Aadhaar

The rapid spread of electronic fingerprinting not only creates new regimes of surveillance but compels users to adopt novel ways of performing their bodies to suit the new technology. This ethnography uses two Indian case studies-of a welfare office and a workplace-to unpack the processes by which biometric devices become effective tools for determining identity. While in the popular imaginary biometric technology is often associated with providing disinterested and thus objective evaluation of identity, in practice "failures to enrol" and "false rejects" frequently cause crises of representation. People address these by tinkering with their bodies and changing the rules, and in the process craft biometric bodies. There are assembled bodies that link people and objects in ways considered advantageous for specific identity regimes. By using assemblage theory, the article proposes an alternative interpretation of new surveillance regimes as fluid practices that solidify through the agency of multiple actors who naturalise particular power/knowledge arrangements.

The problem of voting is still critical in terms of safety and security. This paper deals with the design and development of a web-based voting system using cloud computing and aadhaar card in order to provide a high performance with high security to the voting system. We also use web technology to make the voting system practical. The proposed Online Voting System allows the voters to authenticate using aadhaar no which is then matched with an already saved within a database that is retrieved from aadhaar card database of the government. The voting system is managed in a simpler way as all the users must login by aadhaar card number and password and click on his/her favorable candidates to cast the vote. This will increase the voting percentage in India and reduces the cost of voting process. By using aadhaar card identification it provides enough security which reduces the false votes.

This article seeks to go beyond the binary of elite concerns over privacy versus subaltern desires for recognition to understand the huge Indian biometric project , Aadhaar. It offers a prehistory of Aadhaar, framed not in terms of rights and wrongs, important as they are, but as the most recent project in the shaping of modern social and political power through the technologically mediated intersection of the law and the body. Key moments of technopolitical reduction of the physical body— fingerprinting, DNA tests, brain scans, polygraphs, and truth serums—become turning points in a process that have joined personal identity with evidentiary truth to overcome centuries of judicial skepticism. Due to its combined technopolitical and biological foundations, the new national database commands a high degree of social and political confidence as reflected in the unplanned and unforeseen expansion of Aad-haar. In this emergent database society, intersections of law, body, and technoscience engender new human networks: temporary alliances among material forces, inanimate techniques, discourses, norms, and institutions, organized around the technologically mediated body. This article proposes in conclusion that, as a result of these developments , we are likely to see the generation of new and unverifiable conceptions of what we mean by and how we represent the ultimate human network, " society. " Keywords Aadhaar ▪ national database ▪ Supreme Court of India ▪ Selvi and Others v. Karnataka ▪ DNA fingerprinting ▪ brain scans ▪ polygraph ▪ truth serum Acknowledgments Earlier versions of this article were presented at the Center for Southeast Asian Studies, Kyoto University; at Tembusu College of the National University of Singapore (NUS); as a keynote lecture at the annual meeting of the Australian Sociological Association, Cairns; and as the second Sage-CRG Public Lecture, Presidency College, Kolkata. My thanks to the organizers of these events for their invitations and hospitality, to the digital cultures reading group at the Asia Research Institute, NUS, Lilli Irani, and to Chitra Venkataramani for her interrogations. I received excellent advice and suggestions from two anonymous reviewers, for which I am very grateful. Above all, my sincere thanks go to the keen eyes and immense patience of the organizers of this special issue and the editors of this journal.

The present communication proposes a digitally operative Unique Digital Identification Number leveraging the Distributed Ledger Technology. DLT is a protocol that allows secure functioning of a digital database that exists across several locations. It could be a Blockchain, DAG, Hashgraph, Holochain or Tempo (Radix). DLT backs up all information in a secure and accurate manner using cryptography.

The digital identity ecosystem can work seamlessly across administrative domain viz. educational sector, health-care, finance, telecommunications, crowd operations, public distribution, taxation, legal enforcement and others. The system assures privacy and trust, with least involvement of bureaucracy.

Key words: Blockchain, Citizen ID, DAG, Digital Identity, EPIC, Hashgraph, Holochain, Multipurpose ID, OCI, PAN, PIOC, Tempo, UID.

