For Welfare or For Profit: Aadhaar and Private Exploitation of the Poor in India

Please join the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice’s Digital Welfare State and Human Rights Project at 9:00 a.m. ET on Wednesday, January 27  for the next event in the Transformer States "Conversation Series on Digital Government and Human Rights."

For Welfare or For Profit: Aadhaar and Private Exploitation of the Poor in India will explore one of the largest and earliest foundational digital ID systems in the world, Aadhaar in India. With over 1.2 billion people enrolled, this scheme is held up by proponents of digital ID as an example for other countries to follow. This event will contrast purported benefits with evidence of severe exclusion and hardship imposed on marginalized groups.

Register for the event here.

Our guest speaker is Dr. Usha Ramanathan, Indian human rights activist and expert on law and poverty. Dr. Ramanathan is one of the leading critics of Aadhaar and has written and spoken extensively against its risks to security and privacy as well as its exclusionary effects. In 2019, she was presented with the Human Rights Hero award by UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet for her tireless work raising awareness about the realities of Aadhaar.

Audience members are welcome to send in questions for Dr. Ramanathan in advance, by emailing victoria.adelmant@law.nyu.edu. There will also be an audience Q&A during which questions can be submitted.

Audience members are welcome to send in questions for in advance, by emailing victoria.adelmant@law.nyu.edu. There will also be an audience Q&A during which questions can be submitted.

Captioned recordings of the three previous conversations in the series are available on CHRGJ.org. You can also find a blog post by Ngozi Nwanta which discusses issues of exclusion and digital ID in the West African context and a blog post by Sarah Tucker about the monitoring of social media to identify disability benefit fraud.