Kerala declared first fully digitally literate State in the country

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Thursday declared Kerala as the first fully digitally literate State in India, marking the completion of the first phase of the Digi Kerala project, a grass-root level intervention across all local bodies to bridge the digital divide.

Following the formal declaration, Mr. Vijayan interacted on a video call with 104-year old M.A. Abdullah Moulavi Baqavi from Asamannoor panchayat in Ernakulam district, one of the oldest ‘students’ who were trained under the Digi Kerala project.

Later, 76-year old Sarada Kani and 75-year old Vishalakshi from Thiruvananthapuram, both of whom underwent the training, clicked selfies with Mr. Vijayan and Minister for Local Self-Governments M.B. Rajesh on the stage.

In the surveys carried out among 1.5 crore people from 83.46 lakh families across the State, 21.88 lakh people were identified as digitally illiterate. Out of this, 21.87 lakh people, comprising 99.98% of the participants have completed the training and successfully completed the evaluation.

“Kerala has put forward yet another model worth emulating for the country. This is an achievement which will make Malayalis across the world proud about their State. A large number of senior citizens and homemakers who were not familiar with digital technology are now using e-services, paying online bills and interacting on social media platforms, thanks to the Digi Kerala project. The fact that digital literacy in the country stands at 38% shows the enormity of Kerala’s achievement of over 99% digitally literate citizens. The project is also an example of the social commitment of our youth who were among the majority of the volunteer trainers,” said Mr. Vijayan.

He also lauded the Pullampara panchayat from which the project was initiated in 2021. After the Digi Pullampara project was completed, it was expanded to the entire State. Mr. Vijayan said that the State government’s aim was to ensure that the benefits of all projects should reach all sections of society, evident in how the Digi Kerala project was implemented even in far flung villages in Edamalakudy and Attappady.

Mr. Rajesh said that the project was part of the government’s long-term plan to equip all sections of the population with the knowledge of accessing digital services after it made available most of its services online through the K-SMART platform. “Everything from building permits to birth certificates can now be applied and accessed online,” he said.