Jeromic George, Principal Director, LSGD, said Digi Keralam was launched to ensure that every citizen is able to access and benefit from e-governance and digital services.

“This was not just a government programme, but a people’s movement, connecting generations and communities,” he said.

Over two lakh volunteers, the majority of them students, Kudumbasree activists, National Service Scheme (NSS) members, and students’ police cadets were the backbone of the drive, which was completed by March this year.

Of those several lakh people who have become digital literates, over 15,000 are above 90 years old, like Abdullah, the minister added.

“Digital learning has brought such a positive change in his daily life at this age.

Now, he easily switches on YouTube to watch news and video calls the grandson abroad by himself,” Abdullah’s son Faizal told PTI.

Authorities said Pullampara, a tiny panchayat on the outskirts of the capital district, has laid the foundation for the successful mass digital literacy model implemented across the state.

Sajina Sathar, assistant director, Digi Keralam, recalled that the plight of underprivileged people, many of them senior citizens, during the pandemic lockdown in 2021 had persuaded Pullampara panchayat authorities to think about digital literacy seriously.

“During the pandemic, we could see long queues of people before the only bank in our village to check whether their MGNREGA wages were credited to their accounts,” the official, who conceptualised and led the digital literacy drive in Pullampara, told PTI.

“Some even spent Rs 200-300 to reach the bank by auto just to check the balance,” she said.

If they were digitally literate, they could check their balance on their mobile phones, and that thought had persuaded the panchayat authorities to devise the path-breaking digital literacy drive, she said.