Writing, Typing, and Scanning. Distributive Justice and the Politics of Visibility in the Era of E-Governance

About the Book Chapter

This chapter focuses on the social struggles accompanying shifts in management systems from paper-based record-keeping to biometrical e-governance. It reflects on the materiality of the old and new media of recording in relation to social imaginations and practices of handling. The chapter explores the relation between writing and scanning in the concrete context of Delhi’s welfare system. In 2014 – after the union parliament passed the National Food Security Bill – Delhi reformed its public distribution system. The old ration cards were phased out and new NFS (National Food Security) cards issued to all citizens who could prove their BPL status and provide aadhaar numbers for personal identification. The transition from a paper document (ration card) to a plastic card (NFS card) and biometric verification has consequences for food security and people’s perception of self in systems of governance. In the process of making things work, they shape the role, authority and meaning of media in evidentiary practices.

About the Author

Prof. Dr. Ursula Rao (SFB 1199 & Leipzig University)

Ursula Rao is Professor of Anthropology at the University of Leipzig. Her research explores questions of politics and governance in India, with a specific focus on urban dynamics. Currently, she is involved in several research projects about the social consequences of biometric technology and e-governance. How do the new tools and techniques of governing impact human relations and state-citizens interactions? Other fields of interests include question of urban citizenship and social justice, as well as journalistic practices, ritual theory and urban Hinduism.

Before joining the University of Leipzig Ursula Rao held academic positions at the University of Heidelberg (1999-2002), the University of Halle (2002-2006) and the University of New South Wales, Sydney (2007-2012).