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Over the past decades, digital technologies have become ubiquitous, impacting and changing the ways society operates. Immense public and economic value is being created by improving access to information and resources. Hence, many public administration units around the globe continue to focus on digital transformation. Although mostly associated with digitizing services and workflow via software platforms, India's efforts have taken a "Lego building block approach" toward technology which can be repurposed and recombined to deliver solutions at the social level. These digital public infrastructure (DPI) blocks have had significant impact on socio-economic development. In this special issue, we explore the role of DPI in digitally transforming public service delivery and in creating public value. The issue aims to make an important contribution to public administration and digital government literature, by examining India's DPI and its positive externalities, in particular its role in financial and health inclusion. These papers include vital knowledge that can support policy processes on digital transformation and public value creation for India and other developing countries of the global South. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What are the effects of biometric and digital technologies on social protection for the poor in India? Drawing on ethnographic research from rural Tamil Nadu, this paper presents evidence of how new technologies are experienced by beneficiaries of the Public Distribution System (PDS), and analyses the impacts of technology innovations on transparency, exclusion and mediation. The authors focus on the implementation of 'smartcards,' new digitised and Aadhaar-enabled ration cards, introduced in ration shops across Tamil Nadu in 2017. They first document how digitised smartcards and mobile text messages transform transparency for beneficiaries by introducing new opacities and information gaps. They then demonstrate how a lack of transparency (re)produces forms of exclusion that remain a challenge under the automated PDS. Finally, the paper highlights how novel forms of kin and non-kin mediation play a mitigating role in accessing PDS, and constitute a vital part of the infrastructure underpinning social welfare delivery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fluency Assessment and Benchmarking for Literacy in Education (FABLe) is the first mobile application being developed for the assessment of foundational literacy skills in India. FABLe passages are currently available in English for Grades 2, 3 and 4, with plans to expand to other Indian languages. FABLe is designed to administer curriculum-based measures for reading (R-CBMs) that have been validated in the Indian context. This paper describes the preliminary benchmarking procedures being undertaken for the Indian student population and how FABLe screens for students at-risk for reading difficulties. Student performance data based on initial FABLe results are compared with international benchmarks and teacher perception data. Overall, FABLe scores are lower than international benchmarks. FABLe was able to accurately identify students needing additional support, with the majority of students identified at-risk falling below the 19th percentile in FABLe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper points to an underexplored relationship of reinforcement between processes of quantification and digitisation in the construction of mental health as amenable to technological intervention, in India. Increasingly, technology is used to collect mental health data, to diagnose mental health problems, and as a route of mental health intervention and clinical management. At the same time, mental health has become recognised as a new public health priority in India, and within national and global public health agendas. We explore two sites of the technological problematisation of mental health in India: a large-scale survey calculating prevalence, and a smartphone app to manage stress. We show how digital technology is deployed both to frame a 'need' for, and to implement, mental health interventions. We then trace the epistemologies and colonial histories of 'psy' technologies, which question assumptions of digital empowerment and of top-down 'western' imposition. Our findings show that in India such technologies work both to discipline and liberate users. The paper aims to encourage global debate inclusive of those positioned inside and outside of the 'black box' of mental health technology and data production, and to contribute to shaping a future research agenda that analyses quantification and digitisation as key drivers in global advocacy to make mental health count. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Digital identity platforms are a recent e-governance innovation for improving social assistance programming in the development context, the most well-known of which is India's Aadhaar. While a significant number of studies have accumulated on Aadhaar, so far under-researched is the importance of local government practices and processes in shaping usage of the platform to support social assistance programming. In this paper we theorize how local government intermediation on digital identity platforms can improve social assistance programming through a case study of the Aadhaar-enabled Fertilizer Distribution System (AeFDS) in Andhra Pradesh. Our findings show how the relevance of the platform for low-income farmers depends crucially on the proactive adaptation of the technology by key local government intermediaries. From a policy perspective, this result emphasizes the importance of supporting efforts to acknowledge the role of responsive local government agencies in ensuring that centralized digital identity platforms remain relevant for implementing social assistance programming. