Context: A recent report on the latest National Statistical Organisation (NSO) survey shows just how stark is the digital divide across States, cities and villages, and income groups.

• The survey on household social consumption related to education was part of the NSO’s 75th round, conducted from July 2017 to June 2018.

Key highlights of the report

• Across India, only one in ten households have a computer– whether a desktop, laptop or tablet.
• Almost a quarter of all homes have Internet facilities, accessed via a fixed or mobile network using any device, including smartphones.
• Most of these Internet-enabled homes are located in cities, where 42% have Internet access.
• In rural India, only 15% are connected to the internet.
• Delhi has the highest Internet access, with 55% of homes having such facilities.
• Himachal Pradesh and Kerala are the only other States where more than half of all households have Internet.
• Odisha, where only one in ten homes have Internet.
• States with software hubs such as Karnataka and Tamil Nadu have less than 20% Internet penetration.
• The NSO report shows that 20% of Indians above the age of 5 years had basic digital literacy, doubling to just 40% in the critical age group of 15 to 29 years
• NSO marks the biggest divide is by economic status by dividing the population into five equal groups, or quintiles, based on their usual monthly per capita expenditure. 
• Kerala shows the least inequality: more than 39% of the poorest rural homes have Internet, in comparison to 67% of the richest urban homes.
• Himachal Pradesh, with 40% of the lowest rural quintile having Internet.
• Assam shows the most stark inequality, with almost 80% of the richest urban homes having the Internet access denied to 94% of those in the poorest rural homes in the State.