There is growing awareness about the internet in rural India, going by the findings of a latest study. There were 3.3 million active Internet users in India’s hinterland in March 2008, according to an ongoing, first-of-its-kind, survey by I-Cube 2008 (jointly undertaken by IMRB International, Internet and Mobile Association of India). That’s not all. As many as 5.5 million people claimed that they had used the Internet at some point in time.
There are no comparable figures available for previous years as Internet usage in rural India is being mapped for the first time. But it does appear that various government and private sector initiatives, especially the government-led National e-Governance Programme, have begun to have an impact. Says Subho Ray, President, IAMAI: “Penetration of Internet in rural India is directly related to the activities of the government and NGOs. Given the various government and private sector efforts to connect rural Indians, this was the right time for a survey to find out the state of affairs.”
However, the survey also points out that ensuring higher and faster adoption of Internet in rural India would necessarily entail generating content and applications in local languages, given the low percentage of English speaking people. Says Mohan Krishnan, Senior Vice President, BIRD (a specialised unit of IMRB International): “For Internet to flourish in rural India, the applications need to be in vernacular, preferably with ‘Text to Speech’ capabilities. It would be better if visual symbols, graphics and rich media applications are used. The key question is whether we have the right infrastructure to support these applications.”
Clearly, there are still significant obstacles to overcome before the Internet can spread rapidly in rural India.
—Rishi Joshi