In this note, we explore the relationship between digital biomet-ric ID systems and social exclusion by understanding the user of experiences of the Public Distribution System(PDS) in India. Drawing upon ethnographic fieldwork in the states of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, we investigate how people engage with the digital biometric ID system of Aadhaar, given that the recent Aadhaar-enabled push towards computerisation of the PDS. We find that this has opened up avenues for exclusion. This note lays out the key exclusion problems. The overall objective of the study is to understand how seemingly neutral technology may in fact become exclusionary in practice.

In a recent initiative, a new scheme combining Jan Dhan account, Aadhaar Card and mobile banking have been introduced by the government. The philosophy was that Jan Dhan accounts would be opened especially for neglected sections of society. The issue of unique identity proof of all citizens would be taken care of by Aadhaar Card. Mobile Banking would develop infrastructure for payments and withdrawals thereby resolving the problem of last-mile delivery of services (Economic Survey 2015; Srinivas & Kapur, 2018). We undertook a questionnaire-based study to seek perception about the level of inclusion and effectiveness of JAM scheme from 150 respondents in Delhi during July - September 2018. The study indicated that the level of financial inclusion varies widely among these households. Although banking services are available in the vicinity they barely use facilities like passbook, cheque book, debit card, mobile banking etc. With regard to JAM trinity, they are happy about the overall scheme but certain concerns persist. Demographics play a major role since the older generation, educated, working-class and high-income cadre have more positive perception among the entire group. Also, the perceived level of inclusion, the effectiveness of Jan Dhan Yojana, Aadhaar Card and mobile banking are found to be strongly correlated.

1. Soal: Dalam ulangan matematika, suatu kelas dibagi menjadi dua grup berdasarkan nilai rata-ratanya, yaitu: grup 1: terdiri dari 21 siswa dengan nilai rata-rata 62 grup 2: terdiri dari 29 siswa dengan nilai rata-rata 68 Tentukan nilai rata-rata matematika kelas tersebut! Penyelesaian: Jadi, nilai rata-rata matematika kelas tersebut adalah 65,48. 2. Didalam suatu kelas terdapat 20 siswa laki-laki dan 10 siswa wanita. Rata-rata umur siswa laki-laki 14 tahun dan yang wanita 16 tahun. Rata-rata umur siswa di dalam kelas tersebut adalah …. Penyelesaian:

The book encompasses the physical or paper forms of identity, together with the benefits and pitfalls of Aadhaar - a multimillion biometrics enabled UID project of the Government of India. Taking into account the central, federated and self-sovereign models of digital identity, the self-sovereign model has been explained, in detail, for identification and access management leveraging blockchain technology.

At various points in its existence, the Indian state has deployed technologies to govern the nation. Recently, the state has undertaken a number of large-scale projects to make use of digital technology. The most controversial of these is the Unique Identity (UID) project, which is registering biometric, along with demographic, information about residents. This paper seeks to understand what is at stake politically in this technological intervention. It aims to explore the political logics and consequences of such a biometric system. It argues that UID re-imagines the economy and the state–citizen relationship as a series of transactions. Theoretically, the main thrust of this paper is to understand the “general economy of power”, as Michel Foucault calls it, which is unfolding in India around the issues of capitalist growth, inequality, social protection and terrorism—and UID signals the technological potential for the convergence of these concerns.

ATMs (Automatic Teller Machine) are becoming widely used in today's world because they are easy to use and offer convenience. However, today's ATM technology comes with some security risks such as the theft and misuse of cards, the possibility of losing a card, and forgetting PIN numbers. A growing number of frauds committed against automatic teller machines over the last decade motivated us to use biometrics to ensure the accuracy and security of personal identification. In this paper, we describe a biometric fingerprint and face recognition system that can replace ATM cards and PINs. The transaction is successful when fingerprint, OTP, and face match. If the fingerprint does not match, the customer is guided to enter the aadhaar number. Similarly, if face matching fails, the customer is given an option to answer the question. Here aadhaar number and correct answer to the question must be entered correctly to proceed. Aadhaar number entry and question & answer options are mainly provided for those who are unable to access the system because of damage to their physical attributes (finger and face).

