Impact of digitisation on Rural India
The
Sayjal Thukral
Amity School of Business, Noida
ABSTRACT
The digital revolution has created many opportunities in India.
Internet penetration rate is very high in India which has led to
India operating digitally. The Indian government is working on
key projects such as Smart City, Make in India and Digital
India. Internet penetration rates are increasing in rural areas but
this increase is less than the rate of internet penetration in urban
areas. The purpose of this paper is to understand the policies
implemented by the Indian government to increase the online
self-employment of people in rural areas. There is a strong
need to transfer digital knowledge to the rural areas of India by
creating a balance between urban India and rural India and its
success inspires the government to take the next step in
promoting digital production in rural India.
OVERVIEW
Considered primarily an agricultural economy, India is
developing very rapidly. It has now become a knowledge
economy. It has the world's largest pool of scientists, doctors,
engineers and experts in every field. Until a few years ago,
India's state-of-the-art metropolises were developed.
evolution of the information and communication technologies
(ICT) revolution in India has created a technological divide
between many companies and well-educated, urban areas and
rural areas in India, enjoying the benefits of ICTs, these
technologies were not accessible or affordable for the majority
of the population. This divide is exacerbated by deeply rooted
gender and social class differences that determine who can and
cannot use technology. Despite recent Liberalization,
Privatization and Globalization since 1990, accessibility is also
hampered by language barriers and lack of appropriate content
and practices in local languages. But that is not the case now.
Rural areas of India are also developing at a very rapid rate.
It is a well known fact that digital India is the result of many
innovations and technological advances. These will transform
people's lives in many ways and strengthen society for the
better. 'Digital India' programme, an initiative of the Honorable
Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, will reveal and produce new
advances in every sector innovative efforts for geNext. The
reason behind the concept is to create a participatory,
transparent and responsive structure system. The digital India
drive is a project of the Government of India to transform India
into a knowledgeable economy and digitally empowered
society with good governance for citizens by bringing
synchronization and coordination to the public digitally
connect and deliver government programs and services to
mobilize information technology among government
departments. Every nation today wants to go fully digital and
this is program tries to provide equal benefits to the user and
the service provider.
7. According to ET data, 80 per cent of the country's rural
CURRENT SITUATION OF DIGITISATION IN
RURAL INDIA
1. Currently only 20.26% of rural India and 64.84% of
urban Indian population have internet access.
2. 80% of the rural population and 35% of the urban
population in the country have not yet adopted the
digital payment method.
3. Digital bill payments are not available to residents of
remote villages with minimal banking facilities and
proper infrastructure.
4. The rural population of India is about 70% of the total
population of the country. According to a McKinsey
report, despite urbanization being the mainstay, the
rural population will make up 63% of India's total
market by 2025.
5. The country's rural economy also contributes about 46
per cent to national income. It represents the huge
potential and sustainable growth of rural India in the
market. Unfortunately, there is a lack of infrastructure,
digital poverty, low skill development, illiteracy and so
on. Such problems create a lot of difficulties in the
development trajectory.
6. According to an IAMAI report, only 20.26% of rural
India and 64.84% of urban India currently have access
to the Internet. However, rural residents in India are not
as isolated from the Internet as they used to be. The
'first generation of mobile' still exists in rural India.
population and 35 per cent of the urban population have
not yet adopted the digital payment method. It reflects
the centuries-old digital gap in rural India. Failure to
adopt digital payment systems is preventing India's
rural population from entering the mainstream.
MOST & LEAST AFFECTED STATES
1. Chhattisgarh tops the list of digital states in
India, according to a research report that puts
Maharashtra, Haryana, Andhra Pradesh and
Madhya Pradesh in the top five.
2. The report, titled 'India's Digital States 2019 - A
Comparative Analysis' by Coyote Age,
estimates 37 states and Union Territories across
the country in two broad framework frameworks
- Policy and Infrastructure Readiness (PIR) and
Mission Mode projects. (MMP) Performance.
The evaluation uses 128 parameters in PIR and
MMP. 15 state-specific MMPs were considered
for the study.
3. The second and first in the 2019 Report Series
was published in October 2017. In 2017,
Madhya Pradesh topped the list, but in 2019 it
was ranked 5th. Chhattisgarh rose from 4 to 3
 seats in 2017 to 1 in 2019. Haryana rose from 7
out of 10 seats in 2017 to 3 in 2019.

4. Goa, Bihar, Chandigarh and other states and

Union Territories of Assam topped the rankings.

