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Bridging India's Digital Divide during COVID-19 Requires a Comprehensive Strategy

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AutorApar Gupta - Sidharth Deb
Ocupação do AutorLawyer and the Executive Director of the Internet Freedom Foundation (IFF) and is a 2020 Ashoka Fellow for Social Entrepreneurship - Policy and Parliamentary Counsel at the Internet Freedom Foundation and works at the intersection of technology, law, regulation and governance
Páginas47-59
47The Value of Internet Openness in Times of Crisis
PART 1
COVID-19 has forced the world to retreat and the internet has become more in-
tegral than ever before. The internet supports people to work from home, take
online classes, stay in touch with loved ones, and access essential facilities. These
essential facilities include e-payments, e-commerce, videoconferencing, instant
messaging, critical information sites, e-medicine, social media, general enter-
tainment, e-governance, etc. It also supports the continuing operation of insti-
tutions within government and the judiciary. These manifold applications of the
internet convey the urgency for policymakers to support people on the wrong
side of the digital divide.
Access to the internet and telecommunications is a prerequisite for social dis-
tancing. When India’s Prime Minister announced a national lockdown, there
were waves of reverse migration from rural to urban centres. Osama Manzarob-
serves1that many of these people travelled in large groups disregarding social
distancing protocols. This was because many did not have access to functional
mobile phones. Reasons for this included not:
• Paying mobile bills;
• Recharging prepaid subscriptions;
• Accessing functional devices; or
• Having sufficient power in mobile devices.
THREE
Apar Gupta
Sidharth Deb
Bridging India’s Digital Divide during
COVID-19 requires a Comprehensive
Strategy
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