By SUNIL Sonkar

September 09 — The divide between rural India and urban population is very vast. It is well known also. The gap is in terms of economy, technology, literacy, development, and more. Now, according to research, it is with Internet also.

Research conducted jointly by Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) and IMRB finds that 84 percent of rural Indians are unaware of the Internet.

According to the research, 38 percent of rural population do not feel the need for internet and 31 percent of them do not have any access point to the internet.

22 percent of rural India has no electricity and 25 percent of the population has no internet connection.

The research also found that the internet penetration lacks in rural India because of lack of personal ownership of digital gadgets. Currently the rural population can only access internet through either cyber cafes or through common service centers (CSCs) and the percentage is seventy.

President of IAMAI Dr. Subho Ray said, “The high percentage of people in rural India who are not aware of Internet underlines the need for better infrastructure and schemes like CSCs and SWAN. Such schemes will go a long way in increasing the Internet penetration in rural areas.”