Digital Empowerment/ Digital Literacy in India (Model Essay)

Literacy

Digital Literacy refers to that kind of ability which is used to gain information and communication technology. The more a country is digitally literate, the more developed it is considered.

India is the second-largest country in the world. Almost 6,50,000 villages and 2,50,000 Panchayats are there in the country represented by three million Panchayat members. Almost 20-25% population is illiterate and as far as digital literacy in the country is concerned, almost 90% of the population is digitally illiterate.

On the one hand, the country boasts of being the World’s second-fastest-growing mobile market next to China, it lags behind when there arises the matter of internet connectivity in the country; however, some telecom companies are making one stride after the other in spreading their network across the country. According to the Internet and Mobile Association of India (AIMA) Report, by the end of 2019, the number of Internet Users will have touched the height of 627 Million. Every year, the rate of Internet users is increasing in double digits. So in this situation, the users’ private data are always at risk; cyber crimes are on the rise causing a lot of fear among the users as regards their data leak or stealth.

Hence, in this grim situation, Digital Literacy is a must; so the government of India launched the Digital India Campaign to transform the country into a digitally empowered society and economy. In this context, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology initiated the National Digital Literacy Mission (NDLM) as a means of realizing the vision of Digital India in the year 2014. It has the aim of imparting digital literacy to 52.5 lakh Indians including one in every eligible household in selected blocks in every State and Union Territory of the country. The number of digitally literate will be increased phase-wise and thus enabling people to fight against any digital fraud and at the same time making them fit for the country which is moving fast into the era of Digital Revolution.