Datafying anti-poverty programmes: implications for data justice

ABSTRACT

This paper seeks to illuminate the significance of datafication for anti-poverty programmes, meaning social protection schemes designed specifically for poor people. The conversion of beneficiary populations into machine-readable data enables two core functions of social protection, those of recognising entitled beneficiaries and assigning entitlements connected to each anti-poverty scheme. Drawing on the incorporation of Aadhaar, India’s biometric population database, in the national agenda for social protection, we unpack a techno-rational perspective that crafts datafication as a means to enhance the effectiveness of anti-poverty schemes. Nevertheless, narratives collected in the field show multiple forms of data injustice on recipients, underpinned by Aadhaar’s functionality for a shift of the social protection agenda from in-kind subsidies to cash transfers. Based on such narratives the paper introduces a politically embedded view of data, framing datafication as a transformative force that contributes to reforming existing anti-poverty schemes.

KEYWORDS:

• Datafication
• anti-poverty programmes
• data justice
• Aadhaar
• India

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Silvia Masiero is Lecturer in International Development at the School of Business and Economics, Loughborough University. Her research concerns the role of ICTs in socio-economic development, with a focus on the participation of ICT artefacts in the politics of anti-poverty programmes and emergency management. She has conducted extensive work on the computerisation of India's main food security programme, the Public Distribution System (PDS), and on the adoption of ICTs in core aspects of the Indian public sphere including elections, rural employment guarantees, and programmes of social protection. She is a fellow of the Higher Education Academy (HEA), a member of the Association for Information Systems (AIS), and a member of the UNESCO Chair in ICT4D.

Soumyo Das is currently a MS by Research scholar at IIIT Bangalore, where his study focuses broadly on the domain of technology and organisations. He researches on how digital technologies influence organisational dynamics and is interested in critical approaches to digitisation in the context of development. Soumyo has an undergraduate degree in the applied sciences and was formerly employed with the Tata Group.

Notes

1 Criticism has been raised on the choice of passing the act as a Money Bill, which only requires approval from the Lok Sabha (Lower House of Parliament) and bypasses the decision of the Upper House.

2 Even though the system’s ability to fight inclusion errors is defended by the authorities, during fieldwork we have come across two instances of people from privileged backgrounds standing in line at ration shops. This corroborates Swaminathan’s (2002) argument that a core problem lies in how APL/BPL status is determined.