Digital Divide in India, Impacts, Government Initiatives and Projects

What is Digital Divide?

The term “digital divide” refers to the gap that exists between populations and geographic regions that have access to contemporary information and communications technology and those that do not or have restricted access to such technologies.

India is recognized internationally for the quality of its information technology (IT) services but is struggling with a significant digital divide due to the fact that only a small percentage of its people has access to the Internet.

• According to data from the World Bank, in 2014 there were only about 18 persons out of every 100 who used the internet.
• Southern states have higher levels of computer literacy than their Northern counterparts. This is also congruent with the literacy practices of their traditional culture. As an illustration, the digital gap is at its narrowest in Kerala, while it is at its widest in West Bengal.
• “Bharat-India” divide: While metropolitan areas have a higher level of digital literacy, their rural counterparts in the various states have a lower level. In general, states that have more urbanization have a higher rate of citizens who are literate in digital technology, and vice versa.
• About 70 percent of India’s population of over one billion people reside in rural areas, but only about 400 million have access to the Internet.
• Linguistic Divide Given that more than 80 percent of the content on the Internet is written in English, states in which the population has a higher level of English proficiency have a higher level of digital literacy.

Impact of Digital Divide

• Social development: There is a correlation between expanding the use of digital technology and a country’s increased level of social advancement.
  This can be accomplished by closing the digital divides that now exist. The digital gap, as a result, acts as a barrier to the country’s overall social advancement.
• Economic development: A gap opens up in terms of economic status between those who have access to affordable technology and those who do not.
  There is a one-to-one relationship between the degree to which a corporation is able to take advantage of new technologies and its total contribution to the expansion of the economy. As a result, the digital divide is detrimental to the country’s economic growth.
• Education: Children’s capacity to learn and develop may be hindered as a result of the digital divide. Students are unable to develop the required technological abilities to comprehend the complexities of today’s business if they do not have access to the Internet.
• Political Empowerment: It is challenging to achieve political empowerment and mobilization in the age of social media due to the existence of a digital gap.
• Transparency: Because of the digital divide, there is less transparency and accountability. For example, it has an effect on the provision of services and on effective governance as well.

Government Initiatives

Digital India Mission

• The government of India has launched several initiatives under the banner of Digital India to expand people’s access to the Internet.
• The BharatNet project was initiated in 2011 with the intention of connecting 0.25 million panchayats in India by means of an optical fiber network operating at 100 megabits per second.
• Both the National Digital Literacy Mission and the Digital Saksharta Abhiyan were initiated by the government in the year 2014.
• Launched in 2017, the PM Gramin Digital Saksharta Abhiyan aims to cover a total of 60 million families in India’s rural areas in order to usher in digital literacy there.

Internet Saathi Programme

It was initiated in the year 2015 by Google India and Tata Trusts. This program’s name means “Internet Sharing.” The women living in rural areas of India are the target audience for this project, and its goal is to improve their digital literacy.

Optical Fibre Network

The Optical Fibre Network, or NOF-N, is a project whose goal is to bring high-speed Internet access to more than two lahks (200,000) gram panchayats in India.

DIKSHA (Digital Infrastructure for Knowledge Sharing)

The DIKSHA (Digital Infrastructure for Knowledge Sharing) platform DIKSHA is the national platform for school education that was introduced in September 2017 and is available for use by all states as well as the central government for grades 1 through 12.
DIKSHA is the ‘one nation; one digital platform’ for school education in India. It was introduced as a part of the Atma Nirbhar Bharat plan and is a component of PM eVidya.

Unnati Project

The Unnati Project, which is run by Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL), is an initiative that aims to eliminate the digital divide in India’s educational institutions by providing disadvantaged rural kids with the opportunity to receive a computer education.

Conclusion

India has tried to bridge the digital divide by enacting some programmes like Digital India, efforts to make India a cashless economy, and Pradhan Mantri Grameen Digital Saksharta Abhiyan (PMGDISHA), which is aimed at spreading digital literacy among the rural population. This is in recognition of the fact that digital literacy is an important force for good governance and transparency. In order to effectively address these concerns, a multi-pronged approach that is distributed throughout a number of different ministries and departments is required.

Relevance for UPSC

• For Prelims: Current events of national and international importance.
• For Mains: GS-Paper II- Important aspects of governance, transparency and accountability, e-governance applications, models, successes, limitations, and potential; citizens charters, transparency & accountability, and institutional and other measures.

Practice Question
Question. Discuss the issues related to the Digital Divide in India and suggest suitable measures for the same.

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