Digital Divide IN India

Dr. Ashok SharmaAssistant Professor Institute of Mass Communication & Media TechnologyKurukshetra University, KurukshetraEmail- Lectashok@gmail.com akkumak@kuk.ac.in

Digital Divide stands for ?

Dr. Ashok Sharma, Assistant Professor, IMC&MT, KUK

• •Digital divides-the gulf between hose who have ready access to computers and the Internet, and those who do not.•“There is a ‘digital divide’ between rich and poor, black and white, in terms of computer use“•A digital divide is an economic and social inequality with regard to access to, use of, or impact of information and communication technologies (ICT). The divide within countries (such as the digital divide in the United States) may refer to inequalities between individuals, households, businesses, or geographic areas, usually at different socioeconomic levels or other demographic categories.• The divide between differing countries or regions of the world is referred to as the global digital divide.

According to webopedia A term used to describe the discrepancy

between people who have access to and the resources to use new information and communication tools, such as the Internet, and people who do not have the resources and access to the technology.

The term also describes the discrepancy between those who have the skills, knowledge and abilities to use the technologies and those who do not. The digital divide can exist between those living in rural areas and those living in urban areas, between the educated and uneducated, between economic classes, and on a global scale between more and less industrially developed nations.

According to Technopedia The digital divide refers to the difference between people

who have easy access to the Internet and those who do not. A lack of access is believed to be a disadvantage to those on the disadvantaged side of the digital divide because of the huge knowledge base that can only be found online.

The digital divide appears in a number of different contexts, including:

Differences between rural and urban Internet access

Socioeconomic differences between people of different races, income and education that affects their ability to access the Internet

Differences between developed, developing and emerging nations in terms of the availability of Internet

Definition and Usage

It was traditionally considered to be a question of having or not having access. Global mobile phone penetration of over 95%. It is becoming a relative inequality betwee those who have more and those who

have less. Conceptualization of the digital divide has been described as: Subjects who have connectivity, or who connects: individuals, organizations,

enterprises, schools, hospitals, countries, etc. Characteristics of connectivity, or which attributes: demographic and socio-

economic variables, such as income, education, age, geographic location, etc. Means of connectivity, or connectivity to what: fixed or mobile, Internet or

telephony, digital TV, etc. Intensity of connectivity: how sophisticated the usage: mere access, retrieval,

interactivity, innovative contributions. Purpose of connectivity: why individuals and their cohorts are (not)

connecting: reasons individuals are and are not online and uses of the Internet and information and communications technologies ("ICTs").

Dynamics or evolution :whether the gap of concern will increase or decrease in the future, when the gap of concern would be maximized.[8]

Reasons of Digital Divide The gap in a digital divide may exist for a

number of reasons. access to ICTs and using them actively has

been linked to a number of demographic and socio-economic characteristics

Income Education Race, Gender, Geographic location (urban-rural), Age, Skills, Awareness Political, cultural and psychological attitudes

Dr. Ashok Sharma, Assistant Professor, IMC&MT, KUK

Digital Divide & Use of Internet

Dr. Ashok Sharma, Assistant Professor, IMC&MT, KUK

Worldwide Internet users  2005 2010 2014a

World population[13] 6.5 billion 6.9 billion 7.2 billion

Not using the Internet 84% 70% 60%

Using the Internet 16% 30% 40%

Users in the developing world 8% 21% 32%

Users in the developed world 51% 67% 78%a Estimate.

Source: International Telecommunications Union.[14]

Bridging digital divide, with focus on rural India: Ravi Shankar Prasad? NEW DELHI: The Centre is all set to facilitate efficiency in governance through a series of programmes that

include digital literacy and electronic delivery of services, in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ambitious Digital India initiative.

"Online on-demand digital signature is being developed, which has a very transformational architecture. The day is not far when every Indian will have a digital identity and a mobile connection linked to it," RS Sharma, secretary at the Department of Electronics and IT (DeitY), said at the Digital India summit, hosted by the Times Television Network.

"The department is re-engineering software and systems in light of changing technology scenario. We can store, share online certificates that will bring convenience and eliminate paperwork," he added.

The government has embarked on a comprehensive plan and is working on putting integrated services for citizens that allow single-window interface, Sharma said, and added that at least one person in every family would be digitally empowered.

The government's ambitious Digital India plan, which is an umbrella initiative with an initial outlay of Rs 1.13-lakh crore, covers nine programmes that include broadband highways, 100% mobile density, electronic manufacturing and eKranti or electronic delivery of services by 2018.

