Research
Digital Inclusion
UNDERSTANDING STATE-LEVEL VARIATIONS IN INDIA'S DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION
African Journal of Information and Communication, Issue 30, 2022
India’s digital transformation is often described in terms of the country’s vast internet penetration, growing mobile connectivity, and widespread uptake of digital payments and other online services. Undoubtedly, India has made tremendous progress on all these fronts over the last few years. But digitalisation narratives founded upon aggregate national statistics bear the risk of assuming a homogeneity of digital access and experience in the country. This article highlights some of the state-level differences in digital access, skills, and infrastructure across India—as a basis for dispelling assumptions about the homogeneity and universality of India’s digital transformation. The article draws attention to the varying levels of digital readiness within India, and to the need to account for these variations in the design and implementation of the country’s digital initiatives.
COVID-19: ACCESS TO DEVICES A MUST FOR BRIDGING THE DIGITAL DIVIDE
Down to Earth Magazine , 28 July, 2020
The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted how the lack of access to an Internet-enabled handset device presents the most immediate barrier in India's digital divide. Solving this problem will require the cooperation of multiple stakeholders at all levels, including the government, telecom operators, device manufacturers, micro lending institutions and community platforms.
INDIA'S ON A DIGITAL SPRINT THAT IS LEAVING MILLIONS BEHIND
BBC World, 17 October, 2019
The exuberance around India's digital story, in terms of increasing adoption and consumption, is accompanied by the sobering reality of a vast digital divide. This piece notes that a person's location, income, gender, education, language, and age are among the many factors that define this divide. It calls for rigorous data-driven exercise to measure which factors are causing what level of exclusion and the reasons behind it.
GO TO LAHAUL-SPITI FOR `INTERNET KA VANVASS'. DIGITAL INDIA AND TELECOM COMPANIES SKIPPED IT
The Print, 5 July, 2019
This piece draws attention to the challenges faced by the residents of district Lahaul-Spiti in Himachal Pradesh due to the lack of telecom connectivity. It describes the state of telecom infrastructure in the region and how its remoteness and sparse population make it an unviable candidate for large scale commercial expansion. I make a case for more effective use of the universal services obligation fund to devise technically feasible solutions that are suited to the local context.