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ABSTRACT
With rapid digitalisation and technological advancements, the emergence of digital welfare states worldwide has become a reality. Broadly, the term digital welfare state refers to the adoption of information and communication technologies (ICTs) and digital tools to transform public and welfare services, such as biometric identification systems and automated systems to verify the eligibility of citizens for welfare benefits. This increased use of technological innovations and digital tools in governance is presented as a citizen-centric move that would improve accessibility and availability, and increase efficiency. However, one of the major critiques of the digitalisation of welfare systems is that it excludes people from disadvantaged sections who lack access to digital infrastructure and digital literacy from actively participating in society. In the context of the emerging Indian digital welfare state, this paper focuses on a particular marginalised community, that is, the transgender community in India, to understand their lived experiences of interacting with public digital systems. Historically, the transgender community in India has been socioeconomically marginalised, making them important beneficiaries of public welfare services. The Indian government recently introduced a gender identification digital system for the transgender community, which would be used to procure official gender identity cards and dispense social benefits and subsidies to them. This paper analyses the inequalities and exclusions faced by the transgender community in India in participating in the digital welfare system and highlights its potential human rights and policy implications.
Avec la numérisation et les progrès technologiques rapides, l’apparition d’États-providence numériques dans le monde entier est devenue une réalité. Globalement, l’expression « État-providence numérique » concerne l’adoption de technologies de l’information et de la communication (TIC) et d’outils numériques pour transformer les services publics et d’aide sociale, comme les systèmes d’identification biométrique et les systèmes automatisés permettant de vérifier le droit des citoyens aux allocations sociales. Cette utilisation accrue des innovations technologiques et des outils numériques dans le cadre de la gouvernance est présentée comme une évolution axée sur les citoyens qui pourrait améliorer l’accessibilité et la disponibilité, et améliorer l’efficacité. Cependant, l’une des principales critiques de la numérisation des systèmes d’aide sociale est le fait qu’elle exclut les membres des groupes défavorisés qui n’ont pas accès aux infrastructures numériques et à la culture numérique qui leur permettraient de participer activement à la société. Dans le contexte de l’émergence de l’État-providence numérique indien, cet article se concentre sur une communauté marginalisée particulière, à savoir la communauté transgenre en Inde, afin de comprendre son expérience vécue de l’interaction avec les systèmes numériques publics. Historiquement, la communauté transgenre indienne a été marginalisée sur le plan socio-économique, ce qui en fait un groupe bénéficiaire important des services publics d’aide sociale. Le gouvernement indien a récemment introduit un système numérique d’identification de genre pour la communauté transgenre, destiné à être utilisé pour l’obtention de cartes d’identité officielles de genre et pour l’octroi de prestations et d’aides sociales aux membres de cette communauté. Ce document analyse les inégalités et l’exclusion numériques auxquelles se heurte la communauté transgenre en Inde au moment de participer au système numérique d’assistance sociale, et met en relief ses implications potentielles en matière de droits de l’homme et de politiques générales.
La rápida digitalización y los avances tecnológicos han convertido en una realidad la aparición de estados de bienestar digitales en todo el mundo. En términos generales, la noción de estado de bienestar digital hace referencia a la adopción de las tecnologías de la información y la comunicación (TIC) y de las herramientas digitales para transformar los servicios públicos y de bienestar, por ejemplo, los sistemas de identificación biométrica y los sistemas automatizados para verificar el derecho de los ciudadanos a recibir sus prestaciones sociales. El mayor uso de innovaciones tecnológicas y herramientas digitales en la gobernanza se presenta como un movimiento centrado en el ciudadano, que mejoraría la accesibilidad y la disponibilidad, a la vez que aumentaría la eficiencia. Sin embargo, una de las principales críticas a la digitalización de los sistemas de bienestar consiste en que excluye a las personas de sectores desfavorecidos, que carecen de acceso a la infraestructura digital y de alfabetización digital que les permita participar activamente en la sociedad. En el contexto del emergente estado de bienestar digital en India, este artículo se centra en una comunidad marginada en particular: la comunidad transgénero del país, para comprender sus vivencias al interactuar con los sistemas digitales públicos. Históricamente, la comunidad transexual de la India ha estado marginada desde el punto de vista socioeconómico, lo que la convierte en una importante beneficiaria de los servicios públicos de bienestar. Recientemente, el gobierno indio implementó un sistema digital de identificación de género dirigido a la comunidad transgénero, que se utilizará para otorgar credenciales oficiales de identidad de género y brindar a estas personas prestaciones sociales y subsidios. El artículo analiza la desigualdad digital y la exclusión de que es objeto la comunidad transgénero a la hora de participar en el sistema digital de bienestar social y destaca sus posibles implicaciones en materia de derechos humanos y de políticas.
