Internal Migration in India and Citizenship implications of Aadhar
We See You
An essay on eye-scanning, India’s floating population and inclusive governance.
“That will give me an identity,” he said, gesturing at the computer station where he had just completed his enrolment. “It will show that I am a human being, that I am alive, that I live on this planet. It will prove I am an Indian.” – Mohammed Jalil, (New York Times 2011).
Introduction
The 2011 report of the IMII1 on internal migration and human development in India estimated the number of internal migrants to be around 400 million people, at that time roughly a third of the total population. The IMII was launched by UNICEF and UNESCO to respond to the many problems existing around this population, also referred to as the ‘floating population’. These migrants, often never really settled, face great difficulties in accessing social security as this is often linked to residence. This is but one of the many ways in which these people are treated as ‘second-class citizens’, discrimination, a lack of political representation and low wage work being other examples. The aim of the IMII to ensure: “…that processes of urban development are socially equitable” 2 crystallized in the launching of an “informal network of 200 researchers, NGO’s, policy makers, UN agencies and key partners” focussed on raising attention given to internal migrants in policy and practices (UNESCO, 2011). The Indian government project called ‘Aadhaar’ might be an interesting development to these problems. It is a hugely scoped project aimed at providing all Indian residents with an identity by scanning their eyes and entrusting them with a number, enabling them to claim for example social benefits and a bank account . In this paper I seek to answer the question whether this project might actually benefit this floating population, and how this can be embedded in a broader discussion on citizenship and legibility.
India’s ‘floating population’
As the IMII report stressed to be the basis for its
An essay on eye-scanning, India’s floating population and inclusive governance.
“That will give me an identity,” he said, gesturing at the computer station where he had just completed his enrolment. “It will show that I am a human being, that I am alive, that I live on this planet. It will prove I am an Indian.” – Mohammed Jalil, (New York Times 2011).
Introduction
The 2011 report of the IMII1 on internal migration and human development in India estimated the number of internal migrants to be around 400 million people, at that time roughly a third of the total population. The IMII was launched by UNICEF and UNESCO to respond to the many problems existing around this population, also referred to as the ‘floating population’. These migrants, often never really settled, face great difficulties in accessing social security as this is often linked to residence. This is but one of the many ways in which these people are treated as ‘second-class citizens’, discrimination, a lack of political representation and low wage work being other examples. The aim of the IMII to ensure: “…that processes of urban development are socially equitable” 2 crystallized in the launching of an “informal network of 200 researchers, NGO’s, policy makers, UN agencies and key partners” focussed on raising attention given to internal migrants in policy and practices (UNESCO, 2011). The Indian government project called ‘Aadhaar’ might be an interesting development to these problems. It is a hugely scoped project aimed at providing all Indian residents with an identity by scanning their eyes and entrusting them with a number, enabling them to claim for example social benefits and a bank account . In this paper I seek to answer the question whether this project might actually benefit this floating population, and how this can be embedded in a broader discussion on citizenship and legibility.
India’s ‘floating population’
As the IMII report stressed to be the basis for its