JanDPI

JANDPI MANIFESTO
VOICES FROM THE GROUND
Endorse JANdpI

Centering People in Digital Public Infrastructure

JanDPI is a flagship call-for-action initiative by the Digital Empowerment Foundation, grounded in the principle that public infrastructure must be, and is, designed to serve people. Notably, every case story of a DPI that is popularly told reflects people’s efforts to get included in the DPI system, rather than the DPI reaching the masses at their doorsteps.

  • Publiction

    Centring the ‘People’ in Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) Connecting the Unconnected is a monthly column by the Digital Empowerment Foundation (DEF) that explores how technology…

    Read more: Publiction

Because a right without meaningful digital access is no right at all.

Digital systems are reshaping how citizens access services and interact with the state. But as Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) scales, are we building it for people, or expecting people to adapt to it?

JanDPI is a movement to reframe DPI as a public good, rooted in equity, dignity, and accountability.

The question is no longer whether technology can reach millions.

Across the world, DPI has become the backbone of governance, payments, and identity systems. From Aadhaar to UPI to DigiLocker, India is celebrated as a global leader.

Yet beneath this expansion lies a growing tension.

As digital systems scale, efficiency is often prioritized over equity, and access is assumed rather than ensured. For millions, those excluded by poverty, geography, disability, language, or digital illiteracy, these systems remain distant, complex, or inaccessible.

It is whether it can meaningfully include them.

The numbers behind the urgency.

915M People in rural India — only ~10% use UPI regularly
200M Rural artisans, largely unconnected
200M Dalits navigating digital welfare systems
144M Agricultural workers, most unconnected
104M Tribal community members
3.5M Handloom and handicraft workers
2M ASHA workers serving rural healthcare 

40–50% of India’s population is excluded from digital systems due to limited availability, inaccessibility, unaffordability, or insufficient capacity.

Jan means people.

JanDPI challenges the dominant narrative that treats citizens as passive users of systems. It calls for a shift toward people-centric infrastructure, where systems are designed to respond to the diverse realities of communities, rather than expecting individuals to adapt.

A people-centric DPI is one that enables the poorest of the poor — the unconnected, the illiterate, people with disabilities, and marginalised communities — to access services as a matter of right.

JanDPI is a rights-based vision like the right to food, water, education, and information. It insists that public digital infrastructure must be of the people, by the people, and with the people.

These are the realities that must shape DPI design.

“My attendance is the employer’s responsibility.”

“I pay bribes to middlemen.”

“I walk kilometres for digital access.”

“I cannot read or write.”

A truly people’s DPI ensures that grievances do not arise in the first place.

Digital Empowerment Foundation (DEF), India

JanDPI is an initiative of the Digital Empowerment Foundation (DEF), a not-for-profit that has spent over two decades working at the intersection of digital access, rights, and grassroots empowerment in India.

Our work on JanDPI is not theoretical. It is rooted in 24+ years of on-ground experience with the very communities that India’s digital systems too often leave behind.

DEF brings to JanDPI:

✓ Two decades of grassroots presence across 2,400+ locations
✓ Direct engagement with artisans, ASHA workers, panchayat members & marginalised communities
✓ A nationwide network of Community Information Resource Centres (CIRCs) and Soochnapreneurs
✓ A track record of policy advocacy on digital rights and inclusion
✓ Deep relationships with civil society, government, and the global DPI community