Nullius is an anthropological account of the troubled status of ownership in India and its consequences for our understanding of sovereignty and social relations. Though property rights and ownership are said to be a cornerstone of modern law, in the Indian case they are often a spectral presence. Kapila offers a detailed study of paradigms where proprietary relations have been erased, denied, misappropriated. The book examines three forms of negation, where the Indian state de facto adopted doctrines of terra nullius (in the erasure of indigenous title), res nullius (in acquiring museum objects), and, controversially, corpus nullius (in denying citizens ownership of their bodies under biometrics). The result is a pathbreaking reconnection of questions of property, exchange, dispossession, law, and sovereignty.

Privacy has been a sensitive question lurking over the head of Indian administrators who have been equally reluctant and ignorant about answering the same. The advent of Aadhaar Act in 2016 and Government's mandate of linking Aadhaar with PAN had mooted up the issue of Privacy once again. Article 21 of the Constitution provides privacy to the citizens but only to a limited extent, which was put to question in several instances. The entire nation anticipates the decision of the Aadhaar Case. The judgment in the case of Justice Puttaswamy famously known as the Privacy Case finally arrived on 24th August 2017, which will directly impact several cases of Aadhaar pending before the Supreme court. Meanwhile, the Legislators have kept a blind eye to the long awaited Privacy Protection Bill of 2011. While concern over Individuals Privacy continued to vacillate until recently, the judgment has clarified situations to a large extent. Other sectors such as banking and welfare have brought forth their own rules to regulate Privacy concern. The article discusses the present legal situation of Privacy under various legislations, the impact of recent privacy judgment in India and analyses whether the current regulations created by various authorities such as SEBI, RBI, IRDAI have something substantial to offer or are just there to mellow down the daunting public.

Identification, access to entitlements, and financial inclusion are key sites of negotiation in India’s rapidly evolving governance landscape. Following demonetization and with the proliferation of Aadhaar biometric identification, the Government of India is increasingly tracking money and populations. Amidst these shift in identification and access pathways, this research seeks to understand how access to Aadhar and voter ID for internal migrants impacts access pathways to fundamental rights and formal financial inclusion in five states in India.

The existing identity management system is neither safe nor dependable. At every point, a citizen is being asked to identify himself through multiple government IDs like Passport, PAN Card, Voter ID, and so on. Sharing multiple IDs leads to privacy concerns and data breaches.

The proposed system is a combination of Multipurpose ID and a Smart Cell Phone. The physical ID would be provided to everyone on the day of Census, with a unique 16-digit (20-digit in case of global cards) universal identification number. It would carry an IC to record life-time data of a citizen; comprising all significant endorsements; triply secured by an alpha-numeric password, finger-prints and retinal scan. Consequently, all information of the citizen would be available on one click, that too fully transparent and genuine.

Instead of being required to produce a physical form of ID, users could be provided with a digital ID through a personal device, like smartphone [Garg, 2017]. Using the same identification number, the user shall upload all his relevant details and documents (which will be saved in the IPFS or CAS) having hashed address stored in the blockchain. Blockchain offers secure storage of digital identities by providing decentralized, persistent, and immutable framework. It performs the middle and back office functions in a way that the Internet and the Web do to the front office. For data security and ledger consistency, asymmetric cryptography and distributed consensus algorithms can be implemented. The identity management, through blockchain, can allow individuals to have ownership of their identity by creating a national ID to serve multiple purposes.

‘One Nation - One Identity’ concept will revolutionize digitalization and bring qualitative transformation in the life of every Indian. Besides saving human resources, time, money and administrative complexities, the stack of files and papers in offices would also be reduced to fractional level. The Nation would have a red letter day as the change will shape billion lives and bring respite to administrative machinery and public that has crumpled under the red tape.

Keywords All-inclusive Digital ID, Blockchain, Digital ID with Electronic Surveillance System, Generic Information Tracking Device, IPFS, Multipurpose ID, One Nation-One Identity, Techno-Smart Card.

[Adjudged as 3rd Best Legal Essay in TLA 1st Pinky Anand National Legal Essay Competition, 2016, https://www.lawctopus.com/tla-1st-pinky-anand-national-legal-essay-competition-2016/]
To combat excessive corruption in the administration of various welfare schemes, the Parliament has now enacted the Aadhaar (Targeted Delivery of Financial and Other Subsidies, Benefits and Services) Act, 2016 to provide targeted delivery of benefits and subsidies directly to the people thus eliminating intermediaries. If properly implemented, this scheme can prove a boon to the poor as they can receive actual benefits more effectively.
The Aadhaar Act has many loopholes, including open ended definitions resulting into confusion about the scope of the scheme. But, the issue of violation of right to privacy is of prime importance. Right to privacy is not mentioned in the chapter dealing with fundamental rights in the Constitution and the five judge Constitution bench is yet to decide whether it is a fundamental right or not. Through this paper, an attempt has been made to analyse the present Act by taking into consideration various national and international privacy principles. It aims to achieve a balance between governmental privileges and right to privacy.