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Amid the rapid advancement of digital technology in India, there is a growing concern regarding data protection and digital privacy. The recent DPDP Act 2023 also reflects the significant emphasis on a robust privacy practice. This paper examines the effectiveness of consent, a crucial principle and a subject of many debates in data privacy regimes. Despite being a cornerstone of privacy regimes globally, the consent-based approach has significant limitations. For instance, its binary character allows for a yes or no response and its inability to guarantee data subjects to make an informed choice. The study is set against the prominent data breaches and the Indian Government’s effort to strengthen data protection measures. The study also examines the theoretical and legal aspects of consent by analysing the fundamental ideas that form the basis of the DPDP Act, 2023, protecting the consent framework. It questions whether the current form of the Act aligns with the landmark Privacy Judgement. It concludes by exploring alternative and more adaptable mechanisms for implementing informational privacy that might effectively address the specific issues in the Indian context while taking inspiration from other jurisdictions like the EU. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On-demand work applications (ODWAs), a type of digital platforms (DPs), are technology-enabled intermediaries for gig workers. In this paper, we study these platforms and their impact on women belonging to the low socio-economic section in a developing economy. These women act as primary unpaid workers while being expected to make an economic contribution. Hence, they suffer from time scarcity where they need to find mechanisms to generate economic success from the limited time they have, in a largely informal economy. We employed the theoretical lens of affordances to delineate the affordances that are provided by the various features of ODWAs and their impact on life satisfaction of women. We conducted a mixed method study using interviews of 20 female gig workers, supplemented by a survey of 927 workers on one of the largest ODWAs in India. Our analysis points to the sense of identity and individuality that these platforms provide as well as lowering the market boundaries for greater inclusion. Our research is significant from both, the information systems and inclusion research perspectives, as it contributes to the theoretical understanding of the impact of DPs on breaking societal structures and providing avenues to marginalised sections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The public sphere has moved online, and with it, several versions of "protests" and "movements" too. We are living through a moment in history where the "due process" of law and justice may or may not follow the public demonstration of either injustice or democratic dissent. A "public" protestation in such a situation has very often meant "on social media", giving even more credence to the idea that a successful protest is often one that "trends". This paper will address some of these issues in the context of India, where the spread of internet and social media in the past several years has been as quick as it has been widespread. Using two examples – that of the Indian #MeToo movement and the Anti-CAA protest at Shaheen Bagh – this paper attempts to trace the complexities of online movements in India that have grown online and spread offline. The many inequalities of access, class, caste, language, and internet literacy that exist in India provide a background for these movements and the idea of seeking justice. The complexity of opaque algorithms that curate social media feeds makes the endeavour of seeking for and finding various forms of justice or solidarity – especially through the internet – even more complicated. The two movements – one that was born online and the other that was entirely offline; both operationalised the internet and particularly social media in ways that gave them more visibility and popularity. Both movements were led by women, but one was mostly a movement of elites, while the other was led by those usually considered outside the mainstream. Using insights from Science Technology and Society (STS), this research effort hopes that reading these two cases together will be able to reveal some of the intricacies of the tricky nature of online justice seeking and the complex Indian digital space. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the digital revolution in the 21st century, the Information Technology (I.T.) industry in India has emerged with significant gendered trends and has created new knowledge and spaces to evolve culturally. As a natural corollary, gender rearrangements in the Indian social fabric and within the Indian I.T. industries over the decade have been reformed. Not surprisingly, such rearrangements have impacted gender constructions and social transitions in India but, in spite of new realignments, are quite at play and where symbolic capital negotiate and navigate a myriad of gender relations across multiple geo-social axes of differentiation. To complicate, since the early 2000s, a new paradigm in social sciences, popularly known as Mobility Studies, emerged and which reflects a new approach to gender's social interplay. Mobility Studies travels the continuum from the individual to the institutional, establishing new dynamics not only with intimate spheres such as the family but also within the community and society. Premised on the above, this paper brings in new insights on how individuals and inequalities are reconstructed through their mobility (or lack of it), by bringing in significant conversations between intersectionality and mobility studies, and by examining multiple connections, primarily focusing on the Indian I.T. industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Agricultural and food system transformation helps increase farm productivity and encourages farmers to participate in updated value chains, adopt newer technologies, thereby helping farmers transform their livelihoods in a sustainable manner. Relatedly, value chain innovations depend on multiple decisions farmers make at various stages of the value chain, adequate participation being a primary factor. In this paper, we integrate farmers' adoption decision of a new variety of chilli crop ("Teja") along with their electronic market participation decision and e-market participation intensity, based on data from the chilli farming sector in India, where agricultural markets have been modernized through digitization (Kalgudi e-Market). Thus, the employed Triple-Hurdle Model (THM) integrates adoption decision of "Teja" variety of chilli, e-Market Participation Decision and e-market participation intensity thereby, allowing us to make