A digital divide is any uneven distribution in the access to, use of, or impact of information and communications technologies between any number of distinct groups, which can be defined based on social, geographical, or geopolitical criteria, or otherwise Political In the age of social media, political empowerment and mobilization are difficult without digital connectivity.
Governance: Transparency and accountability are dependent on digital connectivity. The digital divide affects e-governance initiatives negatively.
Social :
• Internet penetration is associated with greater social progress of a nation. Thus digital divide in a way hinders the social progress of a country.
• Rural India is suffering from information poverty due to the digital divide. It only strengthens the vicious cycle of poverty, deprivation, and backwardness.
Economic: The digital divide causes economic inequality between those who can afford the technology and those who don’t.
Educational
• The digital divide is also impacting the capacity of children to learn and develop
• Without Internet access, students can not build the required tech skills.
Facets of the great Digital Divide in India
• Education is just one area that has highlighted the digital divide between India’s rural and urban areas during the lockdown.
• The trend is evident everywhere – telemedicine, banking, e-commerce, e-governance, all of which became accessible only via the internet during the lockdown
• The divide exists despite the rise in the number of wireless subscribers in India over the past few years.
(1) Telecom facility, not digital progression
• According to a report released by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on June this year, the country had over 1.160 million wireless subscribers in February 2020, up from 1,010 million in February 2016.
• This is a rise of 150 million subscribers in five years or 30 million per year.
• The growth has been evenly distributed in urban and rural areas, with the number of urban subscribers increasing by 74 million (from 579 million to 643 million) and rural subscribers by 86 million (from 431 million to $17 million).
• But this growth only indicates the rise in basic telecommunication facility.
(2) The Urban-Rural Divide
• Services such as online classrooms, financial transactions and e-governance require access to the internet as well as the ability to operate internet-enabled devices like phones, tablets and computers.
• Here the urban-rural distinction is quite stark.
• According to the NSSO conducted between July 2017 and June 2018, just 4.4 rural households have a computer. against 14.4 per cent in an urban area,
• It had just 4.9 per cent rural households having access to the internet against 42 per cent households in urban areas.
• Similarly, only 13 per cent people of over five years of age in rural areas have the ability to use the internet against 37 per cent in urban areas.
(3) Regional Divide
• States too greatly differ in terms of people that have access to computers or in the know-how to use the internet.
• Himachal Pradesh leads the country in access to the internet in both, rural and urban areas.
• Uttarakhand has the most number of computers in urban areas, while Kerala has the most number of computers in rural areas.
• Overall, Kerala is the state where the difference between rural and urban areas is the least.
(4) Digital Gender Divide
• India has among the world’s highest gender gap in access to technology
• Only 21 per cent of women in India are mobile internet users, according to GSMA’s 2020 mobile gender gap report, while 42 per cent of men have access. The report says that while 79 per cent of men own a mobile phone in the country, the number for women is 63 per cent.
• While there do economic barriers to girls’ own a mobile phone or laptop, cultural and social norms also play a major part.
• The male-female gap in mobile use often exacerbates other inequalities for women, including access to information, economic opportunities, and networking.
(5) Others
• The earning member of the family has to carry the phone while going out to work.
• Access to phones and the internet is not just an economic factor but also social and cultural.
• If one family has just one phone, there is a good chance that the wife or the daughter will be the last one to use it.
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