Welcome Change: Making Internet Access Universal in India

When the pandemic hit India, many of the country’s policies around vaccine roll-outs, online education and welfare services assumed universal Internet access and literacy. Yet, only 65% of households are connected, making essential services inaccessible to nearly one-third of the population. We’ve seen a pattern of exclusion repeated worldwide and exacerbated in rural areas.

Since 2003, Ashoka Senior Fellow Osama Manzar’s Digital Empowerment Foundation has been building community-driven digital infrastructure across rural India. They have mobilized more than 15 million people to bring Internet connections & digital literacy to roughly 100 million people.