#Contest: Digital Access
When I started my undergraduate course in 2018, I still understood the scope of how much dependent I was going to be on the Internet and sure enough, a week into my journalism course, I realised that not only did I need the Internet for my assignments but I also needed it to be upto date with everything happening in the world.
Suddenly I was on Twitter, following various news outlets and journalists for real-time updates. How I used the Internet changed completely for me. From rarely needing it for my school assignments to being fully dependent on it, life kind of changed completely.
When I was in my 4th semester in my course, Covid 19 hit. College was shut down. Classes shifted to online mode. Now all of a sudden, even to attend our classes we needed the Internet. For someone who had the privilege and access to the internet, it did not make much of a difference to me. But it wasn’t only me who was affected by this shift.
In my own house, I realised that I was able to afford a laptop, but my younger brother could not. Whenever he had to attend to an assignment, he would wait for my classes/assignments to be completed and then borrow the laptop from me. As it became a routine, we devised a method to allow us enough time with the laptop. Again. We could do this because we had the essential tools to continue our education. My cousins, who were in classes 10th and 8th in 2020, struggled to keep pace with their classes because they could afford only 1 device between them, and only one could attend their class simultaneously.
As the lockdown eased down, they were able to get another device, but it did not make much of a difference as the lack of regular Internet access meant that they had to go back to their old formula. Mobile data does not come cheap, and installing WIFI is expensive as well. The monthly budget changes completely, This was the story of the folks with some kind of resources but in July 2021, another reality hit me.
I was admitted for a MA course at IIT Gandhinagar. During the online orientation, a couple of the seniors revealed to me that some of their batchmates have to go out of their way to attend classes. One of the seniors living in one of the remotest areas in India used to travel for more than 10 KMs in the morning and get to an area where she could find the slightest network to join her classes.
She had to wake up early in the morning, make breakfast for herself, cycle for thirty-forty minutes and then attend her classes. Attending online classes wasn’t just the only problem for her. When it came to assignments, she was one of the students who suffered the most, not because she was lazy or incapable but because of a lack of resources at her disposal.
I dropped out of the course within one week for personal reasons, but even after dropping out, I could not get rid of the thought of someone having to struggle for their education so much. Living in the capital of India and with most resources at my disposal, I never bothered to understand my privilege.
But these last three years taught me a lot. In fact, during my undergraduate course, when I had a course on caste and religion, I did not factor in the inequality in access to the internet.
Faheema Shirin R.K vs State of Kerala and Others
As I was reading more about this, I came to know about the Faheema Shirin R.K vs State of Kerala and Others.
In this case, The Kerala High Court ruled that the prohibition on the use of mobile phones in a women’s dormitory was an arbitrary limitation on the freedom to access the internet, the right to privacy, and the right to an education. Fareema Shirin, a student, filed the lawsuit after being told to vacate college dormitories for failing to comply with a rule prohibiting cell phone use during certain hours.
The Court relied on international conventions to determine that the hostel had an obligation to protect women’s online freedom of speech and that digital resources provide essential chances for inexpensive and inclusive education, which is required to improve students’ careers. This order came in September 2019, and as it was deemed to be part of fundamental rights, one would assume that the various state governments and the Central government would take appropriate steps to increase internet penetration in the country. Still, in August 2019, the government of India banned the internet in the state of Jammu and Kashmir as they announced the removal of Article 370.
In the case of Anuradha Bhasin v. Union of India case, the Supreme Court of India held that freedom of expression online enjoyed Constitutional protection. These two judgements are landmark judgments in that they establish that the right to the Internet is indeed a part of the fundamental rights.
But the question is access to the internet with such diversity and inequality in the country is accessible to all. My own personal experience does not give a rosy picture. Now even if technology is growing at a rapid pace, the majority of the Indian population still does not have access to even basic internet facilities. Even within the group, gender divide, caste divide and other factors mean that some people even can’t afford a smartphone, let alone the Internet.
The rapid rise of AI
Even as the likes of Jio and Disney fight over the figures for who is watching the IPL on what platform, digital or satellite, it is an established fact that there is a long way to go when the internet becomes accessible to all. When we talk about the internet, we cannot ignore the rapid rise of AI technology in recent times. Yes, there are question marks over how AI can change the future of work etc, but at this time, what it is definitely doing is helping those with the best resources to get ahead of the rest of the world.
Now even as the like of Airtel and Jio compete with each over who establishes the most 5g networks in the country, it is a fact that the majority can’t even access 2g internet. In terms of education and students, this creates a massive divide as those with access to the internet literally have the world in their hands while those without it are falling behind just because they cannot afford one of the basic necessities in the modern world.
Achieving Internet Equality is not that difficult.
Making the Internet accessible to all is not that difficult a task. Public-private partnerships can be a good starting point. Governments and private enterprises can work together to increase internet access, particularly in underserved areas. They can start by developing affordable internet infrastructure, such as laying fibre optic cables, setting up Wi-Fi hotspots, and building cell phone towers in under-served areas.
As discussed above, many people, particularly those in low-income neighbourhoods, may find the expense of internet connection expensive. Thus, lowering the internet connection cost is an important step towards making it available to everybody. Government subsidies or tax benefits for internet service providers can help achieve this. One of the other things through which internet equality could be achieved is by creating internet hotspots in the form of community centres in villages.
Creating community centres and public access points where individuals may have free or low-cost internet connections can assist in enhancing internet connectivity in regions where individual access may be limited. A centre like this could have helped the senior discussed above in the piece.
#Contest: Digital Access