inferences relating to chilli farmers in Andhra Pradesh, India. Our results, showed that the drivers of "Teja" variety adoption, e-market participation, and e-participation intensity include education, reliable extension services, access to seeds of high yielding varieties, market information, and membership in farmer-producer organizations. Added to these, personnel training visits, prompt deliveries of inputs, and prompt payment of sales proceeds are also important in influencing participation and intensities. Results show that the three stochastic decisions of THM are strongly correlated implying that the adoption decision of "Teja" variety of chilli by the farmers influences the e-market participation decision and consequently, e-market participation intensity and these three decisions are sequential. On the contrary, the decisions viz., e-market participation decision and e-market participation intensity as input buyers and consequent adoption of "Teja" variety of chilli are simultaneous. So, the policy measures that promote production technology interventions (say, "Teja" variety of chilli) will definitely enhance better e-market access of chilli farmers. Accordingly, the breeding programs of the agricultural research stations should enhance the uptake of improved varieties in tune with modern marketing (e-market) technologies. Future farm policy and agricultural-research and innovations must recognize the potential that the digital marketing systems have to offer. Such considerations coupled with the provision of market infrastructure including assaying, grading, storage, and market information will promote digital transformation in agricultural value chains in developing countries like India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the audiovisual genre of Hindutva pop and its connections to Hindu right-wing violence in India. Hindutva pop music videos instigate violence against Muslims and advocate the establishment of a Hindu state. Examining the YouTube channels on which these songs circulate, as well as the textual aspects of music videos, I argue that the genre becomes a machine for the transmission of political affect. Consequently, I argue for what I call "violent spectating" – a visceral and affective politics of spectacularized hatred that takes advantage of digital platforms but exists in constant dialogue and exchange with right-wing extremism offline. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Access to information is the hallmark of democracy. The government of India is trying its best to provide free and timely information to all citizens. For bringing effectiveness and efficiency in the governance, an electronic mode of governing has been adopted. This paper endeavors to relate the digital transformation of Bharat and various information needs of citizens. The article also highlights how public libraries can help in achieving the goals of digital Bharat and end with the discussion that the government should frame the proper policy for the provision of e-government services in public libraries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Young people's lives are inextricably tied in with the digital, whether it is for education, engagement, leisure, or work. Studies from the Global North have examined children and social media from several perspectives, with discourse now veering towards a rights-based approach to foreground young people's voices in a digital and social media world, something that is missing in countries like India. This paper drew on deep interactions with young people from a large Indian city to gain preliminary insights into social media practices and modes of engagement with particular reference to management of access, privacy, safety, and negotiating challenges or problem solving. Our study suggests that conversations about digital platforms, particularly social media spaces, in relation to children's everyday life practices need to begin early, at the point when children begin interacting with these technologies. Critical digital literacy must recognize the agency of young people, their naturalized interactions with the digital world, as well as the complexities of family and school life that moderate such interactions. These contextual nuances become significant when framing regulatory policies, parental advisories and critical digital literacy and media education programs. This article adds to the slowly growing literature from the Global South that enhances and diversifies our understanding of how the 'born digital' generation lives with/in social media. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, we have seen a rise in digital technology. In response to the tempestuous nature of technology and its manifold "threats", the State has adopted fresh armoury. It has inducted mass surveillance programmes, which collect information on every citizen. In India, these measures were adopted in 2007. India's bulk phone metadata collection programme, equivalent to the National Security Agency is called the Central Monitoring System. Additionally, India has created the Crime and Criminal Tracking and Network System, a nation-wide reposity of criminal data. This paper delves into a constitutional analysis of the validity of these programmes by identifying the key constitutional concerns and reviewing whether these programmes satisfy the test of proportionality. Finally, this paper critiques the ramifications of these measures on democracy. It argues that these measures stifle the exchange of information in the public sphere and reduce public space for reasoning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Debates about the increase in digital payments during COVID-19 have primarily focused on behavioural change among consumers. Using India as a case study, this article documents how supply-side actors (political, economic, financial and technological) used the pandemic to generate a new public consensus about digital payments. The article argues that these actors framed the agenda to draw public attention on cash and digital payments during the COVID-19 pandemic, that this new consensus extended and deviated from narratives created during the Digital India (2015) and demonetisation (2016) debates, and that trade bodies and businesses unrelated to banking, finance and technology were active in setting this new agenda. Agenda-setting in the