A public policy bridge across the digital divide
The pandemic has underlined the need to reduce inequalities in internet access. A public-private partnership can show the way
Arjun Goswami and Navya Alam | July 20, 2021
(Illustration: Ashish Asthana)
There has been an active debate globally and in India about the digital divide. This debate has gained additional weight during the Covid-19 pandemic because the acceleration of the need for digital access to health and other social services has thrown this issue into sharper relief. A critical public policy challenge which arises from the digital divide, when the private and public sectors are both necessary but neither sufficient by itself, is how to design an effective public-private partnership (PPP) model as a bridge across the digital divide. This article attempts to answer that question and also why a well-designed PPP bridge across the digital divide can reset the debate on responsible digital conduct between states and technology companies.