At UN, India Calls For Action On Twin Digital Divides

UNITED NATIONS: While "growth of information and communications technologies (ICT) over the past decade has exceeded all expectations," India's Ambassador to the UN Asoke Kumar Mukerji said, the digital divide continued.

"A more significant facet to this digital divide," he said, was that in low-to-medium income countries fewer women had access to the internet compared to men. "This lack of access is giving rise to a second digital divide, one where women and girls risk being left further and further behind," he warned.

Mukerji was speaking at a session of the UN General Assembly's Economic and Financial Committee on information and communications technologies for development, where he also reiterated that "as a multi-cultural, multi-ethnic and democratic society", India was fully committed "to the free growth of the internet".

Underlining the gender digital divide, Mukerji cited statistics from the International Forum on Women, ICT, and Development convened by the U.S State Department last year in Washington, which said that women were 23 percent less likely than men to use the internet in low-to-medium income countries.

Invoking the "transformative potential of the 'mouse'", Mukerji said that "by applying enhanced ICT for women in education, healthcare, clean drinking water, and energy, we can significantly empower their role as force-multipliers in society".

He held out the "Digital India" programme as an example of how to work towards this goal.

"To overcome digital divide and enable the penetration of internet in the rural areas, the programme envisages the provision of high-speed internet as a core utility in all village assemblies. It will promote universal digital literacy and cradle-to-grave digital identity. It will enhance e-governance through the provision of all government services in real time from online and mobile platforms."

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