Can smartphones for women in Chhattisgarh help in economic development?

Can we expect women to use their Sanchaar Kranti Yojana phones to improve their children's lives in some way?

In a remote village in Chhattisgarh, over 200 women lined up outside a government office, each holding a small, orange ticket. One by one, they shuffled into and out of the office, replacing their ticket with a smartphone. Excited new phone owners gathered in groups outside the hall talking about how they would use the phone.

This scene was not unique to one village. All across Chhattisgarh through September 2018, the state government was giving a smartphone to one woman in each rural household. The programme, entitled Sanchaar Kranti Yojana (SKY), or the Telecommunications