In this present world of booming communication technology, there is a need to search about the reach of the communication media to the common people. All are screaming of the revolutionary development in the field of communication. However, a detailed study in this field reveals that, it is not a digital boom that is created, but a digital divide.
The digital revolution has not been able to act as a digital equalizer. Mainly in developing country like India, the digital boom have created two extremes of groups- info-rich and info-poor. When the 80 percent of the people living in developing countries earn only 20 percent of the global incomes, they are running far away from the doors of telecommunication infra structure. In a democratic country like India, where all are to be treated equal, digital divide is an upcoming national crisis that creates inequality.
To explain, digital divide is the gap between those who have access to the latest information and communication technologies and those who do not. It is not only the lack of physical access to technology that made the digital divide, but also the absence of access to other resources that leads them to know about these technologies. Many see this digital divide as the failure of the development initiatives as well as the failure of the government.
The major causes for the digital divide in India includes the technological factors, language and literacy factors, financial or economic factors, government and political will etc. in developing country like India, the poor state of telecommunication network especially in the villages is the major barrier for the internet usage. There is a wide telecommunication gap between rural and urban sectors within the country. While the total tele-density rose to 15.44 percent in 2006, the rural tele-density rose to 2 percent, the urban tele-density to 31 percent. This needs to be viewed in a position with the fact that 73.2 percent of the Indian population resides in villages while, 26.8 percent resides in urban areas. There will be an estimated 71.6 million internet users in India by 2011, representing 6.0 percent of the population.
Digital divide questions one’s right to communicate. It is the right of any individual, community and society to communicate more specifically through the media. But the digital divide becomes a hindrance for the ‘info-poor’ group in India. Both in the international and national scenario, digital divide are creating an imbalance in the information flow. If only a digital equalizer is formed between the info-poor and info-rich, we can attain a democratic communication system.
In India, though new technologies in information and communication have brought about major changes in the world, the disparities remain wide spread. In India, 26 percent of population still lives below the poverty line and 40 percent of the population is illiterate. Ours is a large semi-literate populated nation, in which hardly 0.5 percent of the population has a personal computer.
The sensationalism and commercialization of digital media technology aims at upper class urban rich families which again makes a hindrance for the technology and information to reach down to the common public. As far as new media is concerned, it has an immense potential in development. But the exclusion of common people of who are poor, illiterate and rural, from the world of digital improvisation holds back the balanced communication scenario in the country.
As far as market forces are concerned, the private sectors have slowly spread technology to middle-income groups. But, when it fails to see that it is the under developed group in the developed countries that is to be focused for a technological revolution, the divide is perhaps widened. In addition, government policies, instead of meeting short-term demands, should provide coherent long-term plan to narrow up this technological divide.
Now, it should be the time for the government and the technological giants to think in another way. By focusing on the rural, under-reserved people who forms the major part of population, the technological and political powers should be able to reach the destination of the real digital revolution. The techno-divide should be dealt with more consciousness and government should find a solution for the widened threat of this digital divide.
The digital revolution has not been able to act as a digital equalizer. Mainly in developing country like India, the digital boom have created two extremes of groups- info-rich and info-poor. When the 80 percent of the people living in developing countries earn only 20 percent of the global incomes, they are running far away from the doors of telecommunication infra structure. In a democratic country like India, where all are to be treated equal, digital divide is an upcoming national crisis that creates inequality.
To explain, digital divide is the gap between those who have access to the latest information and communication technologies and those who do not. It is not only the lack of physical access to technology that made the digital divide, but also the absence of access to other resources that leads them to know about these technologies. Many see this digital divide as the failure of the development initiatives as well as the failure of the government.
The major causes for the digital divide in India includes the technological factors, language and literacy factors, financial or economic factors, government and political will etc. in developing country like India, the poor state of telecommunication network especially in the villages is the major barrier for the internet usage. There is a wide telecommunication gap between rural and urban sectors within the country. While the total tele-density rose to 15.44 percent in 2006, the rural tele-density rose to 2 percent, the urban tele-density to 31 percent. This needs to be viewed in a position with the fact that 73.2 percent of the Indian population resides in villages while, 26.8 percent resides in urban areas. There will be an estimated 71.6 million internet users in India by 2011, representing 6.0 percent of the population.
Digital divide questions one’s right to communicate. It is the right of any individual, community and society to communicate more specifically through the media. But the digital divide becomes a hindrance for the ‘info-poor’ group in India. Both in the international and national scenario, digital divide are creating an imbalance in the information flow. If only a digital equalizer is formed between the info-poor and info-rich, we can attain a democratic communication system.
In India, though new technologies in information and communication have brought about major changes in the world, the disparities remain wide spread. In India, 26 percent of population still lives below the poverty line and 40 percent of the population is illiterate. Ours is a large semi-literate populated nation, in which hardly 0.5 percent of the population has a personal computer.
The sensationalism and commercialization of digital media technology aims at upper class urban rich families which again makes a hindrance for the technology and information to reach down to the common public. As far as new media is concerned, it has an immense potential in development. But the exclusion of common people of who are poor, illiterate and rural, from the world of digital improvisation holds back the balanced communication scenario in the country.
As far as market forces are concerned, the private sectors have slowly spread technology to middle-income groups. But, when it fails to see that it is the under developed group in the developed countries that is to be focused for a technological revolution, the divide is perhaps widened. In addition, government policies, instead of meeting short-term demands, should provide coherent long-term plan to narrow up this technological divide.
Now, it should be the time for the government and the technological giants to think in another way. By focusing on the rural, under-reserved people who forms the major part of population, the technological and political powers should be able to reach the destination of the real digital revolution. The techno-divide should be dealt with more consciousness and government should find a solution for the widened threat of this digital divide.
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