KARIMNAGAR WOMAN GETS MANTRI’S PAT

New Delhi, March 26: Fifty eight-year-old Korutla Sattamma, a beedi worker, might be among the lakhs who have enrolled for the government’s digital literacy programme, but her entry has been appreciated by Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, who urged her to bring more women into the mission.

In a social media post, Mr Prasad said he spoke to Sattamma, from Karimnagar, who has inspired many by joining the Digital Literacy Mission through a common services centre. He congratulated her and requested her to inspire other women to learn to work on computers.

“She told me that her desire to talk to her Dubai-based son over video call made her learn computer at this age. I congratulated her and asked her to inspire other ladies around her to learn computer and be a part of #TransformingIndia under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi,” the minister said.

The government has set a target to train 52.5 lakh people under the digital literacy programme by end of this year. As per official data, 59 lakh people have enrolled under Digital Saksharata Mission and 42 lakh people have already got training. When contacted, CSC owner, Amballa Manohar said Sattamma wants to learn operating smartphone and Skype for connecting with her son. “She depended on others for making video calls. Now she wants to do that on her own. We are not charging any fee for the course. 131 people have enrolled at our Bharathi Online Services centre. 18 have already completed their course. The youngest is a 14year-old and Sattamma is the oldest,” Manohar said. The government has decided to cover around six crore households in the next three years.