The President of India, Smt. Pratibha Devisingh Patil flagged off the Saakshar Bharat Yatra at Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi on February 18, 2012. The Union Minister of Human Resource Development, Shri Kapil Sibal and the Union Minister of State for Human Resource Development, Smt. D. Purandeswari were also present at the function. The Saakshar Bharat Mission was launched by the Prime Minister of India, on International Literacy Day on 8th September, 2009.The Mission is primarily focussing on women, Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Minorities and other disadvantaged groups in rural areas. The programme is being implemented in 1.6 lakh Gram Panchayats in 372 districts. Nearly 13.5 million learners are already enrolled in the programme. As part of this Campaign, a nationwide Yatra through a well-known Non-Government Organization - Bharat Gyan Vigyan Samiti (BGVS) has been organized. The Yatra would include kala-jathas, audio-visual programmes, road shows, stakeholders meetings etc. The central objective of the yatra is 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.