Digital technology has shifted empowerment from merely access to services towards access to information, opportunities and voice; however, its benefits depend on digital access, literacy and inclusion.

Digital Technology as an Enabler of Social Empowerment

• 1. Financial Autonomy: Digital payments and banking enhance economic agency among women, migrants and informal workers; JAM-UPI enables low-cost transactions without dependence on intermediaries.
• 2. Welfare Empowerment: DBT and Aadhaar-enabled delivery reduce dependence on middlemen and improve access to entitlements for poor, elderly, and vulnerable beneficiaries.
• 3. Educational Empowerment: Digital learning expands opportunities for rural, tribal, and disadvantaged students; DIKSHA and PM e-VIDYA provide learning resources beyond geographical constraints.
• 4. Healthcare Inclusion: Telemedicine improves access for remote communities and persons with mobility constraints; e-Sanjeevani enables remote doctor consultations, reducing distance barriers.
• 5. Women’s Agency: Digital literacy and connectivity strengthen women’s voice, livelihood choices and market access; the Sanchar Shakti initiative supported rural women and SHG members in using ICT for livelihood skills.
• 6. Tribal & Marginalised Livelihoods: Digital platforms connect tribal artisans directly to wider markets; platforms like TRIFED’s Tribes India facilitate digital marketing of tribal products.
• 7. Voice & Civic Participation: Portals like MyGov and CPGRAMS enable marginalized groups to express concerns and access grievance redressal channels directly.
• 8. Inclusion & Identity: Accessible digital services improve social participation for persons with disabilities, eliminating physical barriers to public information.

Digital Technology as a Source of New Exclusion

• 1. Access & Infrastructure Divide: Unequal connectivity and device access exclude remote communities; only 14.9% of rural households have internet access compared with 42% of urban households.
• 2. Gendered Digital Divide: Social norms constrain women’s access; NFHS-6 found only 64% of women aged 15–49 had ever used the internet, compared with 80% of men.
• 3. Technology-Induced Welfare Exclusion: Authentication and connectivity failures prevent genuine beneficiaries from accessing entitlements; a field study in Ranchi, Jharkhand documented biometric failures disrupting PDS ration distribution.
• 4. Cybersecurity Vulnerability: Greater digital dependence exposes citizens to fraud and online exploitation; NCRB recorded 86,420 cybercrime cases in 2023, of which 59,526 (68.9%) involved financial fraud.
• 5. Algorithmic & Accessibility Exclusion: Biased datasets and non-vernacular interfaces exclude low-literacy users and persons with disabilities.

Policy Approaches for Digital Inclusion in India

• Bridge Digital Divide (Access): Expand BharatNet for last-mile rural broadband connectivity.
• Build Digital Literacy (Skills): Scale PMGDISHA for vulnerable groups.
• Promote Inclusive Design (Equity): Deploy Bhashini and Sugamya Bharat for language translation and disability inclusion.
• Ensure Assisted Access (Support): Strengthen Common Service Centres (CSCs) for digitally excluded citizens.
• Protect Digital Rights (Trust): Implement the Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act, 2023 strictly alongside cybersecurity enforcement.

As Amartya Sen’s capability approach suggests, development is about expanding substantive freedoms; digital technology can fulfil this role only when access, capability, and inclusion accompany connectivity.