Approach

Introduction: Define Digital Divide.

Body: Mention the various facets of the Digital Divide in the Indian context. Also, mention the implications of the digital divide on socio-economic inequalities in India.

Conclusion: Suggest a way forward.

Answer

The OECD defines the digital divide as the “gap between individuals, households, businesses, and geographic areas at different socio-economic levels about both their opportunities to access information and communication technologies (ICTs) and to their use of the Internet for a wide variety of activities.”

Various facets of the Digital Divide:

1. Rural-Urban divide: According to India Inequality Report 2022 by Oxfam, only 31 per cent of the rural population uses the Internet as compared to 67 per cent of the urban population. As per another report by the Observer Research Foundation, Wi-Fi hotspots are available in less than half of the 2.5 lakh village panchayats covered under the BharatNet rural telecom project of the Government of India.
2. Gender Divide:  According to the National Family Health Survey 2019–21, only 57.1 per cent of the male population and 33.3 per cent of the female population had ever used the internet.
3. Class Divide: NSS data from 2017-18 states that among the poorest 20 per cent of households in India, only 2.7 per cent have access to a computer. Moreover, only 8.9 per cent of the households are able to access internet facilities. The figures for access to the computer and the internet for the richest 20 per cent of households are 27.6 per cent and 50.5 per cent, respectively.
4. Usability: Around 56.5 per cent of children with disabilities were facing difficulties in attending classes during the pandemic. According to the Indian National Statistical Office, while over 55 per cent of Indians have broadband access, only 20 per cent have the ability to use the Internet.
5. Linguistic Divide: As the majority (i.e., 80%) of the content on the Internet is in English, so states where people are more competent in English are more digitally competent. E.g., the Digital divide is least in Kerala while the worst in West Bengal.

Implications of the digital divide on socio-economic inequalities:

1. Access to Online Education: According to India Inequality Report 2022: Digital Divide by Oxfam - Access to the internet through any kind of device was found to be far better in urban India at 44 per cent than in rural areas at 17 per cent. Across different caste groups, as well, only 4 per cent of students from SC and ST communities had access to a computer and the internet.
   • In addition to this, EdTech products continue to remain inaccessible for many due to their high costs. The average cost of these products is estimated to be INR 20,000, while the average income of the poorest 20 per cent of households is INR 25,825.

1. Teachers struggled to deliver education digitally: According to the Oxfam report, more than 80 per cent of teachers reported facing challenges in teaching online. As 20 per cent of teachers reported that adequate training on delivering education digitally was not provided to them. Two out of every five teachers also claimed not to have access to the devices they needed to teach digitally.

1. Access to Health-Care facilities: According to Oxfam report:
   • In order to build a digital health ecosystem in India, the government launched the National Digital Health Mission and e-Sanjeevani but with over 70 per cent of the population in India having poor or no connectivity to digital services, the digitisation of healthcare didn’t necessarily improve access to public health services.
   • CoWIN inadvertently created a hierarchy in vaccine accessibility and excluded the digitally disconnected. As many either did not have the resources or the digital know-how to book a vaccine slot online. Neither could they download their vaccination certificates easily from the app. This caused further delays in their receiving the vaccines.
2. Access to Financial Services: The richest 60 per cent, for instance, are four times more likely to do a digital payment than the poorest 40 per cent in India. This can be attributed to the fact that the tendency to use formal financial services is low among marginalized communities such as women, youth, people living in remote rural areas, ethnic minorities etc. due to lack of digital literacy.
3. Impact on governance: On account of the lack of digital literacy, it becomes difficult to hold the government accountable and it thus impacts delivery of services and e-governance as well.

Although several government initiatives like the National Digital Literacy Mission and the Pradhan Mantri Gramin Digital Saksharta Abhiyan have been introduced to increase digital literacy, there is a need to ramp up such efforts. Furthermore, it is important to improve the existing digital infrastructure under the BharatNet project to ensure physical access to ICT for different sections of our society and to establish a responsive and accountable grievance redressal mechanism.