What it means for Pullampara to be India’s first fully digitally literate panchayat

Karunakara Panikkar has been using a mobile phone for long, but this 90-year-old never knew how to make a video call until a team from the Pullampara gram panchayat in Kerala’s Thiruvananthapuram district taught him the techniques in 2021. A three-day training on how to use a smartphone, however, opened the eyes of Panikkar who picked up the tips given by the trainers fast. Even though he is suffering from age-related illness, Panikkar is happy today as he is able to make video calls to his friend at least in the autumn of his life.

Shantha P, a native of Pullampara, can’t forget the day when she made a video call to chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan who declared Pullampara the first digitally literate panchayat in India on September 21. “I was supposed to make a video call to the chief minister but my phone stopped functioning a day before the inauguration. I was sad. But I got it repaired by spending Rs 1,000 because I didn’t want to miss the opportunity to make a video call to the chief minister,” said Shantha, who picked up the techniques in a week, mostly while working as part of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme. There are many like Panikkar and Shantha.

In 2021, the Pullampara gram panchayat in Kerala’s Thiruvananthapuram district launched ‘Digi Pullampara’, a campaign to impart digital literacy to all the residents of the panchayat. A five-member core team, led by panchayat president PV Rajesh, with the help of students from the city’s major engineering colleges, trained 3,174 people — between the ages of 14 and 65 — from 15 wards on how to use digital devices in a year. On September 21, chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan declared the panchayat ‘fully digitally literate’ — a first for any village in the country. However, making the people tech-savvy was challenging.

Pullampara, a sleepy village 25 km from Thiruvananthapuram, lies on the Venjaramoodu-Puthenpalam road. A preliminary survey found that there were 3,917 people in the total 15 wards of the Pullampara village who needed digital literacy. At least 617 people who suffered serious health issues were not included in the project. The panchayat administration decided to train the remaining 3,300 people. The then Thiruvananthapuram district collector Navjot Khosa inaugurated the training programme on October 18, 2021.

The core team, led by Rajesh, comprised Sajina Sathar, district women welfare officer; Sanob S (KAS trainee); Dinesh Pappen, MGNREGS district engineer; and Shamnad Pullampara, employee of the technical education department. They prepared an educational module explaining the method of training and the subjects to be included in the project.

The team used android mobile phones to train the villagers, and subjects such as ‘how to use a smartphone’, ‘WhatsApp video and audio call’, ‘how to download photos and videos’, ‘how to handle YouTube and Facebook’, and ‘basic training on bank account details’ were included in the module. The project began with the help of the students of APJ Abdul Kalam Technological University in Thiruvananthapuram. At least 250 students from the NSS wings of the five engineering colleges in the city, members of the Kudumbashree units and others were recruited as trainees. The training was mainly conducted during the resting hours of people who worked at various sites under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme. In some cases, training was given at the local study centres and homes of people.

Although the project began with much vigour, the team soon realised that more than five wards in the village lacked network coverage. “Lack of network coverage in the five wards of Pullampara brought in a stumbling block to our plan in the beginning. But we were confident. We approached many telecom companies, but nothing worked out. Finally, Rajya Sabha MP John Brittas wrote to Reliance Jio and the company responded fast and immediately solved the issue by installing towers in the village,” Rajesh told The Federal.

Rajesh said the response from those aged above 45 years was good. “When we told them about the importance of using a smartphone, they showed interest. Some senior citizens picked up the techniques very fast. Women, particularly those above 50 years, showed more interest. As a matter of convenience, we made arrangements for senior citizens to learn from their grandsons. My mother learnt the techniques from my son only. We are happy that we could train 3,174 people in the village,” he said.

K Sugathan, a native of Pullampara, said even though he has been using a mobile phone for the last 10 years, he never used search options and other facilities in the device. “I learnt many useful things rather than making calls. I never made video calls or bank transactions though my mobile phone. But now I am able to do it on my phone,” he said.

Since most of the training took place during the resting time of the workers at the respective MGNREGS sites, it was necessary to evaluate how equipped they are when it came to the handling of smartphones from those sites themselves. “I have learnt the basics. I know how to use WhatsApp and Facebook. I also know how to log onto YouTube and other channels. The only problem is that I don’t have a smartphone,” said Omana C.

The 66-year-old, however, said she was fond of making voice calls. “I like making voice calls rather than video calls. I don’t know when I am going to buy a smartphone,” she added. Sumathi A, aged 65, said she was always fond of taking selfies. “My grandchildren were experts in taking selfies. But I took one myself only a couple of weeks ago. I am grateful to the trainers for teaching me how to take a selfie. I don’t have a smartphone, but I use my son’s phone when he is asleep,” said Sumathi.

The people of Pullampara are happy about what their village has achieved collectively but, according to Rajesh, the job has not ended. “Digital literacy and digital education are two different things. Only a basic idea [for example, how to use a smartphone] is given in ‘digital literacy’, but ‘digital education’ means a detailed training. Our next step is to provide digital education to 25 selected members from each ward of the village,” Rajesh told The Federal.

Even as Pullampara gears up to make the journey from digital literacy to digital education, Kerala Institute of Local Administration, an autonomous institution functioning for the local government in Kerala, is planning to implement this dream project in other panchayats in the state as well.