A recent national survey showed that Internet use had more than doubled in the past four years, and that COVID-related shutdowns contributed significantly to the increased demand for connectivity. Among the aged 15-65 population, 49% said they had used the Internet, compared to only 19% of the aged 15-65 population claiming the same in late 2017. This translates to 61% of households in 2021 using the internet compared to 21% in 2017.
Both surveys were conducted by LIRNEasia, a regional think tank working on digital policy issues. For the 2021, LIRNEasia partnered with ICRIER, an economic policy think tank based out of New Delhi.
The 2021 survey showed that over 130 million users came online in 2020 and 2021. Of the nearly 80 million who started using the internet in 2020, 43% or over 34 million said they started doing so because of needs brought about due to the COVID crisis.
With nearly half the population using the internet, it is natural to ask if the internet helped Indians to study, work and access other services during the various rounds of national, regional and localized lockdowns experienced in 2020 and 2021. We see that digital connectivity indeed helped facilitate access to education, work, health services inter alia.
Sixty four percent (64%) of all households with enrolled school-aged children had internet access while the remaining 36% didn’t. Among the first group (households with internet), 31% of children were likely to receive remote education of some kind, while only 8% of the second group (households without internet) said they received some kind of remote education.
A similar trend was seen in accessing healthcare. Among the people that needed to access healthcare services during the pandemic, 65% of those with internet access were able to access healthcare while only 52% without internet were able to access healthcare.
But a closer examination of the numbers shows that existing inequalities continued to influence the digital divide. For example, while connected households with kids had more access to remote
education, these were the richer, more urban households with a more educated head of household and access to big-screen devices (e.g., computers, tablets). Meanwhile, the majority of the households that received no education were poorer with less access to large screen devices (instead relying on mobile phones).
When it came to being able to work remotely during the shutdowns, only 10% of those employed said they were able to work remotely. Not surprisingly, higher percentages belonged to those whose jobs fell under the categories of finance, insurance, information technology, public administration, and other professional services.
The survey was conducted by LIRNEasia, a regional think tank working on digital policy issues across the Asia Pacific, and ICRIER, a policy-oriented economic policy think tank based out of New Delhi. The survey findings were released at a virtual launch event conducted on 12 November 2021, which included a panel discussion with leading government, private sector and civil society representatives. Panelists included Dr. Jaijit Bhattacharya (President, Centre for Digital Economy Policy Research), Abhishek Singh (President & CEO, National e-Governance Division, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology), Nishanth Baghel (Director of Technology Innovations, Pratham) and Helani Galpaya (CEO, LIRNEasia). The discussion was moderated by Dr. Rajat Kathuria (Senior Visiting Professor, ICRIER).
“If we only think of people getting connected, India is making great strides. But systematic and structural changes are needed before the real benefits of ‘Digital India’ reach people,” said the CEO of LIRNEasia, Helani Galpaya. “Seven percent of people who did not work from home during the lockdown indicated that they could have, but their supervisors didn’t allow it. Workplaces do need to think of modern, hybrid ways of working. Similarly, in education, few schools were ready for remote teaching in the first (2020) lockdowns. Unless digital technology is incorporated into teaching on a day-to-day basis, it is difficult to suddenly start using digital means of teaching during a lockdown or other crisis situation.”
According to Dr. Rajat Kathuria, Senior Visiting Professor at ICRIER, “The survey results confirm what we presumed all along. There has been a huge uptake of digital services during the pandemic much above what trends foretold. That is a positive. What is equally clear however is that the benefits of increased digitization have been unevenly spread across the geography and population. Trickle down to lower income groups and laggard regions is not a given and will require policy support. For meaningful and relevant societal impact policies must recognize localized socio-economic challenges such as availability of infrastructure, relatable and vernacular content. The journey to digital inclusion must look at an expansive understanding of access which goes beyond laying fibre and providing cheap smartphones-the latter is necessary but certainly not sufficient”
