New Delhi, Sept 8 : President Pratibha Devisingh Patil today distributed Satyen Maitra Literacy Award on the occasion of International Literacy Day at Vigyan Bahwan.

The award is given to selected districts implementing Total Literacy Campaign (TLC), Post Literacy Programme (PLP) and Continuing Education Programme (CEP).

The TLC award was given to Bishnupur (Manipur); PLP to Garwha (Jharkhand); CEP to Jhansi (Uttat Pradesh), Sarguja (Chattisgarh), Udayapur (Rajasthan), Medak
(Andhra Pradesh) and Begusarai (Bihar)

The Satyen Maitra Memorial Literacy Award was instituted in 1996 in the memory of Satyen Maitra, eminent educationist, great adult educationist and a social reformer who had a long association with Bengal Social Service League, a Kolkata based NGO with enviable reputation.

The award aims at encouraging the campaign districts to perform excellent results and to instill a healthy competition among them.

It also aims to recognize selfless service rendered by volunteer teachers and other literacy functionaries. Since its inception 39 districts have been selected to receive the award. (ANI)