Digital divide
Topic: Transparency, Accountability and e-Governance · NCERT: Beyond NCERT
Meaning
The digital divide is the gap between people who have devices, internet and digital skills and people who do not. In India, it runs along income, region, gender, age, disability and language. It matters because more and more welfare and services are moving online. When welfare is "digital by default", it can shut out the very people it is meant to help. Remedies include Common Service Centres (village kiosks), assisted access, where someone helps the user, and offline options.
Example
NFHS-5 (2019-21) found that only about a third of women had ever used the internet, against over half of men. A woman in a village without a smartphone may then struggle to apply for a scheme that can be applied for only online.