Section Article

Data Poverty as Social Poverty: Rethinking Deprivation in the Digital Welfare State
Author(s): Prof. Hridaan

Abstract
The expansion of digital welfare systems has transformed the ways in which citizens access public services social protection subsidies and development opportunities. However unequal access to digital devices connectivity skills reliable information and data-enabled institutions creates a new form of deprivation that may be understood as data poverty. This paper examines data poverty not merely as a technological disadvantage but as a multidimensional form of social poverty that can reproduce existing inequalities. Drawing on the capability approach digital inequality literature and social exclusion perspectives the study explores how digital barriers influence access to welfare participation dignity and citizenship. The paper adopts a qualitative and conceptual methodology supported by secondary evidence from policy documents development reports and scholarly literature. It argues that digital welfare can unintentionally transform technological exclusion into institutional exclusion when access to essential services becomes dependent on digital capabilities. The study proposes a rights-based and inclusion-oriented framework for addressing data poverty.