The next graduate presentation of research in progress is on
Wednesday, April 16, 2025, 5:30 PM
One Bow Street, Third Floor
We have Pariroo Rattan (HKS) presenting “Exercising State Power through the Private Sector: The Digital Economy and Nation-building in Contemporary India.” (Abstract below.)
Dinner will be served. All are welcome. Hope to see you there!
Exercising State Power through the Private Sector: The Digital Economy and Nation-building in Contemporary India
Digital India is a flagship government policy to improve governance and economic opportunities especially for the poor, distinct for its emphasis on “economic growth combined with social inclusion.” Central to the Digital India policy is biometric identification, Aadhaar, now distributed to 1.3 billion Indians and real time mobile payment technology, Unified Payments Interface (UPI), which has become a key alternative to cash transactions. I track the development of Digital Public Infrastructures and National Information Utilities (NICs) touted to be “private companies with a public purpose” for their legal composition, competitiveness and scope of public accountability. Conventional arguments on neoliberalism have focussed on how the state enables the private sector or creates the background conditions, legal rules, property rights, moral landscape to aid the private sector. I show how the state is using the private sector to further its governance capacity, while reducing the scope for public accountability. This particular public-private nexus is turning public services into “products” without market competition or bureaucratic oversight.
SAS Graduate Student Colloquium – Pariroo Rattan
