India+and+the+Digital+Divide


 * [[image:Indiaflag_wbglobe-187.jpg width="200" height="200"]]** **India and the Digital Divide**toc

=Introduction=

The digital divide is the unequal separation of access to information and communications technology between different demographics; that is the people who have access to ICTs and the people who do not("haves" vs. "have nots"). This imbalance focuses significantly on the lack of access and infrastructure of technologies such as internet, telephone, and television sytems.

The digital divide can be broken down into three aspects:
 * Global divide: the imbalance between developed and developing countries.
 * Social divide: the gap between the information rich and the information poor in a country.
 * Democratic divide: difference between those who do and those who don’t use ICTs to participate in public life. (Webster, 2004)

=**The Problem**=

Although India is a rapidly developing nation, its digital divide is still a fragment of the global divide. More than seventy percent of the Indian population still resides in villages; many villages in which it is tough enough to get electricity for cooking and light, never mind Internet access. Over the last ten years the internet has been relied upon as a potent mechanism which could really help raise the standard of living in many poor and remote countries of the third world, “especially for education, commerce and participatory democracy” (Lancaster, 2003). However, the reality is that a growing digital divide preventing the poor from the benefits of the Information age. “The gap between digital haves and have-nots is especially wide in India, where a national survey last year revealed that fewer than one percent of adults had used the Internet in the preceding three months”(Lancaster, 2003). There are alot of problems which separate people, with one of them being barriers to Internet access.

=**Improvements and Solutions**=

“India is emerging as a laboratory for testing out new technologies and business models for narrowing the digital divide between urban and rural people in a developing economy”(Ribeiro, 2002). For example, HP labs in Bangalore India, was set up a few years ago to develop products just for India’s rural markets. Focus has been on three areas:


 * Making information technology available to those who use Indian languages.
 * Improving the connectivity options for those outside the big cities who do not currently have satisfactory access to the Internet and affordable devices
 * Educate the community on the various uses of new technologies.

[|HP Labs India Press]

HP labs in India are working to create Indian language support for an experimental PC that can be used by four users simultaneously. (Ribeiro, 2002)

Private sector involvement in projects to build the digital divide in India is likely to increase, according to head of information technology (IT), and computers and communications specialist in the National Agricultural Technology Project of the National Institute of Agricultural Extension Management. "Each one of the facilitators has seen a business opportunity in these initiatives…the growth of the Indian rural economy will provide a large number of customers for technology companies"(Ribeiro, 2002).

Many public sector projects are looking into creative ways of building the communications infrastructure, as well. Media Labs Asia, a Mumbai-based company, is setting up a wireless network implementing internet and voice connectivity to India’s rural populace. Set up by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, MLA is focused on formulating and employing technology solutions appropriate to bridging the digital divide in developing economies (Ribeiro, 2002).

“HP and other companies and agencies working on bridging the rural divide are hence focusing on developing technologies that will enable India's masses to interact with computers and the Internet using their native language, usually the spoken language because of the low levels of literacy in India”(Ribeiro, 2002).

Software development company Linux also has big plans for the betterment of the Indian digital divide. With the advent of the “simputer”, a cheap personal computer for Indian user, Linux has implemented the tool for the Indian military; a device that each member of the million strong army will have. Furthermore, “India's strategy is to make Linux the standard for students in all academic institutions while the government trains employees to help them work in a Linux environment with support from IBM” (Devraj, 2005).

Another innovation bridging the gap between the haves and have-nots are the information kiosks, mostly set up in rural areas. Devraj says, “there will be thousands of information kiosks across this nation of more than a billion people someday, providing poorly educated villagers -- who until now have reaped few benefits from the country's booming trade in information technology -- with direct access to government officials and records as well as to online services such as banking and medical consultations.” These Kiosks charge modest fees for services such as internet browsing, e-mail, daily computer classes, to screenings of movies.

=**Works Cited**=

Devraj, Ranjit. "Bridging India's digital divide with Linux." __Asia__ __Times__ 28 Jan. 2005. 27 Feb. 2006 .

Devraj, Ranjit. "India's Digital Divide: an ever-widening chasm." __Asia__ __Times__ 05 Oct. 2002. 27 Feb. 2006 .

Lancaster, John. "Village Kiosks Bridge India's Digital Divide." __Washington__ __Post__ 12 Oct. 2003. 27 Feb. 2006 <[|http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&node=&contentId=A13442-2003Oct11%C2%ACFound=true]>.

Ribeiro, John. "India Tackles the Digital Divide." __IDG News Service__ ns (2002). 27 Feb. 2006 .

Webster, Frank. __The Information Society Reader__. New York: Routledge, 2004.

<[|source]> =Related Links=

Digital Divide and Language [|The other India in the IT age: poor, illiterate but techno-smart] [|Bridging India's digital divide with Linux] [|http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?] http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/141472_trahant28.html