58-year-old beedi maker joins IT literacy course in Telangana

58-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, urging her to bring more women into the mission.
In a social media post, Telecom Minister Prasad said he spoke to Sattamma, a 58-year-old beedi worker from Karimnagar, Telangana, who has inspired many by joining the Digital Literacy Mission through Common Services Centers.
He congratulated her efforts and requested her to inspire other ladies around her to learn computer.
"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.

Sattamma joined a common service center to get trained under Digital Saksharta Abhiyan.
The government has set a target to train 52.5 lakh people under Digital Literacy program by end of this year.

As per official data, 59 lakh people have enrolled under Digital Saksharta 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. Youngest student is a 14-year-old and Sattamma is the eldest," Manohar said.

The government has decided to scale this scheme for rural India to cover around six crore additional households in the next three years.