5. Dr Singh said, “Digital India is gradually

strengthening its grip across the country. A
phenomenon that was concentrated in some key
states, mostly from the south and west, is now
spreading with the involvement of the north,
east and northeast. Is. "

6. 37 States and Union Territories fall into one of

The report is based on data from 22 states and seven
four groups - Leading (7), Ascending (9),
union territories.
Hopefully (12) and Lagging Digital States (9).

7. In Assam, Gujarat, Uttarakhand, Bihar, Madhya

Pradesh and Jharkhand, 40% to 70% of school
children do not have access to digital devices,
according to a survey by the Union Ministry of
Education. The ministry’s survey documents the
response to the epidemic’s challenges. While the
School Education Industry Initiative 2020-21
report shows an unequally wide digital divide in
some key states, some have solved the problem
nicely by providing appropriate television sets
and smartphones. However, the report is still
incomplete as states like West Bengal and Uttar
Pradesh have not provided the data and
Rajasthan says it does not have students without
digital access.
GOVERNMENT INITIATIVES
UNDERTAKEN TO BOOST RURAL
DIGITAL INFRASTRUCTURE
1. Apart from the growing number of internet users
in India's rural areas, there is a huge digital
divide between urban and rural India. According
to a recent TRAI report, internet penetration in
rural India was almost 33% compared to 99% in
Urban India. This gap stems mainly from two
things - a lack of infrastructure and awareness.
2. To close this gap, the Indian government has
launched the "Digital India" program One of the
main goals of this program is to develop digital
infrastructure in the country and especially in
Rural India.
3. To promote digital awareness, the Indian
government introduced the ‘Pradhan Mantri
Gramin Digital Saksharta Abhiyan’ under the
‘Digital India’ program with the aim of enabling
six Indians living in rural India to learn about
digital recognizing that agricultural technology
programs are a necessity for an hour, the Indian
government has introduced the ‘Kisan Suvidha’
application with approximately 100 million
registered users. This app helps farmers with
relevant information about current and future
five days, market prices, vendors, agricultural
advice, and crop protection. Feeling great, a few
startups like SatSure, CropIn, Niruthi, AgRisk
also come into the space. These digital
government initiatives and programs assist
farmers in planting and monitoring crops,
capturing and analyzing a variety of data points,
including crop, soil, and climate data, all of
which can help decision-making and facilitate
access to crop insurance and institutional credit.
4. While agriculture offers great potential, the rural
financial sector is also on the cusp of digital
transformation. Over the past five to six years,
many policies and financial programs aimed at
inclusive rural growth have been developed by
government. Aadhaar, a unique biometric index,
a zero balance of Jan Dhan savings bank
accounts, direct transfer of public interest
payments, and BHIM's digital payment
infrastructure are some of them. Bank account
revenue has grown from 54% in 2014 to 80% in
2018 after these plans.
5. Increased banking growth presents an important
opportunity for beginners and existing players
especially in the payment and distribution of
financial products space. Beginners like Jai
Kisan technology and FIA close the digital gap
in rural India by providing financial products
and services. Existing players, such as Paytm
have also expanded their services and claimed to
be present in more than 3 lakh locations in
India. The company also claims to have more
than 30 lakh retailers who accept digital
payments in small towns.
6. Recognizing that internet connection is a major
obstacle to digital payments in rural India, the
Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is also moving
 forward to find offline solutions. Offline
payments are activities that are processed offline
or where the transaction is recorded offline and
processed at a different time. In August 2020,
the RBI launched a small payment system (up to
Rs 200) in offline mode in retail stores.
analytics, machine learning, blockchain, cloud
computing and artificial intelligence (AI) that
will be used to deliver products outside of cities
and rural areas.
FINDINGS AND ANALYSIS

