Does computerisation reduce PDS leakage? Lessons from Karnataka

Silvia Masiero discusses recent research into how computerisation can detect and prevent leakage from the Public Distribution System, which is used to dispense rations allocated under the National Food Security Act. She writes that although the system has helped to disincentivise cheating among ration dealers, problems remain. Firstly, technology prevents erroneous inclusion, but can do little towards the exclusion of the needful. Secondly, it monitors ration dealers’ behaviour but it cannot remove the incentive to divert rations in a scenario of non-profitability

Jan Dhan Yojana, Aadhaar, mobile platforms: an anti-poverty system in peril?

Silvia Masiero discusses the usage of the JAM trinity (Jan Dhan Yojana, Aadhaar, and mobile platforms) in the prospected move from existing anti-poverty programmes to a system based on cash transfers

Food security and the politics of service computerisation in Karnataka

Silvia Masiero explores the computerisation of the Public Distribution System (PDS) in Karnataka, and details the assumptions and food security policy that is being advanced by the adoption of technology

Industrial policy for development? Causes, mechanisms and consequences of industrial policy across the world

Dr Silvia Masiero, Research Fellow in the Department of International Development, writes on the 2015 Development Debate featuring Professor Robert Wade and Professor Francesco Caselli

UID/Aadhar and the PDS: what new technologies mean for India’s food security system

Silvia Masiero examines how the introduction of UID/Aadhar will enable the substitution of India’s Public Distribution System with a market-regulated network, and what that means for food security

Demonetisation and information poverty: insights from slum areas in Bangalore and Mumbai

Drawing on her ongoing fieldwork in slum areas of Bangalore and Mumbai, Silvia Masiero argues that information poverty increases hardship for the poor and vulnerable facing demonetisation. She observes, however, that the unbanked poor are those who hold the most valuable information about the real effects of the Government’s move towards a cashless economy

Transforming state-citizen relations in food security schemes : the computerized ration card management system in Kerala

In this paper we look at the application of ICTs to the improvement of state-citizen relations in a developing country context. Our argument is that, to maximise responsiveness of the government, ICTs need to target the structural problems in state-citizen relations, from which unresponsiveness of the state to citizens is generated. Failure, as portrayed here, arises from the fact that ICTs, rather than being used for tackling the causes of issues in government responsiveness, tend to be conceived and utilised primarily as a means for acquiring political consensus. This argument is illustrated through a case study of computerisation of the ration card procedure in the southern Indian state of Kerala, where a typical problem of state unresponsiveness – mirrored by a burgeoning amount of unattended ration card applications – is matched by a typical e-government solution, i.e. digitalisation of the process of document release. Our case study reveals that, while the structural problems of the process of ration card delivery in Kerala lie within two crucial nodes, namely poverty status determination and verification of applications, the digital solution devised by the government addresses predominantly the front-end, politically appealing node constituted by citizen application for a ration card. This strategy, which leaves untouched the crucial nodes of state unresponsiveness, turns out in citizen dissatisfaction on the long run. Implications are both theoretical, as a cause for failure is identified and deconstructed in the domain of ICT4D, and practical, as an orientation to structural problems is recommended for policymakers that engage in ICT-based government reform. Keywords: e-governance; food security; public distribution system; ration card; computerization; Kerala JEl Classification: O20, O33; O3

Digital Identity Platforms: A Data Justice Perspective

Digital identity platforms, designed to enable secure and unique authentication of users, are widely depicted as a means to strengthen public service systems. Yet, this vision is questioned by studies illuminating how digital authentication results in exclusions, data violations and other forms of harm generated on users. This paper contributes a vision of digital identity inspired by the concept of data justice, which views data in terms of the fairness with which users are seen, represented and treated. Drawing on a data justice framework, we study a dataset of web sources (2021-2022) in terms of the legal, informational and design-related forms of injustice stemming from digital identification. By doing so we contribute to the emerging literature on digital identity, offering a conceptual lens to understand and ultimately combat the injustice generated through it

Subaltern studies: Advancing critical theory in ICT4D

Critical research has been advocated as capable to uncover multiple contradictions in ICT-induced development processes. This paper explores the potential of subaltern studies to contribute to the generation of critical theory in ICT4D. Following the postcolonial thought of Partha Chatterjee, the paper proposes a vision of subalternity centred on technologies of rule that concur to devoicing the marginalised. The theory is used to examine the computerisation of a large Indian social protection scheme, illustrating how processes of digitalisation, formally aimed at the empowerment of recipients, actually resulted in the systematic crystallisation of alienating power structures in the programme. This resulted in the further devoicing of the wageseekers that the scheme should have empowered, casting doubt on the image of a pro-poor “digital India” represented in mainstream narratives. Used as analytical framework, subalternity theory makes it possible to represent the views of the devoiced and marginalised, hence contributing to enacting the emancipatory purpose of critical theory in ICT4D

Will the JAM trinity dismantle the PDS?

The platform known as the JAM Trinity (an acronym for Jan Dhan Yojana, Aadhaar and mobile numbers) may enable a shift from the current Public Distribution System, based on price subsidies, to the direct transfer of benefi ts. However, it is incorrect to argue that JAM technologies will necessarily lead to the demise of the PDS. State-level experiences of computerisation, recounted here, reveal that the same technologies can actually be tailored to improve the PDS, by contributing to reduce the problem of leakage that affects it