International Journal of Innovation in the Digital Economy, 1(2), 1-24, April-June 2010 1

is prohibited.

Keywords: Access, Digital Divide, ICTs, India, Infrastructure

InTroduCTIon

The Information and Communication Technol-

ogy (ICT1) is one of the important driving forces

for modern civilization. The rapid development

and proliferation of ICTs has accelerated the

economic and social change (Nandi, 2002),

across all areas of human activity worldwide-

and continues to do at the rapid pace. ICTs

enable interactive communication unhindered

by distance, volume, medium or time and also

reduce the cost of co-ordination (Fletcher et

al., 2000), communication and information

processing (Dean, 2002; Gordon, 2000). ICTs

hold great promise in derive for development

and poverty reduction in global south. In many

instances, poor people have experienced ben-

efits in the form of increased income; better

health care; improved education and training;

access to job opportunities (Kuhn & Skuterud,

2000; Sumanjeet, 2008; Hecker, 2001; Moto-

hashi, 2001); engagement with government

services; contacts with family and friends;

enterprise development opportunities; increased

digital divide in India:

Measurement, determinants and

Policy for addressing the Challenges

in Bridging the digital divide

Sumanjeet Singh, Ramjas College, University of Delhi, India

aBSTraCT

Existing studies of the digital divide reveals the gap that exists between those who have access to ICTs and

those who do not create exclusion, endanger social integration and hamper economic growth. The digital

divide has many dimensions and can be categorized as global, regional and national. At national level, there

is no single divide, but multiple divides: for instance, within countries, between men and women, young and

elderly, rich and poor and most importantly rural and urban. The present paper is mainly focused on India

and tries to explore the problem of digital divide mainly in rural-urban India. In the context of the present

paper digital divide essentially means tele-density, mobile and Internet divide between the rural and urban

areas. In this paper, the author reveals that obstacles such as illiteracy, lack of skills, infrastructures, and

investment in rural areas must be tackled if India is to diminish the gap of the digital divide. The govern-

ment should work toward connectivity provision, content creation, capacity augmentation, core technologies

creation and exploitation, cost reduction, competence building, community participation and commitment to

the deprived and disadvantaged to bridge the digital divide.

DOI:10.4018/jide.2010040101

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International Journal of Innovation in the Digital Economy, 1(2), 1-24, April-June 2010 1

Keywords: Access, Digital Divide, ICTs, India, Infrastructure

InTroduCTIon

The Information and Communication Technol- ogy (ICT^1 ) is one of the important driving forces for modern civilization. The rapid development and proliferation of ICTs has accelerated the economic and social change (Nandi, 2002), across all areas of human activity worldwide- and continues to do at the rapid pace. ICTs enable interactive communication unhindered by distance, volume, medium or time and also

reduce the cost of co-ordination (Fletcher et al., 2000), communication and information processing (Dean, 2002; Gordon, 2000). ICTs hold great promise in derive for development and poverty reduction in global south. In many instances, poor people have experienced ben- efits in the form of increased income; better health care; improved education and training; access to job opportunities (Kuhn & Skuterud, 2000; Sumanjeet, 2008; Hecker, 2001; Moto- hashi, 2001); engagement with government services; contacts with family and friends; enterprise development opportunities; increased

digital divide in India:

Measurement, determinants and

Policy for addressing the Challenges

in Bridging the digital divide

Sumanjeet Singh, Ramjas College, University of Delhi, India

aBSTraCT

Existing studies of the digital divide reveals the gap that exists between those who have access to ICTs and those who do not create exclusion, endanger social integration and hamper economic growth. The digital divide has many dimensions and can be categorized as global, regional and national. At national level, there is no single divide, but multiple divides: for instance, within countries, between men and women, young and elderly, rich and poor and most importantly rural and urban. The present paper is mainly focused on India and tries to explore the problem of digital divide mainly in rural-urban India. In the context of the present paper digital divide essentially means tele-density, mobile and Internet divide between the rural and urban areas. In this paper, the author reveals that obstacles such as illiteracy, lack of skills, infrastructures, and investment in rural areas must be tackled if India is to diminish the gap of the digital divide. The govern- ment should work toward connectivity provision, content creation, capacity augmentation, core technologies creation and exploitation, cost reduction, competence building, community participation and commitment to the deprived and disadvantaged to bridge the digital divide.