Acknowledgements
We would like to thank our colleagues Fahad Nahvi, Mihir Kaulgud, Bhamini Rathore, and Yashoroop Dey. We would like to extend our thanks to our Founder Neha Simlai for giving us the opportunity to take on this project. We would like to extend our gratitude to Alliance India for connecting us with the community members, and especially to Gulfam Hasan for helping us through the process. We would also like to thank Dr. Aqsa Shaikh, Amrita Sarkar, Gautam Ram Chandran, Rohin Bhatt, and Sayantan Datta for their insights on the subject.
List of respondents: community leaders and experts
Dr. Aqsa Shaikh, medical doctor and Community Medicine Specialist (https://www.indiatimes.com/news/india/dr-aqsa-shaikh-india-first-trans-woman-to-head-covid-centre-535995.html).
Amrita Sarkar, founding member and the Secretary of IRGT – A Global Network of Trans Women and HIV (https://allianceindia.org/).
Gautam Ram Chandra, community activist, organiser, and mobiliser. Gautam is a board member at TWEET Foundation working on empowerment, community building, resource building, and providing shelter and peer support to the transmasculine community in India.
Notes
1 The process of digitisation is subsumed under the larger process of digitalisation: ‘Digitalisation can be referred to as the the changing of actors in the value creation process, creating new offerings, or making adaptations to processes, organisations or ecosystem in the use of digital technologies’ (Elg et al. Citation2021).
2 An Aadhaar card contains a 12-digit random number issued by the UIDAI (‘Authority’) to the residents of India after satisfying the verification process laid down by the Authority. Any individual, irrespective of age and gender, who is a resident of India, may voluntarily enrol to obtain an Aadhaar number. A person willing to enrol has to provide minimal demographic and biometric information during the enrolment process which is totally free of cost. An individual needs to enrol for Aadhaar only once and after de-duplication only one Aadhaar shall be generated, as the uniqueness is achieved through the process of demographic and biometric de-duplication (Unique Identification Authority of India Citationn.d.; https://uidai.gov.in/what-is-aadhaar.html).
3 In the census (Census Citation2011), three codes were provided for recording gender, i.e. Male-1, Female-2, and Other-3. In case the respondent wished to record neither ‘1’ nor ‘2’, the enumerator was instructed to record sex as ‘Other’ and give code ‘3’. Thus, the category of ‘Other’ would not only include transgender persons but also any person who desired to record sex under the category of ‘Other’. It is also possible that transgender persons might have returned themselves either male or female depending on their choice.
4 Dead naming occurs when someone, intentionally or not, refers to a person who i's transgender by the name they used before they transitioned. You may also hear it described as referring to someone by their ‘birth name’ or their ‘given name’ (https://www.healthline.com/health/transgender/deadnaming#government_issued-ids).
5 During the pandemic, the Indian government deployed the COVID Vaccine Intelligence Network (CoWIN) app and website which was used to facilitate access to COVID-19 vaccination. The CoWIN app/website served several functions such as registration, scheduling appointments, identity verification, and issuing a certificate to people vaccinated.
6 Non-binary is used to describe people who feel their gender cannot be defined within the margins of gender binary. Instead, they understand their gender in a way that goes beyond simply identifying as either a man or woman. Some non-binary people may feel comfortable within transgender communities and find this is a safe space to be with others who do not identify as cis, but this is not always the case.
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Notes on contributors
Arushi Raj
Arushi Raj is a researcher who currently works as Associate Research, Outreach, and Photo Archive at SPRF India. She holds a Masters in Sociology from Delhi School of Economics and a Bachelors in Sociology from Jesus and Mary College, University of Delhi. Previously, she has conducted research on diverse themes such as gender and violence, urbanisation, social ecology, among others. She was awarded the Krishna Raj Travel Fellowship by the Centre for Development Economics, Delhi School of Economics (2018) and was part of the Delhi University Innovation Project funded by the University Grants Commission (2015–2016). She has also conducted research at the Centre for Social Research and the National Human Rights Commission, India. Postal address: B-65, Paschimi Marg, Vasant Vihar, New Delhi, 110057. Email: [email protected]
Fatima Juned
Fatima Juned is a Research Associate at SPRF India. She holds a Master’s degree in Conflict Analysis and Peacebuilding from Jamia Millia Islamia and a Bachelor’s in Applied Psychology from Gargi College, University of Delhi. Her research interests include labour and child rights, gender, conflict and peace studies, refugee law, and migration. She has researched issues of child labour, gender, conflict, and the impact of climate change. Fatima has earlier been a fellow at Led By Foundation and Change.org. Email: [email protected]