Bridging Digital Divide in India : Positive Outlook Amid COVID-19

Authors

  •   Indu PhD Scholar, School of Commerce, Finance and Accountancy, Christ (Deemed to be University), Hosur Road, Bhavani Nagar, S.G. Palya, Bengaluru - 560 029, Karnataka
  •   Greeshma Benny Thadikaran PhD Scholar, School of Commerce, Finance and Accountancy, Christ (Deemed to be University), Hosur Road, Bhavani Nagar, S.G. Palya, Bengaluru - 560 029, Karnataka
  •   Karthigai Prakasam Chellaswamy Associate Professor, School of Commerce, Finance and Accountancy, Christ (Deemed to be University), Hosur Road, Bhavani Nagar, S.G. Palya, Bengaluru - 560 029, Karnataka

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.17010/pijom/2022/v15i6/170026

Keywords:

COVID-19

, Digital Divide, Digital Literacy, And Internet Access.

JEL Classification Codes

, I24, O14, O18, O33, L86.

Paper Submission Date

, June 20, 2021, Paper sent back for Revision, May 6, 2022, Paper Acceptance Date, May 20, Paper Published Online, June 15, 2022.

Abstract

The digital divide is described as the gap in access to, knowledge of, use of, or ability to comprehend information and communication technology (ICT) between different societal groups. The digital divide can often give way to an upsurge in social inequalities. This study intended to comprehend the extent of the rural-urban digital divide in India regarding access to the internet and to analyze the increase or decrease in the same due to the global coronavirus pandemic. The analysis of the paper was primarily based on secondary data collected from the report on “The Indian Telecom Services Performance Indicators†issued by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India for June 2019 and June 2020. Percentage analysis was employed to comprehend the trend of the digital divide in terms of access for the years 2019 and 2020. The results disclosed that there was an increase in internet access in the rural population during the time frame of COVID-19, and this increase has led to a decrease in the digital divide in terms of access to the internet. Moreover, the study revealed that COVID-19, to some extent, has resulted in bridging the rural-urban digital divide in India in terms of access. The study further highlighted the importance of digital literacy and access to ICT, and suggested ways to improve digital literacy in India.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Author Biographies

Indu, PhD Scholar, School of Commerce, Finance and Accountancy, Christ (Deemed to be University), Hosur Road, Bhavani Nagar, S.G. Palya, Bengaluru - 560 029, Karnataka

ORCID iD : https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0335-5694

Greeshma Benny Thadikaran, PhD Scholar, School of Commerce, Finance and Accountancy, Christ (Deemed to be University), Hosur Road, Bhavani Nagar, S.G. Palya, Bengaluru - 560 029, Karnataka

ORCID iD : https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5234-1630

Karthigai Prakasam Chellaswamy, Associate Professor, School of Commerce, Finance and Accountancy, Christ (Deemed to be University), Hosur Road, Bhavani Nagar, S.G. Palya, Bengaluru - 560 029, Karnataka

ORCID iD : https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8527-7222

Downloads

Published

2022-06-14

How to Cite

Indu, Thadikaran, G. B., & Chellaswamy, K. P. (2022). Bridging Digital Divide in India : Positive Outlook Amid COVID-19. Prabandhan: Indian Journal of Management, 15(6), 46–56. https://doi.org/10.17010/pijom/2022/v15i6/170026

Issue

Volume 15, Issue 6, June 2022

Section

Articles
Crossref
Scopus
Google Scholar
Europe PMC

References

Aissaoui, N. (2021). The digital divide: A literature review and some directions for future research in light of COVID-19. Global Knowledge, Memory and Communication, Ahead-of-Print. https://doi.org/10.1108/GKMC-06-2020-0075

Antonio, A., & Tuffley, D. (2014). The gender digital divide in developing countries. Future Internet, 6(4), 673 – 687. https://doi.org/10.3390/fi6040673

Arora, A. K., & Rathi, P. (2019). Determinants for the adoption of digitalization by manufacturing SMEs in India: An empirical study. Prabandhan: Indian Journal of Management, 12(8), 7–21. https://doi.org/10.17010/pijom/2019/v12i8/146410

Azubuike, O. B., Adegboye, O., & Quadri, H. (2021). Who gets to learn in a pandemic? Exploring the digital divide in remote learning during the COVID-19 pandemic in Nigeria. International Journal of Educational Research Open, 2, Article 100022. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijedro.2020.100022

