India’s digital infrastructure has yet to overcome the hurdles of accessibility for its remote and differently-abled communities, before digital access as a fundamental right can be exercised in reality, policy experts noted
Earlier this month, the Supreme Court, in a landmark judgement, stated that right to digital access is a fundamental right under the right to life and liberty.While this is not the first time that the apex court has acknowledged the need for digital access, Apar Gupta, Founder-Director of the Internet Freedom Foundation (IFF), said this is the first time that digital access has been recognised beyond just internet access — as a constitutional right.
“Earlier, recognition for digital access has been particularly limited to access to the internet itself, for instance, the Anuradha Bhasin judgment concerning the legality of an indefinite internet shutdown,” said Gupta.
The affordability question
Going forward, Gupta advised policy-makers to approach the challenge of universal digital access as an initiative through paper-based process, especially considering declining tele-connectivity rates and lower mobile data and wired connections as per the telecom regulatory authority’s (TRAI) data.
“Price will also be an issue since we are very far from universal connectivity. Connectivity is not available for each person even in metropolitan cities in India,” said Gupta.
To Gupta’s point, Professor Amit Prakash, Head of Digital Humanities and Societal Systems at IIIT-Bangalore told businessline how even in the tech-hub of India, there are issues of bandwidth and reliable connectivity. This results in some people losing out on ration or verifying their biometrics.
Mahesh Uppal, Director of Com First (India), hoped that the court’s judgement will correct this disparity by indirectly pressuring the State to devise policies to ensure connectivity where it doesn’t exist and expedite where connectivity is already available.
In terms of existing policies like BharatNet, Uppal said there are concerns in terms of BSNL’s capacity to deliver the service, missed deadlines of the project, etc.
“We need to remove whatever barriers there are in the growth of BharatNet, whether they are managerial, related to technology or sourcing, etc.,” he said.
Structural gaps
The current licensing and authorisation regime fails to incentivise people to fill the connectivity and access gaps due to various approvals and guarantees required, Uppal said. He pointed out that interested parties may not have the funds, willingness, capacity, technology to deal with such larger issues.
Further, he pointed out that meaningful connectivity also requires an appropriate device and ensuring accessible and affordable services. Data from Counterpoint Research, a market research firm, show that nearly 200 million people in India are still using 2G and 230-240 million people continue to use feature phones.
“This is where the Digital Bharat Nidhi [formerly Universal Service Obligation Fund] reform can help. Operators should not just be asked to connect, but to develop markets in those areas. That will increase attraction to and stickiness to the service, which is what you want,” said Uppal.
When designing applications for digital access, Prakash stressed the need to think from the perspective of the people using the service. He asked designers to consider whether every person is able to understand and trust the application.
“What this ruling highlights and reiterates is that we’re probably not [considering] this very well, especially in case of marginal groups. Technology designers need to understand the people who are going to use their services,” said Prakash.
He argued that technology designers tend to assume that what works in corporate settings will also work for rural settings and often dismiss issues to people’s illiteracy rather than the incompatible design.
“That is something that policy can bring back: good design practices with respect to technology. You need to understand the context, governance and development motivations behind the need of a technology rather than saying our technology is what it is and it’s for everyone else to fall in line,” said Prakash. The Hindu BusinessLine