pandemic era continues to mould the payments trajectory in both India and elsewhere. In India, we argue, it has challenged aspects of cash that previously elicited trust: its materiality and associated social interaction. Consequently, older agendas have been promoted, and digital (and especially contactless) payments have assumed a new level of importance to economic life in India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The push for digital technologies during the Covid-19 pandemic has put a question mark on the relationship between the state and society in India. In particular, it has highlighted the gap between the lofty promises of digital welfare by political leaders and businesses, and the widespread discontent with digitalization as evident on the ground. In this paper, I take this gap as a starting point to conceptualize the nature of politics in the data state, drawing on Polanyian themes to understand how the contentions are gradually "embedding" the digital economy in society. Tracing the arc of the interactions between domestic ideas, interests and institutions alongside the development of digital capitalism, I also show that caught in these entanglements, digital economy can no longer remain a one-way street for data "extraction". More specifically, I argue that at the end of its first decade of since the emergence of surveillance capitalism in 2010s, politics has ensured that it confronts ground level resistance that revolves around themes of inclusion, welfare and pluralism rather than the liberal conceptions of privacy and individual consent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Financial Inclusion means providing basic financial products and services to marginalised groups in society in a cost-effective manner. It is an aspect of financial development which helps to achieve higher growth, reduced inequality and reduced poverty. This article undertakes a thematic literature review of factors responsible for financial exclusion, recent trends regarding inclusion, and policy initiatives by government and regulatory bodies. The literature suggests that low earnings, gender gap, ignorance towards marginalised groups, low degree of financial literacy, remote locations and cultural barriers are all important issues behind financial inclusion. There have been improvements in the extent of inclusiveness alongside various reforms and the development of the digital infrastructure, especially during the past decade. However, certain aspects still necessitate pre-emptive measures by the authorities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

India launched the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM) in 2021 to strengthen the digital health ecosystem by developing and integrating health data records and registries. We apply the health system control knob framework to assess the progress of ABDM by analyzing five indicators. Data from the ABDM dashboard reveal notable progress in beneficiary registration (400 million, as of June 3, 2023) and health records linkage (273 million). The registrations of over 208,000 health facilities and 190,000 health care professionals have been verified by ABDM. However, inter-state variation in progress is significant, particularly in health facility and health professional registration. Going forward, ABDM should expand its strategic framework to ensure that more health facilities and health professionals are registered, as registration is important to influence the payment, organization, and regulation control knobs. These actions are related to the achievement of final health system goals: improved health status, financial risk protection, and beneficiary satisfaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While the study of the ethical use of new technologies in journalistic work is imperative given the widespread use of such technology, such studies are few and far between, particularly for the developing world. This paper provides results of an exploratory, qualitative study of Indian journalists’ views about the ethical use of new computer and Internet-based technologies for news gathering and reporting in India. New digital technology was widely accessible to the respondents, but not all journalists were given the tools by their employers. Opinions about ethical news practices using new technology were mixed and revealed a few grey areas. English language national newspapers tended to indicate that their standards were strict and that ethical violations, exacerbated by new technology, occurred mostly in vernacular newspapers. On the whole, respondents had not heard often of other organizations or individuals committing unethical practices such as plagiarism and lack of attribution using new technology. Still, some beliefs indicated uncertainty about ethical practice or breach of ethical principles. The findings of this study have implications for journalism education and on-the-job training of Indian journalists, as well as for formulating ethical codes of journalism, particularly with regard to new media. Indian codes focus more on the roles journalists should play in society and do not provide very specific tactical guidance for everyday news gathering. Coupled with lack of training, this creates a situation where perceptions about journalistic ethics are sometimes vague and variant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By longitudinally tracing India's top political Twitter trends for 2019, our study shows that discursive framing of political leaders is another approach to digital politics. We show that political discourse on digital platforms in India (a) revolved around personalities and (b) hashtags projected political personalities using discursive frames that allow personal subjective interpretations to emerge in resonance with an individual user's worldview. This is interpreted as a form of political distortion enabled by digital platforms, shaping the perception of political leaders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Of the many tasks elected representatives perform, constituency service is among the most difficult to observe and, therefore, to measure. However, a burgeoning literature uses digital tools such as email to experimentally evaluate the responsiveness of political elites to requests for constituency service. To date, this literature has overwhelmingly focused on the