Digital divide
Topic: Sectors of the Indian Economy · NCERT: Beyond NCERT
Meaning
The digital divide is the gap between people who can get and use digital technology, such as phones, the internet and apps, and people who cannot. In India the gap runs along income, gender, region (rural vs urban) and age. It matters because services like payments, jobs, schooling and government schemes are moving online. People on the wrong side of the gap get left out, so digital growth is less inclusive, meaning fewer people share in it.
Example
A city college student applies for jobs and pays fees by UPI on a smartphone. A woman farmer in a remote village has no phone of her own and weak signal, so she cannot use the same services. The government's responses include BharatNet (broadband for villages) and digital-literacy missions.
Don't confuse with
- Digital economy: all the economic activity that runs on digital technology. The digital divide is about who is left out of it.