Zensar Foundation launches Digital Literacy Centre in Pune : India

Zensar Foundation to support NASSCOM Foundation and DeitY’s National Digital Literacy Mission. Zensar Foundation announced the launch of the first National Digital Literacy Mission (NDLM) Centre in Pune. This Centre has been set up in the Annabhau Sathe Samaj Mandir in the Yamuna Nagar slum community, located in Viman Nagar. The centre has been set up in partnership with the Pune Municipal Corporation and NASSCOM Foundation. Dr Ganesh Natarajan CEO and Vice Chairman, Zensar Technologies and Chairman - NASSCOM Foundation said, “We are delighted to announce the inauguration of the NDLM Centre in Pune as a follow-up to our successful Hyderabad Centre. This initiative reinforces our support to the Prime Minister’s mission of a digitally literate India, which is aimed at empowering at least one person per household with digital literacy by 2020.” At a national level, NASSCOM Foundation has pledged support to the NDLM and is working closely with the Department of Electronics and IT (DeitY), Government of India to train an initial pool of one million digitally literate Indians and eventually spread digital literacy and IT Enabled Skills to every household in India through Corporate NDLM Centres, Digital Libraries, Schools and Common Service Centres. Other major NASSCOM companies like Cognizant and Cyient have also pledged support to the initiative. Mr. Shrikant Sinha, COO of NASSCOM Foundation and Head of the NDLM Program said “We are delighted to have this centre as a valuable contribution to the Digital Literacy Movement in the country. Our goal is to mobilise the corporate sector in IT and beyond to support this initiative of the PM and DeitY and we are glad to see so many companies coming forward” Zensar Foundation’s first NDLM centre opened in Hyderabad in August 2014 and is proud to announce the implementation of the first online assessment in India, which was completed for 41 students on 30th Sep 2014. This is the very first batch in the country to have gone through the Digital Literacy assessment held by NIELET (National Institute of Electronics and Information Technology), the relevant central government authority, thus paving the way for the 2020 goal set by the government. Ms. Ruchi Mathur, Head of Zensar Foundation, said “The NDLM Centres will enable digital literacy as well as facilitate the use of digitally enabled services. As part of the program, at least one member per household will be trained to operate the computer and other digital access devices such as tablets and smart phones, use the Internet to search for information, send/receive emails, and access various e-governance services.” The National Digital Literacy Mission (‘NDLM’) with a vision to empower at least one person per household with digital literacy skills by 2020, is expected to touch the lives of more than 250 million individuals over the next few years. The project aims at helping adults with low technological literacy develop the skills they need to interact in an increasingly digital world, thereby increasing the opportunity for development and economic viability.