developed world. In this article, we describe the results of an email experiment in which we sent plausible, but fictitious constituency service requests to national legislators in India to evaluate their responsiveness, helpfulness, and possibly discriminatory behavior. While the overall response rate to our request is quite poor, those that do respond tend to offer "meaningful" responses. We find scant evidence of legislators discriminating on religious lines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Limited literature exists in India on WhatsApp use for health communication among frontline health workers like Auxiliary Nurse Midwives (ANM). We conducted this study to assess the adoption of WhatsApp among ANMs and identify factors influencing its adoption. In addition, the study explored the perceptions of ANMs on WhatsApp use for sharing health information. We employed a mixed-method sequential explanatory design. We surveyed 259 ANMs, followed by in-depth interviews with 19 purposively sampled ANMs. We conducted multinomial logistic regression to identify factors associated with WhatsApp adoption and employed thematic analysis to analyze interviews. 257 ANMs responded to the survey questionnaire, of which 18.3%, 48.2%, and 33.5% had low, mid, and high levels of WhatsApp adoption, respectively. Education (AOR = 2.87 [95% CI = 1.20–6.85]), motivation (AOR = 6.31 [95% CI = 1.43–27.80]), and technical awareness (AOR = 2.91 [95% CI = 1.11–7.62]) were significantly associated with WhatsApp adoption. Thematic analysis of the interviews resulted in six themes describing perceptions and experiences of ANMs on WhatsApp use. They are: (i) a way of instant communication, (ii) provision for multimedia messaging, (iii) a quick fix tool for queries and concerns, (iv) make attendance and reporting easy (v) a way of reaching higher officials, and (vi) a cost-saving mechanism. WhatsApp facilitated ANMs' communication and service delivery at the grassroots level. Measures to improve motivation, technical awareness, and digital education will likely improve WhatsApp adoption among health workers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article analyses the reasons and the effects of the rise of digital platforms in India, specifically focusing on SVOD platforms. The proliferation of various digital video platforms of different types has been tremendous both in India and the world since early years of 21st century. Taking into consideration the fact that digitality in India is a recent phenomenon, the article, by drawing upon some of the most significant theories in new media studies analyzes the questions of remediation and mediatization in the context of streaming culture in India by taking an example of an emergent media form - web series. The article also takes into consideration the impact of infrastructural development of streaming culture in India, and looks at several examples illustrating digital revolution in India - the remediation of television and the regulation of SVOD content as an example of entanglement of media and society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Various trainings are designed to educate nurses to become simulation educators. However, there are no good strategies to sustain their learnings and keep them engaged. We developed a series of 10 interactive digital storytelling comic episodes 'The Adventures of Super Divya (SD)' to strengthen simulation educator's facilitation knowledge, skills, confidence, and engagement. This endline evaluation presents results on the change in knowledge after watching the episodes and retention of that knowledge over 10 months. The objectives of this pilot study are to: 1) assess the change in knowledge between the baseline and post-episode surveys; and 2) understand the retention of knowledge between the post-episode and the endline survey. A human-centred design was used to create the episodes grounded in the lived experience of nurse simulation educators. The heroine of the comic is Divya, a 'Super Facilitator' and her nemesis is Professor Agni who wants to derail simulation as an educational strategy inside obstetric facilities. Professor Agni's schemes represent real-life challenges; and SD uses effective facilitation and communication to overcome them. The episodes were shared with a group of nurse mentors (NM) and nurse mentor supervisors (NMS) who were trained to be champion simulation educators in their own facilities. To assess change in knowledge, we conducted a baseline, nine post-episode surveys and an endline survey between May 2021 and February 2022. A total 110 NM and 50 NMS watched all 10 episodes and completed all of the surveys. On average, knowledge scores increased by 7–9 percentage points after watching the episodes. Comparison of survey responses obtained between 1 and 10 months suggest that the gain in knowledge was largely retained over time. Findings suggest that this interactive comic series was successful in a resource limited setting at engaging simulation educators and helped to maintain their facilitation knowledge over time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Digital finance can act as a catalyst to promote the growth of financial inclusion. Since 2014, the Indian government has taken various steps to uplift the use of digital finance, one of them is demonetization. It was a major initiative by the government to move society towards cashless economy. In spite of large-scale demonetization overwhelming majority are not using digital finance in India. In this context, this study aims to evaluate the determinants and the impact of demonetization on digital finance and also whether demonetization has enhanced or reduced the pre-existing gender gap in terms of digital finance in case of India. Findings suggest that being a man, richer, more educated and older favours digital technology to avail financial services. The impact of education and income level on use of digital finance are more pronounced in post demonetization period (2017) than pre demonization period (2014). Results on gender gap have strongly proven this fact, but a positive gap still exits, implying women are still lagging behind than men. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article will analyze rural-urban migrant workers' multiple journeys of financial secrecies, gendered solidarities and covert income-management through the use of smartphones and net-banking in the city. Using the narratives of informal domestic workers in Kolkata, a city in eastern India, I show how migrant women managed a shadow network of personal savings, free of surveillance from their rural kin, that was creatively positioned at the interface of modern digital technologies and traditional social relations. I develop the concept of 'migra-monies' to underline how such hidden cash flows within migration landscapes emboldened female workers to envision non-normative gendered subjectivities and economically secure fiscal futures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

