Distant, opaque and seamful: seeing the state through the workings of Aadhaar in India

ABSTRACT

In this paper, I aim to explore in what ways a digital identity system affects the relationship between state and citizen. Invoking ‘seeing the state’ as an analytical lens and adopting ‘anthropology of state’ as a methodological approach, I explore the changing state–citizen relationship through citizens’ everyday encounters with the state and through quotidian practices of the state mediated through material and social practices around Aadhaar, the foundational digital ID system in India. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork on welfare disbursement in Jharkhand, I argue, when citizens interact with the state through the workings of Aadhaar, they see the state to be increasingly distant, opaque and seamful. My overall objective is to show how the discursive practices through which the state appear in its citizens’ perception changes through the mediation of a foundational digital identity system.

KEYWORDS:

• Aadhaar
• seeing the state
• digital identity
• state–citizen relationships
• anthropology of the state

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes on contributor

Bidisha Chaudhuri is an Assistant Professor in the domain of IT and Society and at the Centre for IT and Public Policy at International Institute of Information Technology Bangalore. She received her PhD from the South Asia Institute at Heidelberg University, Germany. Prior to joining IIITB, she has worked in research institutions and developmental organizations in India and abroad. Her current research projects include political economy of digital identity, sociology of work and automation, politics of algorithms, information systems for sustainable development, conversational agents in everyday practices, gender and ICTs.

Notes

1 Panchayats are the elected village bodies that form the lowest unit of governance within the Indian state. Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) are a system of rural local self-government as per the 73rd Amendment to the Indian Constitution made in 1992. For more information, see Panchayati Raj Institutions in India, available on https://www.academia.edu/4643100/BSW_Study_Notes_For_Panchayat_Raj_Institutions_In_India (accessed 24.01.2020).

2 PDS targets households as per their economic status and decides the allotment as per the size of the household.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Modular Open Source Identity Platform (MOSIP), IIIT Bangalore.