Can programming skills be taught to just about anybody?

"Can programming skills be taught to just about anybody?" or "Can anyone become a good programmer?" Ravi - Thanks for this interesting question.

I am going to share my view on this - and Raja will follow up with a post reflecting his view:)

Answer: No, I don't think anyone can become a good programmer. Just like every branch of science or technology, programming requires a very keen mind with an above average IQ. One also needs to have a fairly good grasp of "logic" in order to become a good programmer.

Question: Can everyone with an above average IQ be taught programming? After all, above average will still cover half the world population:) 
Answer: Yes, I think that every person with a reasonable IQ and a good grasp of knowledge can be taught programming.

Question: Will every person who is taught programming become a good programmer?
Answer: No. What differentiates good programmers from the not-so-good ones is practice. This is not very tough to understand - every one of us plays cricket, but we don't all become good cricketers! It takes a lot of dedication and practice to become good.

Question: Is every good programmer a good software developer?
Answer: Oh, absolutely not. Being good/great at coding does not make you a good software developer.
Beyond coding, software development involves a number of other important steps including understanding and capturing requirements, translating these requirements into features/functionality, applying relevant technologies that best address the situation, performing design and analysis, laying out a development plan, developing test plans, documenting everything well, managing releases, etc.
So, if you are looking to be a good software developer, my advice to you is: please look beyond C, C++ and Java and start looking at all aspects of software development.