Hyderabad, April 9 -- By Moumita Barman

As India races to digitise everything from welfare delivery to citizenship documentation, the promise of Digital India is proclaimed as a great equaliser-bridging divides, bringing governance closer to the people, and powering a trillion-dollar digital economy. But underneath this narrative lies a more uncomfortable truth: the digital push has not only left behind large sections of the population, it has also deepened existing inequities.

The Development Policy and Practice conference, organized by the Centre for Development Policy and Practice (CDPP) in Hyderabad, held on March 28, brought this issue to the forefront. Osama Manzar, founder of the Digital Empowerment Foundation (DEF), assessed Ind...