State and society reimagined: India’s novel Unique Identification Scheme as a state hi-tech fantasy
Abstract
Launched in 2009, Aadhaar – also known as the Unique Identification Scheme – is one India's latest large-scale poor-poor initiatives. With the goal of providing all of the country's residents with unique, biometric-based identification numbers, Aadhaar is a particularly ambitious project, which has been depicted by the Indian government as a transformative step that will enable the poor and marginalized to access public services and welfare entitlements. At the same time, Aadhaar has also attracted a fair amount of public critique, pivoting around what is seen as the scheme's potential for state monitoring and surveillance. This essay is an attempt to move beyond the normative polar opposition that composes the public debate on Aadhaar. Instead, it seeks to place this extensive government project within the framework of dreams about the state and its relations with citizens. Aadhaar, it is argued here, rests on an ideological formation that combines utopian, technological, and neoliberal notions about state and society. On a symbolic level, the scheme expresses a desire for responsive disintermediation in state-society relations, to be achieved specifically through a reformation of government ventures in the image of an entrepreneurial information technology start-up. This essay thus provides an analysis of Aadhaar as a state hi-tech fantasy, which can offer an insight into the (post-)neoliberal Indian state.
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_______. (2005), 'Narratives of Corruption: Anthropological and Fictional Accounts of the Indian State,' Ethnography 6 (1): 5-34.
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Hindu. (2010), 'Finance Ministry sets up technology advisory group', June 7 [accessed on 15 December 2013 at:
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group/article449063.ece]
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Kumar, R. and M. L. Best. (2006), 'Impact and Sustainability of E-Government Services in Developing Countries: Lessons Learned from Tamil Nadu, India', The Information Society 22: 1-12
Kuriyan, R. and I. Ray. (2009), 'Outsourcing the State? Public-Private Partnerships and Information Technologies in India', World Development 37 (10): 1663-1673.
Kurup, D. (2012), 'Spawning identities in packets', Hindu, January 29 [accessed on 29 December 2013 at: www.thehindu.com/scitech/technology/article2840496.ece]
LiPuma, E. and B. Lee. (2004), 'The World of Risk', in LiPuma, E. and B. Lee (eds.), Financial Derivatives and the Globalisation of Risk, Durham, NC: Duke University Press: 141-160
Maringanti, A. (2009), 'Sovereign State and Mobile Subjects: Politics of the UIDAI', Economic and Political Weekly 44 (46): 35-40.
Massey, D.B., P. Quintas and D. Wield. (1992), Hi-Tech Fantasies: Science Parks in Society, Science and Space. London:Routledge.
Mazzarella, W. (2006), 'Internet X-Ray: E-Governance, Transparency, and the Politics of Immediation in India,' Public Culture 18 (3): 473-505.
McGivering, J. (2011), 'India Aid Programme "Beset by Corruption" – World Bank', BBC News, May 18 [accessed on 17 December 13 at: www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-southasia-13447867]
Miller, D. (1994), 'Consumption as the Vanguard of History. A Polemic by Way of an Introduction', in Miller D. (ed.), Acknowledging Consumption: A Review of New Studies, New York: Routledge: 1-19.
Mitchell, T. (1999), 'Society, Economy and the State Effect', in Steinmetz G. (ed.), State/Culture: State-Formation After the Cultural Turn, Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press: 76-97
Nilekani, N. (2008), Imagining India: Ideas for the New Century, London: Allen Lane.
______________. (2009), 'Giving Indians an Identity', Times of India, December 29 [accessed on 22 December 2013 at: timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Giving-Indians-an-identity/articleshow/5379692.cms]
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______________. (2010)b, 'The Power of Identity', Inclusion, April 24, [accessed on 20 December 2013 at: inclusion.in/index.php?option=com_contentview=article&id=537]
Rai, S. (2012), 'Why India’s identity scheme is groundbreaking', BBC News India, June 6 [accessed on 25 December 2013 at: www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asiaindia-18156858]
Ramakumar, R. (2009), 'High-cost, High-risk', Frontline 26 (16) [accessed on 27 December 2013 at: www.frontlineonnet.com/fl2616/stories/20090814261604900]
____________. (2010), 'What the UID Conceals', Hindu, October 21 [accessed on 15 December 2013 at: www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tpopinion/article839791.ece]
Ramanathan, U. (2010)b, “A Unique Identity Bill.” Economic and Political Weekly 45 (30): 10-14.