This article is a useful tool for both Asian and European readers as regards some of the state-of-the-art technologies revolving around the Internet of Things (‘IoT’) and their intersection with cloud computing (the Clouds of Things, ‘CoT’) in both the continents. The main legal issues will be presented, with a focus on intellectual property, consumer protection, and privacy. India and the United Kingdom are selected because they are at the forefront of the IoT innovation in their respective countries. The IoT is an expanding and heterogeneous universe encompassing all Things which are capable of connectivity and are equipped with sensing and actuating capabilities. One can find Things in very diverse sectors, from agriculture to manufacturing, retail, healthcare, leisure, domotics, urban development, etc. Therefore, not only is providing an exhaustive and static definition of the IoT nearly impossible (or at least pointless), but also the endeavour of providing a complete picture of the phenomenon would be a cumbersome path towards failure. Consequently, I will give account only of the highlights of the IoT in India and the United Kingdom. In India, the IoT will be analysed through the prism of net neutrality, smart cities, manufacturing, computer-related inventions, and a recent bill on the surveillance aspects of the world’s largest biometric database (Aadhaar). In turn, I will look at the British context by analysing some (quasi) regulatory acts with a focus on privacy and consumer protection. One last caveat. When it comes to new technologies, one tends to be either ‘apocalyptic’ or ‘integrated’. Either the technology will save us all by leveraging a revolution leading to a disruptive innovation, or it will destroy our lives and the world will go to the dogs. I take a middle position and believe that through education, collective awareness, and soft law, one will be able to keep the human being at the centre of innovation, to unite people rather than divide them, to empower them and alleviate discrimination and poverty. What is important is neither should one delegate to technology nor to rely entirely on government: if the IoT is to actually become a revolution, it will do so due to the commitment of each and every one of us who will contribute to create the Internet of Citizens.

PLEASE CITE AS: Guido NOTO LA DIEGA, The Internet of Citizens. A lawyer’s view on some technological developments in the United Kingdom and India, in Indian Journal of Law & Technology, 2017, 12(1), 53-104.

Following the ratification of the National Food Security Act (NFSA) in 2013, the Indian state digitized its food rationing infrastructure, replacing paper‐based ration cards with digital rationing documents and other technologies of authentication. The shift from analog to digital documentary practices has rematerialized documents and devices to enable closer monitoring of the exchange of food entitlements in ration shops. Making biopolitics digital has enabled the state to exert greater control over rationing practices by rendering them more transparent. However, the state's obsession with preventing practices of corruption has hindered, rather than facilitated, access to entitlements for some rightful beneficiaries of the NFSA.

India and China have launched enormous projects aimed at collecting vital personal information regarding their billion-plus populations — and building the world’s biggest datasets in the process. However, both Aadhaar in India and the Social Credit System in China are controversial and raise a plethora of political and ethical concerns. The governments claim that participation in these projects is voluntary, even as they link vital services to citizens registering with these projects. In this study, we analyze how the news media in India and China — crucial data intermediaries that shape public perceptions on data and technological practices — framed these projects since their inception. LDA topic modeling suggests news coverage in both nations disregards the public interest and focuses largely on how businesses can benefit from them. The media, institutionally and ideologically linked with governments and corporations, show little concern with violations of privacy and mass surveillance that these projects could lead to. We argue that this renders individuals structurally incapable of making a meaningful “choice” about whether or not to participate in such projects. Implications for various stakeholders are discussed.