Dr. Ashok Sharma, Assistant Professor, IMC&MT, KUK

Bridging digital divide

Speaking at the event a day earlier, telecom and IT minister Ravi Shankar Prasad had said that the government wanted to facilitate industry-friendly environment and that there were immense opportunities for private players across sectors in their ongoing Digital India initiative.

Digital India, Prasad said, rests on three pillars that include architecture and utility, delivery of government services and digital empowerment of people, and with the mega initiative that aims to bridge the digital divide. He also said that Digital India offers an 'enabling platform for change' and that it would not be fulfilled without the indigenous manufacturing that requires Indian skills to be leveraged, and added that content in local language is necessary.

"With digital services delivery model eKranti, the government is expanding the horizon with mobile intervention and open to adopt cloud-based technologies," DeitY joint secretary Rajendra Kumar said, adding that new technology models help in faster e-governance services delivery.

Out of 31 e-governance projects, 21 initiatives are online and operational, enabling 90-lakh transactions a day and touching the lives of nearly 30-crore individuals, Kumar said, and added that they were bringing in private sector to participate widely to facilitate the Digital India initiative.

Digital literacy though is one of the biggest challenges and the government has come out with a vision to make at least one family member digitally literate, National Institute of Electronics and Information Technology (NIELIT) Managing Director Ashwini Kumar Sharma said.

The government expects to make 1 crore people digitally literate in five years while aiming to train 10 lakh individuals by the end of this year. The government has already introduced a 20-hour basic learning course and is running another programme for the ESDM sector with a goal to train 4.5-lakh youth in five years. "To align with modern technological needs; the government is currently working on an open source online course concept and availability of content in local languages," Sharma said.

Dr. Ashok Sharma, Assistant Professor, IMC&MT, KUK

DIVIDE IN INDIA

India’s fast economic growth of past several years will not sustain if we do not close the digital divide soon. The latest Global Information Technology report for the World Economic Forum places India 68th in its ‘networked readiness index’ that ranks 140 countries. While one can argue that India has moved up at least one position since the previous year, it still lags behind almost half of the countries in the index.

A study by Deloitte finds that countries with a proportionately higher share of 3G connections enjoy greater economic growth than countries with comparable total mobile penetration but lower 3G penetration. India’s 3G penetration remains at just 2 per cent of the 864 million mobile subscribers. This offers a huge potential while calling for the right strategies to be put in place to bridge the digital divide that could erode the country’s global competitiveness and adversely affect the delivery of societal benefits of ICT.

We must invest in ICT, skills and innovation to tap into the enormous business opportunities that the world presents. This ICT must not just be for the urbans but also Rubans or rural-urbans, a new breed of rural populace with talent, spirit and aspirations comparable to their urban counterparts. We are increasingly witnessing the access to mobile telephony, computers that is enabling these rubans to have access of information at their finger tips thereby opening their minds to dream big!

Dr. Ashok Sharma, Assistant Professor, IMC&MT, KUK

DIVIDE IN INDIA Head Held High’s RubanSource, our knowledge services platform, has successfully

demonstrated that ICT can transform lives in the rural areas and benefit businesses both in rural as well as urban areas. The platform enables villagers to deliver knowledge services such as business processes and other supporting services for agriculture, health, education, financial inclusion, consumer and the government. At our Centre of Excellence at Hindupur, we manage processes such as insurance claims processing, HR exits and onboarding for clients such as Genpact, Mphasis and DIAC (UK). We have even started conducting market surveys using tablets. We witnessed the famed Indian entrepreneurial spirit with over 200 people signing up at our Entrepreneur Forum in Gadag. In fact, we have chosen to mentor 50 entrepreneurs for specific business opportunities leveraging the power of technology extensively!

Imagine this modus operandi replicated across entire rural India. The demand for talent would be easily fulfilled leading to satisfied clients.

Satisfied clients would bring more business. More business would mean bigger investments and hence equitable distribution of wealth across India and not just in urban hubs. All that’s required is the commitment to bridge the digital divide. How do you see bridging the digital divide opening new opportunities for india & in particular the rubans?

Madan Padaki,Co-founder, Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer

Dr. Ashok Sharma, Assistant Professor, IMC&MT, KUK

Thanks

Dr. Ashok Sharma, Assistant Professor, IMC&MT, KUK