UNESCO's 2011 recommendation on Historic Urban Landscapes (HUL) advocated for an integrated, holistic approach to heritage places, in terms of how they are conceptualised and how they are recorded and managed in practical terms. Digital technologies offer increased capacity for recording places of all kinds, especially in terms of the physical environment and increasingly within heritage settings. Diverse case studies from China and India representing challenges in historic environments aim to test how a combination of the latest technologies and their current deployment better work toward goals within the HUL imperative. Further, we investigate where HUL approaches cannot be met by current technologies or analysis of digital data, providing a clear set of goals for future technologies or data interpretation that can work towards a more holistic capturing of place. This study analyses the interpretation of digital data in two different cultural settings between 2017 and 2018 – a historic water town in China and an informal settlement in India. Both cases employed digital technologies, including 3D laser scanning, photogrammetry, digital photography, video and audio recording to capture both the physical attributes of human settlements and how those places were used, reflecting residents' values and cultural practices. Findings suggest that digital technologies are useful tools to illustrate layers of value beyond the built environment by connecting physical, social and cultural landscapes and associated place attachment. The combined use of various digital technologies helps to reveal interconnected place values and support better solutions for more sustainable and equitable development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article demonstrates the complex role digital crowdfunding platforms play in non-profit fundraising, exploring the nebulous area they occupy when partnered with NGOs in India. Using data from platforms GlobalGiving and Impact Guru to identify the complicated partnerships between platforms and NGOs, it examines the problematic nature of marketised fundraising models. By advocating competitive and technologised practices, crowdfunding platforms create tensions between themselves and their NGO partners, who are forced to continuously adjust and innovate their fundraising strategies. Given their emphasis on profit generation, this article argues that digital platforms limit their intention to create inclusive fundraising spaces for NGOs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article contributes to the emergent critical literature on the creation of data in aid by exploring how the use of digital technologies creates corresponding 'digital bodies'. The article argues that dataveillance is becoming a central practice of aid. To explore this proposition, the article interrogates the making of children's digital bodies as objects of intervention through an examination of the development of 'Khushi baby', a wearable digital necklace for tracking infants immunization records in India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Traditional notions of financialisation require updating to study the reorganisation of finance around digital infrastructures. We introduce the concept of digital financialisation, defined as the often-coerced merging of two hitherto separate aspects of citizens' lives – interactions using digital technologies and financial transactions – into a new hybrid realm. This realm is undergirded by an infrastructure that harvests citizens' data, which companies can monetise and governments can use for political surveillance. In developing countries, the state plays a key role in creating surveillance infrastructures, often using coercive means in the name of financial inclusion, as the demonetisation and Aadhaar projects in India show. Unlike the industry-finance conflict in 'analogue' financialisation, digital financialisation involves domestic and cross-border conflicts between tech and finance companies for control of the hybrid realm. The state mediates these conflicts. In India, it deploys a narrative of technocultural nationalism to cultivate its domestic political constituencies and downplay its reliance on foreign technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors discuss the issues of diversity in the world of literary celebrity in India. Topics discussed include the institutionalised casteism of the literary industries, the website of charitable organisation Round Table India that supports writers who seek a platform in mainstream media and publishing, and how digital technology is disrupting the privileged literary celebrity in Indian publishing.

We explore here public and private initiatives in technological solutions for educating the poor and the disadvantaged in India since the second half of the twentieth century. Specifically, we document Ministry of Human Resource Development’s project to develop an affordable tablet computer, named ‘Aakash,’ as a personal access device for digital courses and online learning materials. We approach this case study in relation to several educational technologies that preceded it, and with a wider interest in mapping a contemporary transition from satellite-based mass education to Internet-based mass education. We argue that this process cannot be easily seen as a transition from unilateral broadcasting to more democratic multi-casting model of communication and learning. Specifically, we study the manufacturing process of Aakash and the public debates around it, to comment on the nature of state power in India, as revealed in its attempts to imagine and develop a digital personal device to deliver mass education. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]