“I do not understand why certain activists blame Aadhaar in this pension case. Aadhaar is designed to store only four data attributes about a person and their biometric information. It only guarantees uniqueness of their record with us. If you ask the database to confirm a person’s identity using their fingerprints, we only certify that […]
Action at a Distance
“Data collection always has errors. Spelling mistakes in names, wrong dates of birth, incorrect or makeshift addresses… the list can go on. The work is also so time-consuming that we have had to outsource it. So, there are new private sub-contracting agencies that also add to large-scale errors in data collection and curation. Language is […]
The Living Dead
“I once heard that you only die when no one remembers you anymore. But, death has many forms. I have thought about death a lot. I am an old man after all. I have lived an honest life; my family always had food on the plate when I could work. That’s the least I could […]
Seams that Matter
Paper Title: Seams that Matter in Approaches to Study Processes of Marginalization Author: Ranjit Singh Workshop: Solidarity Across Borders Venue: The 21st ACM Conference on Computer-Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing (CSCW), New York Date: 4 November 2018 Abstract: This paper outlines the trajectory of my ethnographic research on the design and use of India’s national biometrics-based identification project, […]
From Pipes to Platforms
Conference Presentation Title: From Pipes to Platforms: Designing a Country-Scale Project Author: Ranjit Singh Panel: Coded citizenship. Biometrics, identity and de-socializing technologies in South Asia Venue: The 25th European Conference on South Asian Studies (ECSAS), Paris Date: 25 July 2018 Abstract: This paper draws on ethnographic study of Aadhaar, India’s biometrics-based national identification project, to engage with the core design […]
Authentication Trails of Body as Evidence
Conference Presentation Title: Authentication trails of Body as evidence: What counts as a confirmation of what? Author: Ranjit Singh Panel: Techno-Utopias of Identification: Comparing and Situating the Fantasy in Aadhaar Venue: 4th LASSnet International Conference in New Delhi, India Date: 10 December, 2016 Abstract: This paper traces body as evidence in the analysis of India’s biometrics-based identity project – Aadhaar. […]
Travelling Numbers
Conference Presentation Title: Travelling Numbers: Tracing the transformations of Aadhaar Author: Ranjit Singh Panel: Infrastructures, subjects, politics Venue: 4S/EASST Conference in Barcelona, Spain Date: 3 September, 2016 Short Abstract: This paper traces the imbrication of India’s biometrics-based national identity number, Aadhaar, into various information infrastructures of social welfare delivery in India. Abstract: This paper traces the transformations of India’s biometrics-based national […]