7. A few payment companies have already started

 Agriculture
making offline solutions before the RBI
announcement. Google Pay has partnered with
Digital integration into agriculture can play an
Pine Labs in 2019 to allow merchants to initiate
important role in empowering farmers.
payment requests by dialing a customer mobile
Platforms like e-choupals are active in many
number on their PoS devices, while Paytm
regions. This provides easy communication
introduces a Tap-to-Pay (NFC-based) card via
between farmers and professionals. Some
2018, where customers could load money. on
farmers in Andhra-Pradesh also use web-cams
the card, online or offline, and pay merchants by
in their fields to pass on their crop to experts for
tapping the card at the merchant terminal.
advice. Alternatively, ‘e’ and ‘m'platforms may
be used to market them elsewhere in the
8. These government programs and efforts from
country. Additionally, they may be informed of
the private sector are a major step towards
the various strategies and incentives offered by
digital deployment in rural India, but affect a
small percentage of rural people. As the
penetration of smartphones and the use of
mobile data grows in rural India, governments,
regulatory bodies, financial service providers
and fintech companies need to work together to
unlock India’s digital digital potential. The next
few years will see an increase in the distribution
of new digital technologies such as big data
the government.
 Health Care
Improving health care systems especially child
and maternal care will go a long way in boosting
self-esteem in rural areas. Once these facilities
are in place, they will not be forced to rush to
cities for emergency medical care and routine
checkups. Digitization can play a major role in
this phase. Website for doctor visits during
pregnancy, pediatric immunization program etc.
it may be kept by a local health care provider.
They may send automatic reminders about this
to the registered cell phone numbers of family
members. In this way, better tracking is
possible. In this way, health records can be kept
to a minimum and provincial governments can
obtain a quick summary of the public health
situation. They will better equip you to promote
health promotion programs and improve health
care facilities. Money and other resources can
then be transferred to lower levels to improve
the quality of life of the nation as a whole.
 Education
It is believed that education enhances personal
knowledge and skills. It provides means of
subsistence. The broader view is that it expands
human horizons and begins to think of the great
good of humanity. Education serves as a
powerful binding force that can help bridge the
gap between rural areas. Advances in ICT play
an important role in providing access to the
world of languages, mathematics, science, etc.
Once we are able to develop primary schools in
rural areas and meet the needs, a new hope can
be put in place. Rural people will be assured that
their wards will have a bright future. With the
advent of digital and the help of trained
consultants, rural setting can be further
strengthened.
Rural arts and crafts also have great potential for
promotion and recognition to the masses. Both
can be improved with the help of digital or
electronic media. Nodal agencies may be
established under the direction of Gram
Panchayats to provide assistance if needed.
Otherwise local artisans may organize
themselves under the umbrella of the All India
Artisans and Craftworkers Welfare Association
(AICA). These institutions, as well as export-
promoting councils, can create sustainable
consumer relations and raise awareness about
the arts and crafts of our rural crafts.
CHALLENGES FACED
Almost everyone on Facebook has modified
their profile pictures to support digital India but
to make it real here is a list of challenges in
using India India. The challenges are in all areas
from policy making, to changing the workflow
to changing the mindset of government officials.
It is a technological change in a very mixed
nation. A few of them are listed below:
 Remote Connections: It is a huge
undertaking to have connections with
each village, city and city. The
communication problem is a complex
one because all countries have different
laws regarding their operation. It is also
a challenge for key authorities to create a
website where so much information can
be stored.
 High Level of Digital Illiteracy: Digital
literacy is rampant in many cities and
villages in India. Cities have embraced
digital innovation but are limited to a
certain extent. Complete digital signage
is a daily chore, using the internet to get
government certificates. This requires
administrative changes, tax changes and
changes in public opinion. So it is a team
task that combines citizen responsibility
with support for the new system.
 Cyber Crime: There is a cyber threat
worldwide and digital India will not be
different. We therefore need a strong
online crime team that maintains a
database of information and protects it
day and night.
 Interdepartmental Coordination: In
government there are different
departments that need to be integrated.
Integration has a technical and business
problem. Business in the selfish sense of
 officials and employees of our resolved with digital India but its
government services is a barrier to integration is a huge undertaking. It is
change. And the middle class policy will not only a technical question but also a
be completely abolished because of question of privacy and security.
digital India, which is why there will be
close opposition to working class
workers.

 Real Neutrality: The story is on the table

and we are blindly following digital
India. Complete neutrality should also
ensure that digital India without
complete neutrality can be a major
contribution to Indian business and
citizens.

 Change of Thinking: This point will

appear in the picture when you allocate
the necessary resources and assets but
when it comes to implementing them,
most of them will be reluctant to change.
People are accustomed to years of the
same practice that they are not ready to
change.
 Information Exchange: The database
must also be used by other government
offices. For example police, surveillance
and other security issues can be easily
CONCLUSION
Digital digitalization in rural India gives
a very good picture. But that is not the
case. There are a lot of problems and
challenges to come. The discussion of all
of this is beyond the scope of this paper.
But it can be said that the Indian farmer
is no longer traditional and illiterate. It
turns out that whenever he gets a chance
he has made full use of the available
technology and benefits from it.