India saw big gains in financial inclusion with the implementation of the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana. JAM (Jan Dhan-Aadhaar-Mobile) trinity, an initiative by Government of India to link Jan Dhan accounts,
Mobile numbers and Aadhaar cards of Indians to directly transfer subsidies to beneficiaries and eliminate intermediaries and leakages, is nothing short of a social revolution. The schemes which have followed since then have not only aimed for financial inclusion but also to ensure inclusive growth. There is a strong correlation between financial exclusion and poverty and inequality. Till late 2013, according to Ministry of Finance, 45% of urban and 52% of rural households did not have bank accounts. However, financial inclusion is not just about opening of
bank accounts but also access to credit from formal sources. In India with a large rural population, financial exclusion has both geographic and social dimension. Although financial inclusion initiatives started in 1955, gathering momentum with nationalization of private banks in 1969 and 1980, the objective of nationalization was limited to extending bank activities to the unbanked population. Many other factors such as poverty, low-income, distance from bank etc., restricted the rural and vulnerable sections including women from getting access to formal banking system. According to the Census 2011, nearly 73% of farm households did not have access to formal credit sources. However, some 300 million new bank accounts were opened under the Jan Dhan Yojana.

Theory on Demand #39
Lives of Data: Essays on Computational Cultures from India
Edited by Sandeep Mertia
Foreword by Ravi Sundaram

Authors: Sandeep Mertia, Karl Mendonca, Sivakumar Arumugam, Ranjit Singh, Puthiya Purayil Sneha, Lilly Irani, Anumeha Yadav, Preeti Mudliar, Prerna Mukharya and Mahima Taneja, Guneet Narula, Gaurav Godhwani, Noopur Raval, Aakash Solanki, and Anirudh Raghavan.

This publication is published under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial- NoDerrivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) licence.

<https://networkcultures.org/blog/publication/lives-of-data-essays-on-computational-cultures-from-india/>

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Reviews:
Chintan Girish Modi, Business Standard, 29 January 2021. “Data and the Indian State: A set of essays examines the interaction between the expansion of the digital economy and India’s socio-political framework.” https://www.business-standard.com/article/beyond-business/data-and-the-indian-state-121012901948_1.html

Nafis Hasan, The Wire, 06 February 2021. “Book Review: The Many Lives of Data in India: The book 'Lives of Data: Essays on Computational Cultures from India', edited by Sandeep Mertia, delivers a fantastic range of meditations on how data lives, and how we, as individuals and collectives, are shaped by it.” https://thewire.in/books/book-review-the-many-lives-of-data-in-india

Vikas Pathe, “Book Review: Lives of Data (ed.) Sandeep Mertia.” Mainstream, Vol. LIX, No. 30, 10 July 2021, http://mainstreamweekly.net/article11184.html
Vikas Kumar, Book Review, “The Transition to Big Data in India.” Economic & Political Weekly, Vol. 56, No. 47, 20 November 2021, https://www.epw.in/journal/2021/47/book-reviews/transition-big-data-india.html

Nimmi Rangaswamy, “Book review: Lives of Data: Essays on Computational Cultures from India.” Online Information Review, Vol. 46 No. 3, 639-641. June 2022. https://doi.org/10.1108/OIR-06-2022-622

Kim Fernandes, “Review of Lives of Data: Essays on Computational Cultures from India by Sandeep Mertia.” IEEE Annals of the History of Computing, vol. 44, no. 2, pp. 74-75, 1 April-June 2022, doi: 10.1109/MAHC.2022.3169868.

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Book talks and podcasts:

‘Lives of Data’ Book Launch and Discussion Panel with Jahnavi Phalkey, Nimmi Rangaswamy and Stefania Milan, Chaired by Ravi Sundaram, Sarai-CSDS, Delhi, 19 February 2021.

Technology / Society in Action, Alumni Lecture Series, DA-IICT Gandhinagar, 13 March 2021.

‘Lives of Data’ Book Discussion Panel with Sarah Sharma, Tong Lam and Marian Valverde, Chaired by Francis Cody, Asian Institute, University of Toronto, 09 April 2021.

‘Lives of Data’ Book Discussion Panel with Natasha Schüll, Ramesh Srinivasan and Sareeta Amrute, Chaired by Arjun Appadurai, New York University, 23 April 2021.

‘Lives of Data’ Book Discussion Panel with Jasmine Folz and Pradip N. Thomas, Chaired by Urvashi Aneja, Tandem Research Institute, Goa, 30 June 2021.

