Key Findings of the survey:

• Across India, only one in ten households have a computer — whether a desktop, laptop or tablet.
• Almost 25% of all homes have Internet facilities, accessed via a fixed or mobile network using any device, including smartphones.
• Most of the Internet-enabled homes are located in cities, where 42% have Internet access. In rural India, however, only 15% are connected to the internet.
• 20% of Indians above the age of 5 years had basic digital literacy and just 40% in the critical age group of 15 to 29 years, which includes all high school and college students as well as young parents responsible for teaching younger children.
• The national capital has the highest Internet access, with 55% of homes having such facilities.

• Himachal Pradesh and Kerala are the only other States where more than half of all households have Internet.
• Odisha is at the bottom with only one in ten homes having Internet.
• There is less than 20% Internet penetration, even in States with software hubs such as Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.
• The biggest divide is by economic status, which the National Statistical Organisation (NSO) marks by dividing the population into five equal groups, or quintiles, based on their usual monthly per capita expenditure.
• Even in Odisha, almost 63% of homes in the top urban quintile have Internet facilities.
• In the poorest quintile of rural Odisha, however, that figure drops to an abysmal 2.4%.
• Kerala shows the least inequality with more than 39% of the poorest rural homes having Internet, in comparison to 67% of the richest urban homes.
• Himachal Pradesh also fares well, with 40% of the lowest rural quintile having Internet.
• Assam shows the starkest inequality, with almost 80% of the richest urban homes having the Internet access denied to 94% of those in the poorest rural homes in the State.

Why in News?

A recent report on the latest National Statistical Organisation survey shows just how stark is the digital divide across States, cities and villages, and income groups.

The survey on household social consumption related to education was part of the NSO’s 75th round, conducted from July 2017 to June 2018.

Reference:

1. https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/nso-report-shows-stark-digital-divide-affects-education/article32554222.ece