Digital Literacy means having a set of skills to understand and use digital technologies creatively for meaningful actions. Digitally literate individuals are able to operate computers, tablets, smartphones, send and receive emails, browse the internet, access Government Services, search for information, undertaking cashless transactions, etc. In other words, they use IT to take part in the process of nation-building.
Facts & Figures ( According to a report by Internet and Mobile Association of India ):
• With 451 million monthly active Internet users, India is now 2nd only to China.
• The female internet users’ population is half of their male counterparts.
• According to the report, in India, about two-thirds of Internet users fall in the age group of 12-29 years.
Initiatives:
• Pradhan Mantri Gramin Digital Saksharta Abhiyan (PMGDISHA): This program envisages making at least one person digitally literate in every rural household. In an increasingly advanced world, it is the need of the hour to impart skills to adults with low technological literacy.
• Internet Saathi program: It is a digital literacy initiative of Google India and Tata Trusts. It is aimed at empowering females in rural India, has the potential to reach about 2.6 lakh villages across the country. The focus is on making technology an integral part to smoothen the process of change.
• Bharat Interface for Money (BHIM): Being a part of India’s Digital India initiative, it is a payments app. This facilitates the users to do quick transactions using Unified Payments Interface (UPI). It allows one to make direct bank payments to any bank account with the help of UPI ID and PIN.
The app was developed by National Payments Corporation of India. It was launched by PM Modi in December 2016 to realize a digitally empowered society. It is worth noting that India is the 2nd largest online market in the world, ranked only behind China.
By 2021, there will be over 600 million internet users in India.
• We Think Digital: In February 2020, Facebook launched its ‘We Think Digital’ program. The tech giant would provide digital literacy training to one lakh women across seven states. Earlier in 2019, Facebook and Jio announced ‘Digital Udaan’, a literacy program to remove information asymmetry barriers.
The initiative of ‘Digital Udaan’ aimed to empower digital literacy in India. It takes the assistance of audio-visual training.