Technology, Policy, and Inclusion

Technology, Policy, and Inclusion looks at the intersections between public policy and technology in India. It explores the barriers in instituting effective governance and development and examines how these can be mitigated through technological interventions in developing countries. Increased digitisation of the economy has added to the development challenges in India and issues such as exclusion and social inequality. This volume stresses the need for governments to leverage technology to bring more vulnerable and marginalised groups into the fold of financial and social inclusion. It also focuses on the importance of regulation for a responsible integration of technologies and minimising risks. The book includes examples and case studies from different areas including management of the COVID-19 pandemic through digital means, real estate digital infrastructure, digital census, e-markets for farmers, and government interventions that use technology to deliver financial services in remote areas of the country. It also outlines various solutions for fostering equity and socio-economic development. Part of the Innovations, Practice and the Future of Public Policy in India series, this volume will be of interest to students and researchers of public policy, political science, development studies, and sociology as well as policy professionals and technocrats. This book is freely available as a downloadable Open Access PDF at http://www.taylorfrancis.com under a Creative Commons (CC-BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license.

Anjal Prakash is the Clinical Associate Professor (Research) and Research Director at Bharti Institute of Public Policy, Indian School of Business (ISB), Hyderabad, India. Aarushi Jain is the Policy Director at Bharti Institute of Public Policy, Indian School of Business, leading educational initiatives, projects, government engagements and outreach activities. Puran Singh is an Associate Professor of Finance at the School of Management, Indian Institute of Technology Mandi (IIT Mandi), Himachal Pradesh, India. Avik Sarkar is currently associated with the Indian School of Business (ISB), Mohali, India, working and teaching in the areas of data, emerging technology, and public policy.

List of Figures vii List of Tables x Editor bios xi List of Contributors xiv Foreword xix Preface and Acknowledgements xxi 1 Technology and Policy: Points of Intersection 1 Anjal Prakash, Aarushi Jain, Puran Singh, and Avik Sarkar 2 Digital Governance: A Case of COVID Management in India 15 Aarushi Jain, Ankit Anand, and Isha Mahajan 3 Digital Census and Application of Advanced Technologies in Census: Perspectives from the Forthcoming Census of India 43 Abhishek Jain and Varinder Kaur 4 Envisioning Smart Real Estate Digital Infrastructure for Madhya Pradesh 75 Mausmi Hajela, Girish Sharma, and Sudhir Chaudhary 5 Critical Success Factors for Enabling a National Data Exchange Platform 116 Ankit Anand 6 Striving to Build Citizens' Trust in Digital World: Data Protection Bill (2021) of India 141 Charru Malhotra and Anushka Bhilwar 7 Digital Education Leading to a Digital Divide: As an Emerging Form of Inequality 162 Jyoti Sharma 8 Old Caste Exclusions and New Digital Divides 179 Anant Kamath 9 Improving Farmer Income through Digitisation: Analysing e-Markets 206 Abhisheik Vishwakarma and Amrita Chakraborty 10 Technology and Financial Inclusion: A Study of Technology's Role in the Continuity of Banking Agents 225 Sanal Gupta and Puran Singh Annexure- 1 249 Annexure- 2 251 Index 252