http://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/to-name-and-address/in-technology-we-trust-the-modi-government-has-blind-faith-in-digital-fixes-for-social-problems/
In technology we trust: the Modi government has blind faith in digital fixes for social problems December 17, 2016, 2:00 AM IST Amulya Gopalakrishnan Demonetisation has been a painful lesson about how much we trust tech solutions. For this government and its supporters, there is no human habit, no social pattern that doesn’t have a technological quick-fix. This has taken farcical forms. There were stories about GPS-enabled nano-chips embedded into the 2,000-rupee notes, to beam your shady ways to the authorities. The latest in that line is about radioactive ink in the 2,000-rupee note. A reputed newspaper solemnly reported the rumour: “P32 is a radioactive isotope of phosphorus consisting of 15 protons and 17 neutrons.” This is apparently meant to work like a “warning tape”, if you have too many notes. Welcome to the fertile intersection of bhakti and tech. Words like GPS and nano-chips are flung around like incantations or mantras, to convey a sense of control. Now that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s omnipotence is looking rather shaky, his followers use technobabble to defend the decision, to make it seem like a reasonable plan. These may be ridiculous examples, but they share something with Modi’s own overwhelming belief in technology-led answers. The more disorderly and slow the government’s currency rollout has been, the more it holds out visions of digital efficiency. Never has so much irrational faith been placed in the cult of technology, to correct the frailties of humans. The rationale for demonetisation has slid from stamping out corruption and black money to the virtues of a cashless economy. No more grubby paper-money, says the government, the future lies in frictionless digital transactions through e-wallets, internet banking and cards. Never mind that this future, if it materialises, would mean submitting to total financial surveillance; everything is transparent to your bank and to the state. This might gladden an authoritarian heart, but it would strip citizens of any rightful anonymity. Add biometric tracking to that, and we’re all just insects in the state’s laboratory. Given the lack of both digital security standards and privacy safeguards in India, you would have no recourse but to trust your overseers and carry on. But digital transactions would be all the better for tax authorities to track and document, says the government. Its cheerleader economists tell us: “One IT-new (information technology) person can do the work of a thousand IT-old (income tax) people.” Modi exhorts people to be part of this great campaign of virtue: “Once you teach the common citizen these technologies, he will become free from all his worries.” Niti Aayog, forsaking all dignity, has announced a lucky draw for digital transactions. This cashless future is hampered by current literacy and banking levels, as also habit: most people are using their ATM cards to withdraw cash, rather than directly transact. Because of demonetisation, the informal sector has been suckerpunched, livelihoods have been lost, the economy will wobble for a long while, black money has been laundered and returned. The government assures us that it was all worthwhile because the tax net will be made finer, because now officials will analyse the flows and trace the black money hoarders. But if the tax bureaucracy has been part of the problem so far, how exactly do digital tools change their motivations? Ask, and you will be told vague things about big data and IT-enabled monitoring. Digitisation is not a surefire fix for tax evasion or any other form of rule-dodging. For instance, studies show that digitisation of MGNREGA data had mixed results on corruption; in some cases they shone a light on it, in others, officials refused to penalise juniors, or people colluded with bureaucrats to cheat the system. At the other end of digital sophistication, cryptocurrencies can help you evade the government. So technology is an empty tool. It can certainly help combat some corruption when done right, and it can also enable new forms of hustle and gaming. As Bill Gates wrote in 1995, “The first rule of technology … is that automation applied to an efficient operation will magnify the efficiency. The second is that automation applied to an inefficient operation will magnify the inefficiency.” Tackling corruption means untangling regulations, strengthening enforcement capacities, and a range of reforms from party financing to whistleblower protection to RTI compliance. But Modi and his supporters share a technocratic mindset gone wild, and see corruption, black money, tax evasion, as neatly defined problems to be solved in a decisive stroke. He borrows an aura of competence and efficiency from technology. He doesn’t hesitate to use unbridled state power to change social habits, carve straight planks from the crooked timber of humanity. But maybe it’s not the notes, but the note-bandi that will turn out to be radioactive. -- Peace Is Doable -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Green Youth Movement" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send an email to [email protected]. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/greenyouth. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
