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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | COVID-19: Distress calls from migrants reveal India’s digital divide -Kundan Pandey

COVID-19: Distress calls from migrants reveal India’s digital divide -Kundan Pandey

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published Published on Apr 24, 2020   modified Modified on Apr 29, 2020

-Down to Earth

Communication between migrant workers, their family members has come to a standstill

April 14 usually marks the traditional new year for many communities in India. This year, amid muted celebrations, the Union government launched a system to connect thousands of schools online. This when thousands of migrant workers didn’t have enough money to talk on their phones.

Welcome to India’s digital divide — the new, improved post-COVID-19 lockdown version.

Amid talks on making essentials available, mobile telephony may not make much of a mark. But it is something that this country of (presumably) 1.3 billion people have made essential for itself. Particularly its large, ever-increasing community of migrant workers.

Families staying apart have come to depend on mobile telecommunication. Most of them use prepaid accounts to stay connected. In the absence of work, they are left with hardly any money to top their accounts up.

According to Jan Sahas, a non-profit working with the under-priviledged, 1,500 of 22,000 distress calls it received were requests to top up mobile phone accounts.

Jan Sahas — in a bid to help the workers — established a call centre where migrant labourers can place calls and not be charged.

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Down to Earth, 24 April, 2020, https://www.downtoearth.org.in/news/science-technology/covid-19-distress-calls-from-migrants-reveal-india-s-digital-divide-70672?utm_source=Mailer&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=Down%20To%20Earth-3148


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