/span><b>national digital literacy programmes<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> that focus mainly on computer use, Kerala has <\/span><b>prioritised smartphones<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> as the key tool for navigating daily life, reflecting ground realities.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><b>Integration with Broader Projects<\/b><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The initiative forms part of Kerala\u2019s larger digital vision, integrated with:<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><b>Kerala Fibre Optic Network (KFON):<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Ensures universal Internet access, offering <\/span><b>free connectivity to BPL families<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (14,000 connected so far, plus 74,203 commercial homes).<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><b>K-SMART Project:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Aims to bring all local self-government services onto a <\/span><b>single digital platform<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, enhancing accessibility and governance efficiency.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This roadmap positions Kerala not only as India\u2019s first <\/span><b>fully digitally literate state<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, but also as a model for <\/span><b>bridging the digital divide<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> comprehensively.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Source:<\/b> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/news\/national\/kerala\/how-did-kerala-pull-off-digital-literacy-feat\/article69994278.ece#:~:text=How%20did%20the%20government%20scale,volunteers%20from%20across%20the%20State.\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">TH<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Kerala has achieved full digital literacy through its Digi Kerala programme, training 21.87 lakh people and bridging the digital divide across all age groups.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":61579,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[2419,60,22,59],"class_list":{"0":"post-61390","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-upsc-mains-current-affairs","8":"tag-kerala-digital-literacy","9":"tag-mains-articles","10":"tag-upsc-current-affairs","11":"tag-upsc-mains-current-affairs","12":"no-featured-image-padding"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61390","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=61390"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61390\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/61579"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=61390"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=61390"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=61390"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}