Cognizant sets up National Digital Literacy Mission Center at Doddaballapur

Cognizant and NASSCOM Foundation and Digital Empowerment Foundation (DEF) has set up National Digital Literacy Mission (NDLM) Center at Doddaballapur. It was inaugurated by Shamsun Nisa Begum, President, City Municipal Corporation, Doddaballapur, in the presence of R. Chandrasekaran, Executive Vice-Chairman, Cognizant India; Ganesh Natarajan, Chairman of NASSCOM Foundation and Vice-Chairman & CEO of Zensar Technologies; and Rajen Varada, Director, DEF.

The center will be equipped with six computers with internet connection and manned by a trainer and a site co-coordinator. It will act as a resource center for over 1,200 villagers in and around Doddaballapur, provide them with training and support in digital literacy, and enable them to perform simple internet transactions and pay utility bills online. By the end of 2015, it is expected that at least one member from each household will be digitally literate using the services of this center.

Cognizant will open its second NDLM center in Munchintala Village, Telangana, later this week in partnership with Dr Reddy’s Foundation. Volunteers from Cognizant’s social initiatives program Outreach have translated the tailor-made content of the NDLM program into Kannada and Telugu to take the benefits of the program to a wider rural population.

NDLM is an ecosystem of digital literacy awareness, education and training programs that will help India take a lead in the global digital economy. It will help both rural and urban communities be competitive and also help shape a technologically empowered society. NDLM is aligned to the Government of India’s vision of making one person in each household in the country digitally literate by 2020. In keeping with this vision, these NDLM centers will help citizens in rural and remote areas understand, assess and examine information using digital technology-based devices such as computers, mobile phones and tablets.