Bala, S., & Singhal, P. (2018). Gender digital divide in India: A case of inter-regional analysis of Uttar Pradesh. Journal of Information, Communication and Ethics in Society, 16(2), 173–192. https://doi.org/10.1108/JICES-07-2017-0046

Bansode, S., & Patil, S. (2011). Bridging digital divide in India: Some initiatives. Asia Pacific Journal of Library and Information Science, 1(1), 58–68. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/236141535

Bashir, M., & Verma, R. (2016). Business model innovation : Past, present, and the future. Prabandhan: Indian Journal of Management, 9(1), 8–20. https://doi.org/10.17010/pijom/2016/v9i1/85729

Cancella, J. L. (2020, September 21). Bridging the digital divide. International Trade Forum. https://www.tradeforum.org/news/Bridging-the-digital-divide/

Chetty, K., Aneja, U., Mishra, V., Gcora, N., & Josie, J. (2018). Bridging the digital divide in the G20: Skills for the new age. Economics, 12(1), 20180024. https://doi.org/10.5018/economics-ejournal.ja.2018-24

Chetty, K., Qigui, L., Gcora, N., Josie, J., Wenwei, L., & Fang, C. (2018). Bridging the digital divide: Measuring digital literacy. Economics, 12(1), 20180024. https://doi.org/10.5018/economics-ejournal.ja.2018-23

Deursen, A. J. (2020). Digital inequality during a pandemic: Quantitative study of differences in COVID-19-related internet uses and outcomes among the general population. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 22(8). https://doi.org/10.2196/20073

Fang, M. L., Canham, S. L., Battersby, L., Sixsmith, J., Wada, M., & Sixsmith, A. (2019). Exploring privilege in the digital divide: Implications for theory, policy, and practice. The Gerontologist, 59(1), E1–E15. https://doi.org/10.1093/geront/gny037

Ghosh, A., Nundy, S., & Mallick, T. K. (2020). How India is dealing with COVID-19 pandemic. Sensors International, 1, Article 100021. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sintl.2020.100021

Gran, A.-B., Booth, P., & Bucher, T. (2021). To be or not to be algorithm aware: A question of a new digital divide? Information, Communication & Society, 24(12), 1779–1796. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2020.1736124

Hohlfeld, T. N., Ritzhaupt, A. D., Barron, A. E., & Kemker, K. (2008). Examining the digital divide in K-12 public schools: Four-year trends for supporting ICT literacy in Florida. Computers & Education, 51(4), 1648–1663. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2008.04.002

Kaur, K., & Neena. (2014). Pattern of inter-state digital divide in India. Economic Affairs, 59(3), 379–388. https://doi.org/10.5958/0976-4666.2014.00006.0

Krueger, D. C., Stone, D. L., & Lukaszewski, K. M. (2018). Age and the digital divide. Journal of Strategic Innovation and Sustainability, 13(3), 75–84. https://doi.org/10.33423/jsis.v13i3.620

Kuc-Czarnecka, M. (2020). COVID-19 and digital deprivation in Poland. Oeconomia Copernicana, 11(3), 415–431. https://doi.org/10.24136/OC.2020.017

Kumar, A. (2021). Research note on online learning in India – Issues and challenges. Prabandhan: Indian Journal of Management, 14(8), 40–46. https://doi.org/10.17010/pijom/2021/v14i8/165678

Kumar, P., & Kumra, R. (2021). Rural self employment training institutes in India : A systematic review. Prabandhan: Indian Journal of Management, 14(10), 38–49. https://doi.org/10.17010/pijom/2021/v14i10/166643

Lai, J., & Widmar, N. O. (2021). Revisiting the digital divide in the COVID-19 era. Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, 43(1), 458–464. https://doi.org/10.1002/aepp.13104

Malhotra, C. (2014). Bridging digital divide : Special emphasis on rural India. Productivity, 55(3), 276–285. https://www.proquest.com/docview/1702090627

Min, S.-J. (2010). From the digital divide to the democratic divide: Internet skills, political interest, and the second-level digital divide in political internet use. Journal of Information Technology & Politics, 7(1), 22–35. https://doi.org/10.1080/19331680903109402

National Statistical Office, Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, Government of India. (2019). Key indicators of household social consumption on education in India (NSS 75th Round). https://ruralindiaonline.org/en/library/resource/key-indicators-of-household-social-consumption-on-education-in-india-nss-75th-round-july-2017-june-2018/

Nedungadi, P. P., Menon, R., Gutjahr, G., Erickson, L., & Raman, R. (2018). Towards an inclusive digital literacy framework for digital India. Education + Training, 60(6), 516–528. https://doi.org/10.1108/ET-03-2018-0061

