World Computer Literacy Day celebrated

NEW DELHI: World Computer Literacy Day was celebrated on December 2, amidst a

global computer literacy drive involving training of 100,000 people by IT

training company NIIT, and enthusiastic endorsements by corporate leaders,

well-known personalities, media, and political leaders. NIIT launched the World

Computer Literacy Day to mark its 20th Foundation Day.

Minister for Information Technology, Communications and Parliamentary

Affairs, Pramod Mahajan, unveiled India's first-ever-customized postal envelope

to commemorate the day, in New Delhi.

Mahajan congratulated NIIT on its birthday and said, "NIIT has created a

multinational company that thinks globally and NIIT's christening its 20th

Foundation Day as the World Computer Literacy Day is another fitting

example."

NIIT chairman Rajendra S Pawar said, "The overwhelming response to the

World Computer Literacy Day and SWIFT Jyoti is just the beginning of a mass

mobilization of the computer literacy movement around the world."

NIIT will provide free computer training to 20,000 people, including 8,000

political leaders -- MPs, MLAs and corporators, and 12,000 toppers of Class 8,

9, 10 and 11, from 3,000 government schools.

CII president Sanjiv Goenka congratulated NIIT's high quality leadership in

pushing computer literacy. World Economic Forum director Colette Mathur remarked

about digital divide being very harsh and called NIIT a "model" in

social and education field.

Some of India's state chieftains who have pledged their committment to WCLD

at events held country-wide include Andhra Pradesh CM Chandrababu Naidu, West

Bengal CM Buddhadeb Bhattacharya, Gujarat CM Narendra Modi, Himachal Pradesh CM

Prem Kumar Dhumal, Karnataka CM S M Krishna, Karnataka minister for Primary and

Secondary Education H Vishwanath, Karnataka Industries Minister Deshpande and

Kerala IT Minister P K Kunhalikutty.