Towards Digital Inclusion
CCDS builds knowledge resources for social change. This website presents our research on digital inequality in India. Explore Our ResearchOUR RESEARCH
Towards Digital Inclusion
With the internet becoming essential for education, communication, livelihoods and government services and entitlements, access to the internet is no longer a privilege or luxury. Those who do not have access to the internet (or have rudimentary or limited access) will fall further and further behind in the digital age.
The CCDS study examines the extent of digital inequality in a rapidly-expanding Indian metropolis and explores the barriers to internet access for the poor and marginalised.
ICT@School
CCDS’s new research (2016–2018) aims to identify access to digital devices and internet at school, at home, and at the neighbourhood level for school children from low-income and socially excluded communities and the digital awareness and competency of these school students.
The research will also explore the enablers and barriers for ICT education at school.
DIGITAL EXCLUSION
Fifty-four percent of young Indians have never used a computer
ASER 2017, an annual survey of the status of education, reveals that 64% of 14–18-year-olds have never used the internet. It is a long road to a truly inclusive Digital India Seventy-three percent of youth aged 14–18 in rural India had used a mobile phone in the last...
read moreDigital inclusion: Definitions and status in India
India had 254.40 million internet subscribers by September 2014. That’s an internet penetration of 20.39 per 100. But the picture changes when you consider that 70.23% of them are narrowband subscribers and only 29.77% access a useful connection. Less than 6% of total...
read moreBottom of the BRICS heap
How does India, third largest economy in the world, compare with other BRICS nations on digital inclusion? There’s not one indicator – subscribers, penetration, affordability or speed – where India ranks anywhere close to the top. Digital India has some serious work...
read moreSTORIES FROM THE MARGINS
Zopadpatti re!
CCDS conducts media literacy workshops that not only help socially-excluded urban communities understand and use the internet, but also represent their voice online by creating their own content.
read morePhule Nagar: Connected
In a pilot project aimed at addressing digital inequality in urban India, 1200 low-income and socially-excluded households in Phule Nagar, Pune, have free WiFi internet access. To overcome barriers of age, gender, education and ICT skills,...
read moreLearning to connect
At one of CCDS's research locations, Mahatma Phule Nagar in Bhosari, Pimpri-Chinchwad, a pilot project managed by Telxess and supported by Ford Foundation, provides free wifi to all residents for an 18-month period. Computer literacy...
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