Context

During his interaction with Gates, PM Modi covered a spectrum of critical topics ranging from AI to India's impressive advancements in digital technology. Pointing to technology's role in sectors like agriculture, education, and healthcare, Modi ruled out a digital divide in India.

1: Dimension-Trends of Digital Divide

• Gap: There exists a grave digital divide in India wherein gaps exist in the usage of the internet and access to digital infrastructure based on gender, area of residence whether rural-urban, caste, or age.
• Gender inequality: Men have greater access to the internet and greater ownership of mobile phones. However, it is important to note that there have been some improvements in women’s access to cell phones between 2015–16 and 2019–21 which demonstrates that the efforts to reduce the digital divide are steadily coming into fruition.
• Rural-Urban divide: While there might be small variances, urban men are much better off than others both in terms of access to the internet and ownership of phones when compared to urban women, rural men, and rural women.

2: Dimension-Implications of digital divide

• Further increasing inequality: The inability to access technology has the potential to increase existing social exclusions and deprive individuals of essential resources.
• Impact on employment: Digital literacy is no longer a luxury but a prerequisite for active participation in today's job market.
• Impact on every aspect of life: With the increasing dependence on digital technologies and the internet, the digital divide has ramifications on education, health, mobility, safety, financial inclusion, and every other imaginable aspect of life.

Way forward

Whilst 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.

It is also important to improve the existing digital infrastructure to ensure physical access to ICT to different sections of society. At the same time, underprivileged groups need to be motivated to incorporate technology into their daily lives and digital skills need to be imparted to allow such a change.