STRUCTURE

• Introduction – What is Digital Divide (30 words)             
• Body – Causes and impacts of digital divide (200 words)
• Conclusion – Mention a short conclusion  (20 words)

ANSWER

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

CAUSES OF DIGITAL DIVIDE

• Infrastructural barriers: The cost of computers, laptops, mobile phones is prohibitive. Internet data plans are still unaffordable for poor sections of society. Moreover, cheaper options like wi-fi have very low penetration in tier II, tier III cities, and villages.
• Language barrier: More than 80% of content on the internet is available in English. It restricts the access of people who lack knowledge of English.
• Digital literacy: Digital literacy in-country is estimated to be less than 10 percent of the population. It is consistent with literacy. The digital divide is the least in Kerala, the highest in West Bengal.
• Social norms: In patriarchal societies, females are not allowed to use mobile phones. Only 35% of Indian women have access to the internet.
• Geographical barriers: Internet connectivity is completely missing in islands like Andaman and distant mountains of Himalaya. Limited service is available in Northeastern states.
• Broadband connectivity: Issues related to quality and reliability, outages, call drops and weak signals affect internet access. The current definition of broadband of 512 kbps speed is inadequate. Also, it is not in line with the expected rise in demand in the future.
• Availability of government services: A number of government services are not available on the digital platform. Additionally, there is wide variation across states in the availability of citizen e-services. Presently, citizens have to visit government offices physically to access most government-to-citizen (G2C) services.
• Cybersecurity: Hacking and denial of service attacks have resulted in the disruption of services. It is affecting both in the government and the private sector

IMPLICATIONS OF DIGITAL DIVIDE

• Educational: The digital divide in India will affect the capacity of children to learn and develop. Read about Digital Education in India.
• Without Internet access, students cannot build the required technology-related skills.
• 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 population is suffering from lack of information due to the Digital divide in India, this will only strengthen the vicious cycle of poverty, deprivation, and backwardness.
• Political: In the age of social media, political empowerment and mobilization are difficult without digital connectivity.
• Economic: The digital divide will increase economic inequality between those who can afford the technology and those who don’t.
• Governance: Transparency and accountability are dependent on digital connectivity. The digital divide affects e-governance initiatives negatively. Know about e-governance and its significance on the given link.