President Patil flags off Saakshar Bharat Yatra

New Delhi, Feb 18 (ANI): President Pratibha Devisingh Patil here on Saturday flagged off the Saakshar Bharat Yatra at Rashtrapati Bhavan in the presence of Minister of Human Resource Development Kapil Sibal, and Minister of State (HRD) (Dr.) D.Purandeswari.

'Saakshar Bharat Yatra' organised in collaboration with non-government organization Bharat Gyan Vigyan Samiti (BGVS) aims to reach out to all the stakeholders and generate a sustainable demand for literacy, which may not exist uniformly in all parts of the country.

The broader themes of the yatra will include: literacy, empowerment, development, gender issues, Right to Education (RTE), Right to Employment etc.

The yatra would include kala-jathas, audio-visual programmes, road shows, stakeholders meetings etche yatra will move across the country covering all major states and it will pass through some of the backward and left wing affected districts like Gaya, Jamui, Rohtas in Bihar, Hazaribagh in Jharkhand, Balaghat in Madhya Pradesh. The Yatra will also cover some of the difficult areas like Senapati in Manipur, Anantnag in Jammu and Kashmir, etc.

In all, it will cover 22 states, 180 districts, 1000 blocks, over 16,000 gram panchayats. (ANI)