India is one of the most populous countries, with an estimated population of 1.4 billion. Yet, the internet adoption rate is approximately 50%, meaning about 700 million Indian citizens are not privy to the Internet’s modern benefits. 

India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi champions the utility of equitable internet access in what he dubs “the war against poverty,” celebrating the increase in the opportunity afforded to children (providing low-data costs for online lessons when the 2020 pandemic shut down physical education for two years) and vaccination campaigns which were run online that helped to curtail the spread of the virus; both examples demonstrate the importance of expanding internet adoption as far as possible. Fortunately, a handful of initiatives and organizations are already making ground in their efforts to bring the internet to India. 

Establishing Infrastructure 

Of the 700 million still offline, a large portion comprises 64% of India’s population designated as “rural.” In such areas, barriers to internet adoption lie not just in affordability for lower-income households but in inadequate infrastructure for the Indian power sector, which is often incapable of maintaining a consistent power supply to the various villages outside the reach of the main grids. This situation is why the efforts of companies such as Sterlite Technologies Ltd. (STL) can be so transformative. As specialists in optical networking, STL endeavors to expand high-speed internet to over 300,000 villages by 2024. STL has made strides with MIT to study methods of increasing internet coverage and is helping to develop 5G infrastructure that should strengthen connectivity in even the most remote corners.

The Digital India Campaign

Sometimes, the barrier to technological adoption is familiarity and utility, which requires convincing prospective users of the viability of new technologies and their potential “use cases” in daily life. To this end, the government-led “Digital India Campaign” was devised to bridge the digital literacy and adoption gap through various initiatives. The platform “e-Pathshala” is one such initiative launched as an app-based learning resource for schools. Another is the digitation service “Digilocker,” which provides a digital version of official documents such as Driver’s Licenses and Car Registration certificates. This distinct convenience measure alleviates some of the stresses of document maintenance. 

Teaching Internet Literacy

Bringing rural complications and digital literacy deficits together is “Internet Saathi,” a program that Google and Tata Trust run in partnership. Focused on teaching tech literacy to women living in rural parts of India, environments where women are often discouraged from engaging with technology, “Internet Saathi” trains up women as “Saathis,” the Hindu word for “Friend,” who are then paid a stipend to travel to nearby villages with smart devices and lessons on internet literacy. These Saathis instruct local women on how such tools can benefit their daily lives and why the types of opportunities they provide, be that educational opportunities or even just simple nutritional advice, all while economically supporting the tutors with a revenue stream. Today, “Internet Saathi” reported helping more than 20 million women with resources and education provided by more than 60,000 Saathis. 

Bringing the internet to India has been an expansive and multifaceted project juggling the interests of private companies and government programs, all collaborating to improve public infrastructure, and it is starting to pay dividends. Since 2007, the Internet adoption rate across India has shot up 44% from the relatively modest 4%. Still, there is a long way to go and many difficult branches of the country left to reach, both societally and geometrically, before India can consider itself sufficiently digitally saturated. Then, Prime Minister Modi’s plan to “Democratize technology” as a “Weapon in the war against poverty” can start to make a seismic and course-changing impact. 

– Brandon Murphy
Photo: Wikimedia Commons