‘Lives of Data’ Book Discussion Podcast with Aakash Solanki, hosted by Noopur Raval, New Books Network – Science & Technology Studies, 05 July 2021. https://newbooksnetwork.com/lives-of-data

‘Lives of Data’ Book Discussion Podcast with Kathik Nachiappan, Lekh Review, 11 December 2021. https://lekhreview.com/2021/12/11/sandeep-mertia-lives-of-data/

This is a booklet brought out by Socially Active People's Theatre, Art and Cultural Group (SAPTRANG) and written by Prof. (Retd.) Rajinder Chaudhary who was, till last year, in the Dept. of Economics, Maharshi Dayanand University, Rohtak. SAPTRANG is an organisation working (mainly in Rohtak, Haryana) on socio-cultural issues with the aim of spreading awareness on issues of significance. Both 'Aadhaar' and subsidy are issues that touch the daily lives of the common man. The author thoroughly analyses all the aspects of both these issues, looking at them from a social-welfare point of view and how they are likely to impact the lives of the common man even as the issues are dilated upon in principle.

This article adds to the literature on digital capitalisms by
introducing a new state-led model called ‘digital ID capitalism’.
Here, state agencies help guarantee personal data for commercial
exploitation by connecting it to the provision of state welfare
services. This is in contrast to the usual focus on US Big Tech
corporations’ use of personal data from the internet. Describing
how the system works in India, it explains how businesses make
money from the personal data collected. While doing so, it draws
some of its elements into traditional political economy concerns
with the relationships between state, business and labour. The
benefit of framing it as a capitalist system is that it sharpens the
focus on the corresponding social relations and potential for
group governance of this important twenty-first century resource.

This paper departs from the analytic lens of citizen versus the state and brings to attention intra-bureaucratic interactions in the wake of Aadhaar by focusing on the ongoing implementation of an Aadhaar Enabled Biometric Attendance System (AEBAS). Based on ethnographic research in a North Indian state, I show how AEBAS’ goals of performance evaluation and management were partially, and unintentionally, circumvented by staff members, in part owing to the socio-technical design of the system. I argue that an unintended consequence of projects using digital media technologies to quantify and manage performance is their tendency to produce a performance of management, and that scholars and activists must pay attention to such disjunctures inherent in projects of command and control.

This article has been published by Legis Orbis in the book titled “Life, Liberty & Privacy The Indian Jurisprudence on Individual's Data Privacy” with ISBN number 9781636065526.  The copyright of this work vests with Legis Orbis.
Law cannot remain static, therefore, the legacy and the reality to upheld Indian societies which comprised of political powers, legal
and social inequalities and various private regimes has been acknowledged as well as sought for to be transformed with growing needs. We are living in a world where the relationships between persons, communities, corporations, state are mediated and also determined by technology. The Apex Court, through the
case of Justice K.S. Puttaswamy (Retd.) vs. Union of India, AIR 2017 SC 4161, the legality of the Aadhaar i.e., the India‟s highly
controversial State-run biometric identity database was challenged, considering whether the right to privacy existed in India or not. The Aadhaar judgment proclaims the broad principle
of Right to privacy, it not only learns from the past, but also sets the wheel of liberty and freedom for the future, but does it include refusing any intervention of a technological system or possessing right to technological self-determination still remains abstract to the most. Since India is moving rapidly towards
digitization, algorithms and artificial intelligence, wider
interpretation of the right to privacy in regard to technological innovations is expected from judiciary. The article explores the parts of the judgment which exonerates the vision of formal equality and whether they are attainable through automated
machines or else they are creating another technology-driven bias in the society.

Keminatan Program Softskill KSE yang ingin didapat: () Leadership () Profesional () Riset / Technology for Indonesia () Entrepreneurship Alasan singkat dan spesifik pemilihan keminatan dan aktifitas yang pernah dilakukan berkenaan pilihan diatas: Dengan ini saya menyatakan bahwa seluruh isi dalam formulir ini adalah benar dan saya tidak sedang menerima beasiswa dari instansi atau perusahaan manapun pada pengajuan beasiswa ini.

Abstract This paper departs from the analytic lens of citizen versus the state and brings to attention intra-bureaucratic interactions in the wake of Aadhaar by focusing on the ongoing implementation of an Aadhaar Enabled Biometric Attendance System (AEBAS). Based on ethnographic research in a North Indian state, I show how AEBAS’ goals of performance evaluation and management were partially, and unintentionally, circumvented by staff members, in part owing to the socio-technical design of the system. I argue that an unintended consequence of projects using digital media technologies to quantify and manage performance is their tendency to produce a performance of management, and that scholars and activists must pay attention to such disjunctures inherent in projects of command and control.