Onitsuka, K., Hidayat, A. R., & Huang, W. (2018). Challenges for the next level of digital divide in rural Indonesian communities. The Electronic Journal of Information Systems in Developing Countries, 84(2), Article e12021. https://doi.org/10.1002/isd2.12021

Otioma, C., Madureira, A. M., & Martinez, J. (2019). Spatial analysis of urban digital divide in Kigali, Rwanda. GeoJournal, 84(3), 719–741. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10708-018-9882-3

Pick, J., & Sarkar, A. (2016). Theories of the digital divide : Critical comparison. In 2016 49th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS), (pp. 3888–3897). IEEE. https://doi.org/10.1109/HICSS.2016.484

Priya, D. M., Prashanth, J., & Indira, A. (2019). Sustainability of small merchants through digital technologies. Prabandhan: Indian Journal of Management, 12(1), 8–20. https://doi.org/10.17010/pijom/2019/v12i1/141424

Ramsetty, A., & Adams, C. (2020). Impact of the digital divide in the age of COVID-19. Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association, 27(7), 1147–1148. https://doi.org/10.1093/jamia/ocaa078

Rogers, E. M. (2003). Chapter 1 - Elements of diffusion. In, Diffusion of innovations (pp.1-22). The Free Press.

Sampath Kumar, B. T., & Shiva Kumara, S. U. (2018). The digital divide in India: Use and non-use of ICT by rural and urban students. World Journal of Science, Technology and Sustainable Development, 15(2), 156–168. https://doi.org/10.1108/wjstsd-07-2017-0021

Siddiqui, T. A., & Siddiqui, K. I. (2020). Telecommunication, socioeconomic, and financial inclusion : An empirical evidence from Bihar. Prabandhan: Indian Journal of Management, 13(10–11), 46–61. https://doi.org/10.17010/pijom/2020/v13i10-11/156008

Singh, S. (2010). Digital divide in India: Measurement, determinants and policy for addressing the challenges in bridging the digital divide. International Journal of Innovation in the Digital Economy, 1(2), 1–24. https://doi.org/10.4018/jide.2010040101

Subudhi, R. N., & Palai, D. (2020). Impact of internet use during COVID lockdown. Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences Research, 2(S), 59–66. https://doi.org/10.37534/bp.jhssr.2020.v2.nS.id1072.p59

Swalehin, M. (2017). Digital divide and digital inclusive policies in India: A sociological study. International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development, 2(1), 232–238. https://doi.org/10.31142/ijtsrd5901

Tewathia, N., Kamath, A., & Ilavarasan, P. V. (2020). Social inequalities, fundamental inequities, and recurring of the digital divide: Insights from India. Technology in Society, 61, Article 101251. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techsoc.2020.101251

Tiwari, S., Kumar, S., & Guleria, K. (2020). Outbreak trends of Coronavirus Disease-2019 in India: A prediction. Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness, 14(5), E33–E38. https://doi.org/10.1017/dmp.2020.115

Tripathy, B., & Raha, S. (2019). Digital divide in India. International Research Journal of Engineering and Management Studies, 3(5), 1–4. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/334837555_Digital_Divide_in_India

United Nations. (2020). Policy brief: Education during COVID-19 and beyond. https://www.un.org/development/desa/dspd/wp-content/uploads/sites/22/2020/08/sg_policy_brief_covid-19_and_education_august_2020.pdf

van Deursen, A. J., & van Dijk, J. A. (2019). The first-level digital divide shifts from inequalities in physical access to inequalities in material access. New Media & Society, 21(2), 354–375. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444818797082

van Dijk, J. A. (2006). Digital divide research, achievements and shortcomings. Poetics, 34 (4–5), 221–235. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.poetic.2006.05.004

Warschauer, M. (2003). Demystifying the digital divide. Scientific American, 289(2), 42–47. http://www.jstor.org/stable/26060401

Wong, Y. C., Fung, J. Y. C., Law, C. K., Lam, J. C. Y., & Lee, V. W. P. (2009). Tackling the digital divide. The British Journal of Social Work, 39(4), 754–767. https://doi.org/10.1093/bjsw/bcp026

Yadav, R., & Mahara, T. (2018). Ecommerce adoption : An empirical investigation in wooden handicraft SMEs of Saharanpur, Uttar Pradesh. Prabandhan: Indian Journal of Management, 11(8), 20–33. https://doi.org/10.17010/pijom/2018/v11i8/130642