Technology that doesn't account for how people actually live locks them out
In a country of 1.4 billion people speaking hundreds of languages and navigating vastly unequal access to technology, the Indraprastha Institute of Information Technology Delhi has opened a Centre of Excellence in Human-Centered Computing — a quiet but consequential acknowledgment that technology designed elsewhere rarely fits the lives it is meant to serve. Led by professor Pushpendra Singh, the center asks a foundational question: what does it mean to build digital systems that begin with the human being, rather than expecting the human being to adapt? As India's essential services migrate irreversibly online, the answer to that question is becoming a matter not of convenience, but of survival.
- Millions of Indians were left stranded during the 2016 demonetization crisis when mobile payment apps — designed for a different kind of user — proved impossible to navigate for those with limited literacy or little digital exposure.
- The accelerating shift of government services, healthcare, and banking to digital-only platforms means that poorly designed technology no longer merely frustrates — it actively excludes people from necessities.
- IIITD's new center targets five high-stakes domains — health, education, privacy, smart cities, and sustainable development — each demanding solutions built around India's linguistic and cultural diversity rather than imported Western assumptions.
- The center will train the next generation of engineers to think human-first, offering courses, workshops, and conferences that embed user-centered design into the foundations of Indian technology development.
- Backed by the international DESINNO project and European partnerships, the initiative keeps its gaze firmly inward — building from the ground up for India's actual population, not adapting products designed for someone else.
In early 2022, IIITD opened a research center with a deceptively simple mission: build technology that actually works for Indians. The Centre of Excellence in Human-Centered Computing, led by professor Pushpendra Singh, was born from a recognition that most of the digital tools people depend on daily were designed in Silicon Valley or Europe, then shipped to a country of 1.4 billion people speaking hundreds of languages and living across vastly different economic realities.
The stakes are not abstract. When India demonetized its currency in 2016, millions of people suddenly needed mobile payment apps to survive — but the apps assumed a user who was already comfortable with screens, menus, and digital logic. Many people were not. That gap between what technology demands and what real human beings can do is precisely what human-centered computing tries to close: putting the user's needs and capabilities at the center of how a system is built, rather than building first and hoping people figure it out.
The center will focus on five domains — health technology, education platforms, privacy and safety, smart city infrastructure, and tools aligned with the UN's sustainable development goals. Singh's team will research how language, culture, and social habits shape the way people interact with technology, developing methods that guide engineers building for Indian users from the ground up rather than adapting Western products at the margins. The work will also feed directly into teaching, with courses, workshops, and conferences training future engineers to think this way.
The center emerged through the DESINNO project, a collaboration with European partners, but its focus remains firmly on Indian problems and Indian users. The timing reflects a deepening urgency: during COVID-19, the Arogya Setu app became mandatory for movement through cities, and government services once available in person are now exclusively online. As artificial intelligence becomes embedded in essential services, a system that doesn't account for how real people think doesn't just frustrate — it excludes them from what they need to survive.
In early 2022, the Indraprastha Institute of Information Technology Delhi opened a new research center with a straightforward mission: build technology that actually works for Indians. The Centre of Excellence in Human-Centered Computing, led by professor Pushpendra Singh, exists because most of the digital tools people rely on every day were designed somewhere else—in Silicon Valley or Europe—and then shipped over with little thought to how they'd land in a country of 1.4 billion people speaking hundreds of languages and living across vastly different economic circumstances.
The problem is concrete. When India demonetized its currency in 2016, millions of people suddenly needed to use mobile payment apps and net banking to survive. But many of them—people with limited literacy or little exposure to technology—couldn't figure out how. The apps assumed a certain kind of user, a certain comfort with screens and menus and digital logic. They left people behind. That gap between what technology demands and what actual human beings can do is what human-centered computing tries to close.
The field itself is not new. Human-centered computing combines design thinking with software engineering, putting the user's needs and capabilities at the center of how a system gets built, rather than building first and hoping people figure it out. But applying it to India's specific context is. The institute's new center will focus on five areas: health technology, education platforms, privacy and safety systems, smart city infrastructure, and tools aligned with the United Nations' sustainable development goals. Each of these domains presents distinct challenges when you're designing for a population as diverse as India's.
Singh and his team will conduct research into how language, culture, and social habits shape the way people interact with technology. They'll develop methods and knowledge that can guide other engineers and designers building solutions for Indian users. Rather than importing finished products from the West and adapting them at the margins, the center aims to build from the ground up with India's actual population in mind. The work will feed into teaching—the center will offer courses in human-centered computing and host workshops and conferences to train the next generation of engineers to think this way.
The center didn't emerge in isolation. It was established under the DESINNO project, a collaboration with European partners who have been helping organize training workshops in India. That international partnership will continue, bringing expertise and resources while keeping the focus firmly on Indian problems and Indian users.
What makes this moment significant is the accelerating digital dependency of everyday life. During the COVID-19 lockdown, the Arogya Setu app became mandatory—you couldn't move through the city without it installed on your phone. Government services that were once available in person are now exclusively online. Banking, healthcare, education, transportation—all of it increasingly requires comfort with digital systems. As artificial intelligence and other advanced technologies become more embedded in essential services, the stakes of getting the human side right only grow. A system that doesn't account for how real people actually think and behave doesn't just frustrate users; it can exclude them from services they need to survive. The center's work is an attempt to make sure that doesn't happen.
Notable Quotes
During demonetization, many low-literate people or those with low exposure to technology were unable to use mobile payment apps or net banking facilities— Professor Pushpendra Singh, IIITD
The research will help create knowledge and methods to develop technology solutions that serve the needs of India's diverse population— Professor Pushpendra Singh, IIITD
The Hearth Conversation Another angle on the story
Why does a technology institute in Delhi need a whole center just for human-centered computing? Isn't that what all good design does?
Most technology gets designed by people in wealthy countries for people like themselves. When it lands in India, it assumes things that aren't true here—that everyone reads English fluently, that everyone has grown up with smartphones, that everyone thinks about problems the same way. The center exists to flip that: design from the ground up for how Indians actually live.
Give me a concrete example of where this matters.
During demonetization, the government essentially forced people onto digital payment systems overnight. But the apps were built assuming a certain user. Someone with low literacy or no smartphone experience couldn't navigate them. Millions of people were locked out of their own money because the technology didn't account for them.
So this is about accessibility?
It's broader than that. It's about understanding that technology isn't neutral. Every design choice reflects assumptions about who the user is. The center's job is to make those assumptions visible and deliberate, especially for India's diversity—languages, economic situations, education levels, cultural contexts.
What does the research actually produce?
Methods, knowledge, trained people. They'll figure out how to build health apps that work for someone who doesn't read well. Education platforms that work across India's language landscape. Smart city systems that don't leave people behind. Then they teach other engineers to think this way.
Why does this matter now, specifically?
Because digital systems are no longer optional. During lockdown, you needed an app to leave your house. Government services are going online. As AI becomes more powerful, it's going to touch healthcare, education, everything. If we don't build these systems with actual Indians in mind, we're building systems that will fail them.