DOI: 10.4018/jide.

2 International Journal of Innovation in the Digital Economy, 1(2), 1-24, April-June 2010

agricultural productivity (Poole, 2001; Hooker et al., 2001), and so on (Sumanjeet, 2009). The issue of transparency is easier to manage with ICTs, which may result in monetary savings in addition to stakeholder confidence in the development process and system (Jesus, 2003). ICTs have radically changed the way of doing business. Internet and its enabled business tech- nologies like e-commerce have opened up vast business avenues and transformed the whole business world into a global village. Further, it is expected that ICTs will play a crucial role in the socio-economic development process, and change the pattern of people’s economic models and lives. But, the potential to exploits the benefits of ICTs largely depends on the access and adoption of these technologies. In fact, the status of ICT adoption of an economy is an indicator of its potentiality to exploit the economic opportunities affordable by the new technologies-more generally, its prospects for the transition to the ‘new economy’. But, as expected the adoption of ICTs vary significantly across countries. Table 1 indicates that high-income econo- mies have twice as many fixed telephone lines per capita as middle-income economies, and 11 times the number in low-income economies. In the low-income countries and SAARC member countries-the number of fixed telephone lines per 100 people was just 4.0 and 3.3, respectively. In the least developed countries the number did not even reach 1 in 2006. At the same time, the number of mobile phone per 100 people was 14.5, 15.3 and 9.3, respectively, in low-income economies, SAARC member countries and least developed countries. In high-income economies in the region, there are, on average 68 Internet users per 100 inhabitants, compared with 0. in LDC, 11 in middle-income economies and 5 in low-income economies. In 2006, there were 3 broadband subscribers per 100 inhabitants in low-income economies, compared with 20 in North America and 16 in Europe. The global disparities in the access to these technologies are more clear with figure 1and 2. As illustrated above the adoption level of ICTs is highest among the developed countries. In

these countries, more people have access to Internet and at a higher speed, many more have mobile phones. Developing countries are trying to keep pace with the changing technologies and adopting ICTs at faster rate; however the overall adoption rate is much lower than the developed world. Asian countries have experienced a rise in the use of ICTs in the recent years, though the degree of expansion has varied among the countries. Internet adoption rate is very slow among developing countries. From the above analysis, it is clear that there are millions of peoples in this world who do not have access to Internet, telephone, mobile phone etc. due to various reasons. Their inability to access ICTs deprives them to reap the benefits of ICTs. This has let to a serious issue ‘Digital Divide’ between those who are participating in information technology revolution and those who are not (United Nations, 2006). In the recent past, the digital divide has attracted the attention of both scholars and policy makers for its economic, social and political consequences.

METhodoloGy

From the above discussion it is clear that the concept of digital divide has many dimensions. Many technological and non-technological gaps can be considered. Added to this, there are many ways to measure the gap of digital divide. The present paper is focused on India and tries to explore the macro aspect of digital divide in India. The paper tries to explore the problem of digital divide within India. Thus, in the context of the present paper digital divide essentially means tele-density, mobile and Internet divide between the rural and urban areas. The main objective of the present paper is to study the problem of digital divide in the Indian context and address the challenges in bridging the gap of digital divide. The study also makes an attempt to identify the causes of digital divide in India. Further, in the end, an attempt has been made to suggest the policies to address the challenges of bridging the gap of digital divide in India. The present paper has been divided into five

Digital devide in india, Exercises of Mass Communication

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Partial preview of the text

Download Digital devide in india and more Exercises Mass Communication in PDF only on Docsity!

InTroduCTIon

digital divide in India:

Measurement, determinants and

Policy for addressing the Challenges

in Bridging the digital divide

aBSTraCT

METhodoloGy