TRANSFORMING SOCIETY: THE ROLE OF TECHNOLOGY IN SHAPING INDIA'S SOCIAL IMPLICATION LANDSCAPE
Keywords:
digital financial services, telemedicine, Digital technologies, final analysis.,,Abstract
Over the last 30 years technology has changed beyond recognition in India. Mobile connectivity and
digital financial services, telemedicine and artificial intelligence, technology has pervaded every
corner of its society. This article examines how these innovations are transforming India’s social
terrain breaking down institutions, redefining relationships and changing power equations. And it
looks at the use of technology to improve the delivery of public services, democratize access to
education and health care, transform the nature of work through the growth of gig platforms and
empower marginalized communities through initiatives around digital inclusion. At the same time, the
paper critically examines how this deepening of the digital divide is contributing to strengthening and
entrenching the existing rough inequalities of caste, class, gender and geography. Employing concepts
of technological determinism, modernization theory and socio-technical systems theory, the study
deconstructs the emancipatory potential as well as the exclusionary impact of technology transfer into
Indian society. Methodologically, the paper integrates qualitative case studies with quantitative
evidence from national and international sources to offer a multi-dimensional picture of change.
Digital technologies, which promise so much in the way of facilitating a fairer and more efficient
society, are extensively enmeshed in social and political processes. It makes the case for a more
democratic baseline technology agenda that looks beyond access gaps, to matters of privacy,
participation and governance. In the final analysis, the research supports or challenges many popular
debates in relation to the technology and social change thesis and provides specific policy
recommendations that can be embedded within the context sensitivity of the Indian societal fabric.
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