Digital divide has been accentuated by the pandemic: Nilekani

BENGALURU: India’s digital divide has been accentuated by the coronavirus pandemic, Infosys cofounder and chairman Nandan Nilekani stated in a curated dialogue sequence with Anant Maheshwari, president, Microsoft India, held nearly on Tuesday.

“We need to make it possible for everyone can take part within the digital ecosystem…We need to design the functions in such a method that individuals who don’t have entry to the units can nonetheless take part,” Nilekani stated.

He cited the instance of Aadhaar which provides everyone a singular digital identification. Not solely that, the digital funds ecosystem has been in-built such a method that folks with function telephones can also profit by utilizing Aadhaar as an authentication mechanism.

Technology is the one method to attain the 1.3 billion individuals of the nation and supply entry to high quality healthcare, schooling, and monetary companies, Nilekani stated.

“While applied sciences like cloud may help create a scalable infrastructure, information and synthetic intelligence may help ship higher studying outcomes, financial institution loans, and well being diagnostics,” he added.

Digital skilling is a step in the direction of bridging the prevailing digital divide within the nation, stated Maheshwari.

As a part of this, Microsoft Corp. has helped over 30 million individuals in 249 international locations and territories acquire entry to digital expertise, of which shut to three million are from India, Maheshwari stated. This tops its preliminary aim of 25 million final June. Microsoft can be extending its dedication to assist 250,000 firms globally make a skills-based rent in 2021.

The announcement, made in March this yr, builds on Microsoft’s efforts to assist individuals by extending free LinkedIn Learning and Microsoft Learn programs and low-cost certifications that align to 10 of probably the most in-demand jobs all through 2021.

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