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.

The Internet Is A Right, Not A Technology

Since 2002, Ashoka Senior Fellow Osama Manzar’s Digital Empowerment Foundation has been building community-driven digital infrastructure across rural India. They have mobilized more than 20 million people to bring Internet connections and digital literacy to roughly 100 million people. Subhashish Panigrahi sat down with him to explore their plans to universalize Internet access as a human right.

Read the condensed interview on Forbes