How the economically marginalised navigate digital adoption in India amid the pandemic · Global Voices
Image via EngageMedia. Used with permission.
This article is part of Pandemic of Control, a series that aims to further public discourse on the rise of digital authoritarianism in the Asia-Pacific amid COVID-19. Pandemic of Control is an initiative by EngageMedia, in partnership with CommonEdge. This edited version of the article by <PERSON> and <PERSON> is republished in Global Voices under a content partnership.
The COVID-19 pandemic sped up the adoption of digital technologies by five years. However, the pivot towards digitisation is excluding those with little to no access to digital services. As part of its pandemic response, India implemented one of the strictest lockdowns in the world, forcing citizens to access most basic services digitally. While a small percentage of the population was ready to jump into the digital world, the majority had no choice but to scramble to access these digital resources in the first place, leaving them vulnerable to exploitation.
In India, 84 percent of the population has access to mobile phones, but only 43 percent have internet access. This disparity also exists in terms of age, location, gender, caste and language, among other factors. Indian women are 15 percent less likely to own a mobile phone, and 33 percent less likely to use mobile internet services than men.
The digital divide affects the most vulnerable in rural areas. According to the 75th round of the National Sample Survey, only 13 percent of people over five years of age in rural areas have the ability to use the internet, compared to 37 percent in urban areas.
Perspectives from the ground
India's abrupt call for lockdown triggered a mass migration of informal workers across different states. Many resorted to walking when there was no transport. Image via <PERSON>. CC0.
In March 2020, when the Indian government announced an unplanned nationwide lockdown with a four-hour notice, 90 percent of the country’s workforce — informal workers — faced a huge crisis. 803
Around 80 percent of the workers were stranded in various parts of the country with less than INR 100 (USD 1.27) in hand. Fellows of the Stranded Workers Action Network (SWAN), a group advocating for migrant workers’ issues, shared how they felt about the push for digital adoption in accessing basic social services.
<PERSON>, 27, is a trained nursing support staff from Simdega, Jharkhand, and also a SWAN fellow. She believes digital adoption can be beneficial, citing how she has been able to help people from her community register online for their e-shram cards (a social security scheme for unorganised sector workers). However, she said that knowing how to use these online registration portals is limited to a select few.
In theory, people can register for various government schemes and certificates by themselves. In reality, however, the use of online systems has led to the creation of a whole set of middlemen, including private vendors with a computer and internet connection, offering to undertake the registration process for a fee. <PERSON> talks of how this setup monopolises information in the hands of a few. To register for a certificate, for instance, one needs to supply an identification document and proof of address, uploaded onto online portals through these private vendors. But the workers face an uncertain wait for a document that may or may not reach them. They have no mechanism to track the progress of their applications, forcing them to rely on private vendors.
While not ideal, <PERSON> says non-digitised processes offered them options, such as using their social connections and personally following up with officers. She adds:
[Now] we don’t know what is going on online, nor do we know how to follow up on an application, and are left at the mercy of the operators to tell us what’s happening.
<PERSON>, another worker from Jharkhand, echoes the same concerns. While the implementation of technology can be helpful, he feels that it isn’t of much use for villagers so far. <PERSON> cites an example: those who do not know how to do mobile banking by themselves get hoodwinked into sharing these details with middlemen, sometimes resulting in people losing money from their accounts.
Read More: Exclusion in access to public information for marginalized groups in India
The main problem that emerges from these narratives is not that of corruption or delays — for it can be argued that this can happen in any system. The glaring issue is that the common person has been completely left out in a digital society, excluding them from exercising their basic rights and entitlements. To solve systemic inequities, technocratic solutions like digital adoption have been touted as the end solution for all systemic problems — including the problems posed by COVID-19 mobility restrictions. 607