ANALYZING THE DIGITAL LITERACY IN INDIA

AND WAYS TO IMPROVE IT

Digital India

"Digital literacy is not the next big thing; it is the new big thing."
Digital Literacy means having the skills you need to live, learn, and work in a
society where communication and access to information is increasingly
through digital technologies like internet platforms, social media, and mobile
devices.

In today's digital world, nearly every career requires digital communication at

some point. The current COVID-19 outbreak has made the need for digital
literacy and digital connections more apparent. With uncertainty and unease
across the globe and millions working from home, there's an increasing
spotlight and pressure on technology to keep countries worldwide.

During these difficult times, educational institutions showed how to efficiently

utilize their time by holding online classes on various meeting apps (Zoom,
Microsoft teams, Cisco WebEx). This was made possible by the digital literacy
of teachers and students alike.
 Video Conferencing Apps

Digital literacy is fast becoming a vital job skill at all levels of an organization.
Developing digital literacy and a chosen discipline can help employees and
job candidates develop the hard and soft skills for which employers are
looking. Digital literacy is a direct pathway to becoming a competitive
candidate in today's workforce.

For the future to be digital, the digital world's knowledge and the technology
involved are crucial. Our country, which has just started climbing up the ladder
of development, struggling to take a step forward, digital literacy is a distant
dream.
We have almost 40% of the population below the poverty line, the general
illiteracy rate itself is 25 to 30%, and digital illiteracy is more than 90%. The
digital divide in India is another significant road-blocks on the path of digital
literacy.

Only 20.1% of people in all of India can use internet facilities. The presence of
high-speed internet is limited to towns and cities, while many villages struggle
to get a stable signal on their mobile phones. Also, the availability of
broadband is almost negligible in rural areas. As for online education, not only
many of the teachers are digitally incompetent, but a large number of them
also have never used an online environment to teach.

One of the key Digital India schemes 'Pradhan Mantri Gramin Digital
Saksharta Abhiyan' approved in February 2017 to make one person each in
six crores rural households' digital literate by March 2019. However, as on 31
December 2019, only 3.19 crore people have enrolled and out of which
training has been imparted to only 2.56 crore. Of this, only 1.88 crores have
been certified under the scheme.
Even though TATA, JIO, and FACEBOOK rolled out several initiatives and
projects for women and for low to bridge the gender and digital divide, but it's
still a long way to go.

But sheer will and focused minds can overcome all odds; let's try this time, not
as an individual but putting our Nation first.

If we all can have the same dream of "DIGITAL INDIA," we can indeed
achieve elevated Digital literacy standards. Making the masses aware of the
broad spectrum of functionality that they can have, with digital power in hand,
will surely make them crave accessibility.

Our government needs to emphasize proper implementation and regulate

deadlines of current existing policies and upcoming new policies in our favor.
To state a few

1) Emergence to increase the coverage of target from every day 6 crore

citizens, along with incentivizing to digital literacy training;
2) Subsidizing telecom operators to provide internet services to segments of
the population below the poverty line as well as for people living in remote
areas;

3) Better investments in infrastructure and broadband connectivity at the level

of villages;\
4) Strengthening data access, sharing, protection, privacy laws (digital
security is a primary concern of most people);

5) Establish an internationally recognized digital skill standard-setting body to

balance and supply of digital skills.

Next, comes our state governments, local governing bodies who safeguard
these policies, have to modify a bit to develop better-integrated projects
making them circle rural areas more.

6) Conduction of free webinars at district levels for people related to different

sections, for example - business people employing around 20 or more
employee, firm managers, leaders of various small non-government people
organizations running in a rural household, to seed the very idea of
importance to elevate digital literacy and how it can help their sectors;

7) Another webinar for school teachers focusing first to make them digitally
competent and then help develop alternative programs such as MOOCs
(Massive Open Online Courses) eventually;
 MOOCs

8) To develop some schemes, incentives to be awarded to those people who

follow the above guidelines.

9) To set up a regulatory body among the above people to re-evaluate

progress being achieved at every step.
We must not lose hope, and we should help our brethren as we all are part of
this great Nation. A smart blend of online and offline teaching can help in
bridging the digital divide. With the growing use of smartphones by all
categories of people can also help serve as a tool to provide digital literacy.
Moreover, modern-day youth is aware that digital literacy places them in a
better position to earn a job.
Last but the most important group is us, who are reading this article and who
somehow know how this Digital World works. A request from the entire
Sakonsa family to analyze people in your immediate surrounding and teach
them. A suggestion to women and our senior citizens who limit themselves
and consider them to be old enough not to start something fresh.

"YOU ARE NEVER TOO OLD TO SET

ANOTHER GOAL OR TO DREAM A
NEW DREAM"