The function began with the lighting of the ceremonial lamp by the dignitaries and an invocation song by the artists of Gandharva Mahavidyalaya, New Delhi. Smt. Achala Moulik, Secretary to the Govt. of India in the Department of Elementary Education and Literacy in her welcome address highlighted the significance of the day.

Shri Bhaskar Chatterjee, Joint Secretary and Director-General, National Literacy Mission and Prof. Moegiadi, Director and UNESCO representative in India presented two special publications entitled "Education for All - Spot Light on Adult Education" and "Adult Education in India - 1950-2000" to the Hon'ble Vice President. A CD ROM containing data on Literacy in India and a Literacy Poster produced by the Rotary Club, Delhi was presented to the Hon'ble Vice President of India by Shri Asoke K. Ghosh, District Governor, Rotrary 3010 and Shri Pawan Munjal, President, Rotary Club of Delhi South End. A recorded message of the Director General, UNESCO, Mr. Koichiro Matsuura was played.

Smt. Suman Krishan Kant distributed prizes to the winners of the National Essay Competition organised by the Central Directorate of Adult Education.

The UNESCO-NLM Awards for 2000 were presented to the State Literacy Mission Authorities of Karnataka, Kerala, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh for their outstanding contribution in the field of Literacy. The Union Minister for Human Resource Development, Dr. Joshi presented these awards.

The Vice President of India presented the NLM-Rotary Literacy Award, 2000 to Mawana Sugar Works, Meerut, a unit of the SIEL Ltd. The award was received by Shri Y.K.Sethi of SIEL Ltd.

The prestigious Satyen Maitra Memorial Literacy Awards for 2000 were bagged by Nawanshahar district of Punjab and Aligarh district of Uttar Pradesh for their achievement in Total Literacy Campaigns while Shimla and Hamirpur districts in Himachal Pradesh got the awards for their performance in the Post Literacy Programme. The Hon'ble Vice President of India, Shri Krishan Kant presented these awards.

The Hon'ble Human Resource Development Minister, Dr. Murli Manohar Joshi in his key note address said that the most inspiring factor of the past decade has been the manner in which people from all walks of life have come forward in their different capacities and contributed to the goal of universal literacy. He said that for the success of the movement, strong political will must be complemented by partnership with NGOs, the private sectors, the panchayats and the people. He reiterated the country's determination to bring about full literacy by the year 2005.

The Hon'ble Vice President of India Shri Krishan Kant in his address said that the key role of literacy in the overall developmental process and in the consolidation of democracy has come to be accepted across all shades of opinion. He pointed out that the problem on literacy in our country remains yet unresolved. Quoting Swami Vivekananda he said, "to take education to the poor boys and girls, we have to take literacy and education to the door steps of the people - young and adult alike". The Vice President of India said that we will fail as a nation if we fail in our mission to remove illiteracy from our midist. He complemented the National Literacy Mission for undertaking the gigantic exercise of literacy campaigns and making it a success.

One of the highlights of the International Literacy Day celebrations was a speech delivered by Smt. Jas Kaur Meena, Member of Parliament. In her address she narrated how she was able to become educated with the help of literacy programmes launched under the aegis of the Govt. She said that she has been able to become a people's representative thanks to the literacy movement.

Shri Bhaskar Chatterjee,Director General, National Literacy Mission in his vote of thanks highlighted the various steps being taken to revamp and revitalise the Mission to enable it to meet the changing needs and growing expectations of the neo-literates and non-literates in the country.