Digital ID with Electronic Surveillance System: In any developing country, one needs to have an infinite number of documents, at each level; some of which call for periodical renewal. To fetch those documents either one stands in long queues or goes online. Here again, every e-site generates and asks for a new ID and password. This is how, instead of making things simple, these documents and online processes make life more confounded and miserable. The government officials are bogged down with applications for Aadhar, Licenses, Samagra-ID, Ration Card, EPIC, Passport, Bank Pass Books, ATMs, Vehicle Registration, Registries, Reports, Certificates and so on.  Over and above, verification of these documents, at each level, is another deadly exercise.

Till date, not a single system, device or App has been invented, in any part of the world, to save humanity from the drudgery of stacking documents, followed by their photocopies, attestations, and verifications - a never-ending process. The present innovation has been conceived and designed to void this gap.

The subject of the evolution of surveillance and its incorporated technologies is a topic that is important to examining the state of surveillance and its impacts on contemporary society. This paper attempts to summarize the Power, Panopticism and Surveillance and the controversial Aadhaar project. The twentieth century witnessed the emergence of technology as the new face of governance. E-governance and many modernization government programme were introduced to improve the quality of governance especially in the field of national security. Post 9/11 era when war against terror and related paranoia ruled the world possibilities of national biometric identity cards were proposed with haste in various countries. In 1980s efforts were there in Australia to issue national identity cards, similar attempts in Canada, Philippines, China, and United Kingdom. The real ID project of the Bush administration in the US also attracted attention worldwide. This paper explores the details about the Indian government"s controversial project of Aadhaar. The paper discussed about the power centric panoptical perspective on the Aadhar.

The subject of the evolution of surveillance and its incorporated technologies is a topic that is important to examining the state of surveillance and its impacts on contemporary society. This paper attempts to summarize the Power, Panopticism and Surveillance and the controversial Aadhaar project. The twentieth century witnessed the emergence of technology as the new face of governance. E-governance and many modernization government programme were introduced to improve the quality of governance especially in the field of national security. Post 9/11 era when war against terror and related paranoia ruled the world possibilities of national biometric identity cards were proposed with haste in various countries. In 1980s efforts were there in Australia to issue national identity cards, similar attempts in Canada, Philippines, China, and United Kingdom. The real ID project of the Bush administration in the US also attracted attention worldwide. This paper explores the details about the...

The world is moving toward an era of ‘digital spheres’, which is more technologically connected than earlier periods of human history. Among the countries that have increasingly been connected, India has emerged as having amongst the fastest and largest internet users in social and digital media, inevitably being part of the Digital India initiative of the Government of India (GoI). The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic saw an increase in digitization activities across the world, one which has seen an exponential rise in India as well. An important facet of this ‘digitalization drive’ is the cons that emerge with it, especially the implications on the (cyber)security of a nation, and (data)privacy of its citizens. At the beginning of the year 2021, WhatsApp Inc. came out with its new privacy policy that legitimizes the collection of user information and related activities. It has created a huge debate across all sections of society, in India and abroad. The company explained how this is part of its recent measures to protect user privacy as well as the storage of data as well. Accordingly, the information can be shared among other Facebook Companies, including Facebook Payments Inc., Facebook Payments International Limited, Onavo, Facebook Technologies, LLC, Facebook Technologies Ireland Limited, WhatsApp Ireland Limited and CrowdTangle.

This paper outlines the trajectory of my ethnographic research on the design and use of India's national biometrics-based identification project, Aadhaar. My research unpacks the heterogeneous seams between Aadhaar and the Indian bureaucracy that challenge the processes of claiming social welfare in India. It situates marginality as an outcome of troubles in navigating these seams and documents the lived experiences and invisible work of data subjects (Aadhaar users) in representing themselves through their data records. I conclude by arguing that a focus on seams is not just a useful heuristic in approaching questions of inclusion and equity in the design and use of ICTD, but it is also a useful tactic in understanding and bridging the differences in the research of the Solidarity Across Borders workshop participants.