____________. (2010)a, 'Eyeing IDs', Indian Express, 1 May 2010 [accessed on 12 December 2013 at: www.indianexpress.com/news/eyeing-ids/613701/]
Roberts, D. (2009), 'Nandan Nilekani: the "Bill Gates of Bangalore" with a Social Conscience to Match', Guardian, April 24 [accessed on 12 December 2013 at: guardian.co.uk/business/2009/apr/24/nanden-nilekanitechnology-infosys]
Roy, A. (2010), 'Walking With The Comrades', Outlook, March 29 [accessed on 25 December 2013 at: www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?264738-0]
Saini, A. (2010), '21st Century, Hi-Tech India: the Smartest Country on the Planet', Guardian, March 6 [accessed on 20 December 2013 at: www.theguardian.com/world/2011/mar/06/india-lavasa-computer-technology]
Sandilya, S., S. Limaye and Thanuja B.M. (2010), 'Nilekani’s Faceless Indian Gets Prisoner Number', My Ditigal FC, August 29 [accessed on 12 December 2013 at: www.mydigitalfc.com/economy/nilekani's-faceless-indian-gets-prisonernumber-291]
Sankar, K.N. Murali. (2012), 'Aadhaar-linked PDS: East Godavari shows the way', Hindu, September 6 [accessed on 16 May 2014 at: www.thehindu.com/todayspaper/tp-national/aadhaarlinked-pds-eastgodavari-shows-theway/article3864157.ece]
Sharma, R.S. (2010), 'Identity and the UID: A Response', Economic and Political Weekly 45 (35): 101-103.
UIDAI. (n.d.)a, 'UID and NREG' [accessed on 5 December 2013 at: uidai.gov.in/images/FrontPageUpdates/uid_and_mgnrega.pdf]
______. (n.d.)b, 'UID and PDS System' [accessed on 17 December 2013 at: uidai.gov.in/images/FrontPageUpdates/uid_and_pds.pdf ]
______. (n.d.)c, 'Features of the Aadhaar Model' [accessed on 27 December 2013 at: uidai.gov.in/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=153&Itemid=13]
______. (2010)a, 'Press Brief for National Launch of Unique Identification Numbers (Aadhaar)' [accessed on 12 December 2013 at: uidai.gov.in/images/FrontPageUpdat
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______. (2010)b, 'Press note: National launch of the Aadhaar project' [accessed on 17 December 2013 at: uidai.gov.in/images/FrontPageUpdates/pressnotefinal.doc]
______. (2010)c, 'UIDAI Strategy Overview: Creating a Unique Identity Number for Every Resident in India' [accessed on 17 December 2013 at: uidai.gov.in/UID_PDF/Front_Page_Articles/Documents/Strategy_Overveiw-001.pdf]
Upadhya, C. (2009), 'Controlling Offshore Knowledge Workers: Power and Agency in India’s Software Outsourcing Industry', New Technology, Work and Employment 24 (1): 2-18.
World Bank. (2010), 'Gemalto, IBM, Intel, L1, Microsoft, and Pfizer Join Korea in Launch of World Bank’s Novel eTransform Initiative' [accessed on 12 December 2013 at: web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/NEWS/0,,contentMDK:22554498~meuPK:34466~pagePK:34370~piPK:34424~theSitePK:4607,00.html]
Published
01-May-2014
How to Cite
Noy, I. (2014). State and society reimagined: India’s novel Unique Identification Scheme as a state hi-tech fantasy. The South Asianist Journal, 3(1). Retrieved from http://www.southasianist.ed.ac.uk/article/view/741
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