Digital identity and exclusion in welfare: Notes from the public distribution system in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka

Abstract

In this note, we explore the relationship between digital biometric 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 Aadhaarenabled 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.