Governance, Digital Divide and Digital Exclusion @75 Years of India’s Independence

India, with the second-largest population in the world, has adopted the federal form of Government, and powers are divided between centre and state. But we can see a large divide in the society, around 70 percent of the wealth is still held by one percent rich people same is the case with the government schemes, their benefits and their success as the majority of the benefits goes to high-class society, and poor people are left behind. In this era of digitalization, this digital divide is still seen to a large extent which further hinders the growth of the backward regions of society; the major hindrance in the digital divide is due to digital literacy, which furthers comes due to general low level of literacy, lack of Infrastructure, required skill, brain drain, I.T infrastructure, Cyber-security, slow Grievance, and redressed system in the governance, conservative thinking, etc. With the strike of Covid-19, the dependency on digital platforms has become more robust. The Government has introduced many schemes for digitalizing the system and relentlessly making efforts to bridge this digital gap. Schemes like Digital India (2015), JEM trinity, e-Governance, Skill Development schemes, Bharat Net, launching various Applications, Atmanirbhar Bharat package, etc. though these initiatives have played a crucial role in bridging this digital divide gap, there are some challenges associated with it such as cyber threat, fear of loss of data, hacking, etc. in this era of digital world where artificial intelligence and robotics are taking the place of humans, India which is called the demographic dividend has a great opportunity to take India to the next level of development, but it can only be possible if the youth are skilled and government schemes reach to every corner of the society. Therefore, it is pivotal for India to bridge this gap so that every talent of this youth can be utilized. There is required a digital revolution to rationalize governance so that social, financial and political inclusion can take place. Then only the last man standing will be included in the mainstream development.