The internet has spun our survival in modern age. It has brought revolutionary changes like the way we interact, communicate and share our feelings with others. Now-a-days, everything is just a ‘click’ away from buying to billing, sharing to sending, discovering to designing and so on with a never-ending list.
Internet is embedded in each and every aspect of our lives and making our lives simpler and easier. In fact, among Indian States, Kerala is the first State that has declared ‘Right to Internet Access’ as a ‘fundamental right’. The aim of this initiative is to provide free internet for every household despite their status.
It is a colossal decision of the State that is planning to establish Wi-Fi transmission centers across the State for better connectivity. However, the internet is no longer a luxury for people as we consider world as a global city; so internet is a fundamental need of humankind as well as a basic necessity for a convenient life. Similarly, a recent study revealed that one out of three college students and professionals under 30 years believe that internet is a fundamental resource for the humankind; it is as important as other necessary resources like air, water, food and shelter.The process of digitalization made it possible for India to put itself in the forefront in terms of digital economy, knowledge economy and its presence worldwide.
India positioned in second rank in terms of internet connections to app downloads; the growth of its digital economy now exceeds many leading economies. In this race both the Government and private players are stirring rapidly to spread high-speed connectivity in order to attain the Indian consumers and business online marketing.
Recently, the Government’s biometric digital identity programmes and Aaadhar have registered 1.2 billion Indians and brought 10 million businesses into a common digital platform through GST. Undoubtedly, a massive 4.6 billion people today use the internet which has changed every facet of our lives dramatically and every aspect of human life can be carried out in an easier, more effective, via internet, resulting in fewer problems in one way, in comparison to life in 18th century.
A recent data on emerging economies stated that India’s digital adoption is faster than any other country.
This continuous digitalization process spread across many sectors such as digital communication services, electronic manufacturing, IT, business process management, energy, financial services, logistics, agriculture, education, healthcare and retail, as well as Government services and labour markets.
This digitalization process will help to double the GDP, demand supply, save cost and time and raise output and reduce fraud which will boost India’s economy in 2025. According to Statista report 2020, in India the number of internet users in 2015 was 302.36 million while in 2020 it was 696.77 million, just double in number. The same data projected that by 2025 the internet users will be approximately 974 million. The data also claims that the internet users in India’s urban and rural regions will surge as India has ranked second position in 2019 online market worldwide.
Similarly, analyzing the mobile data usage in India with other leading digital economies, India uses each month an average of 8.3 gigabits (GB) of data, compared with 5.5 GB in China and 8.0 to 8.5 GB in South Korea, an advanced digital economy.
As in December 2019, there were 358 Internet Service Providers (ISPs) which offered broadband and narrowband services in India. Out of which major players are Jio (51.60%), Airtel (23.24%), Vodafone Idea (19.77%) and BSNL (4.21%). Similarly, 2019 data also reveals that BSNL (51.75%), Airtel (10.80%), Atria Convergence Technologies (6.78%), Hathaway (4.01%) and Jio (3.83%) are five largest wired broadband providers in India, whereas largest wireless broadband providers are Jio (53.14%), Airtel (23.64%), Vodafone Idea (20.40%) and BSNL (2.68%).Discussing on the internet penetration, India’s internet penetration stood at around 38 percent out of which Delhi is at top with 69 per cent followed by Kerala at 54% and then by Punjab and Jammu & Kashmir. Due to the digitalization, it is easier to learn a new language, skill, and different methods with the access of Google search, podcast, or YouTube videos to nourish and flourish the knowledge.
In fact, institutions adopted new techniques such as quizzes, mock tests, online classes, talks and sample papers for better understanding of the concept of students. With the growth of digitalization, students started catering to their needs and preferences as there are plenty of online books available with wonderful graphics.
Not just for students, internet is an incredible tool for elderly people of our society. As family dynamics have changed over the time and children are staying away from their parents due to several reasons; so internet is working as a boon for senior citizens too. They can transfer money all over the world, pay bills, book a cab to travel and set up their regular appointments as per their need. It has numerous other benefits like communication with the doctors, chat with their loved ones and place an order via one click of the mouse. Apart from this, the internet is a channel that facilitates to grab a job as there are numerous sites that offer the scope to search the job in favour of your forte.
It also provides comprehensive and credible information to the jobseekers of unconventional or conventional job markets in overseas in detail. Further, it helps tourism sector to expand their wings by offering such facilities like online maps, e-booking, e-banking and so on.
As the nation-wide lockdown started in March with the spread of the pandemic, we realized how important the internet has been for each and every segment of the society. Gradually people started adjusting to new “normal” from online shopping, onling payment, online meetings, online working hours, online classes to online business etc. In a nutshell, internet has opened several doors to communicate, to teach, to learn, to meet, to earn and to shoulder our responsibilities from home.
Well, to our understanding, in the last two decades, the internet has transformed the way we live and perceive the things. Undoubtedly, it is a nightmare to imagine a day without internet as it has opened a magical world of information and knowledge to us and has a greater influence to run our day-to-day routines of life. It won’t be a hyperbole if we consider internet access as a necessity of modern life along with food, water and shelter.
(Dr Panda is Asst Professor (Law) at Xavier University, Bhubaneswar, biranchi@xub.edu.in/bnppanda2019@gmail.com, M: 9078879450/9953079450. Sharma is PhD Scholar (English), Siksha 'O' Anusandhan University, ishaasharma25@gmail.co)
