Your data or your life. On demonetisation, cashlessness and the digital panopticon in India

Titolo Rivista SOCIOLOGIA DEL LAVORO
Autori/Curatori Francesca Coin
Anno di pubblicazione 2019 Fascicolo 2019/154
Lingua Inglese Numero pagine 16 P. 44-59 Dimensione file 188 KB
DOI 10.3280/SL2019-154003
Il DOI è il codice a barre della proprietà intellettuale: per saperne di più clicca qui

Qui sotto puoi vedere in anteprima la prima pagina di questo articolo.

Se questo articolo ti interessa, lo puoi acquistare (e scaricare in formato pdf) seguendo le facili indicazioni per acquistare il download credit. Acquista Download Credits per scaricare questo Articolo in formato PDF

Anteprima articolo

FrancoAngeli è membro della Publishers International Linking Association, Inc (PILA)associazione indipendente e non profit per facilitare (attraverso i servizi tecnologici implementati da CrossRef.org) l’accesso degli studiosi ai contenuti digitali nelle pubblicazioni professionali e scientifiche

Over the past few years, there has been a growing discussion about cashlessness. In several countries, economists, policy markers and financial institutions have advocated for a transition towards digital transactions, arguing that cashlessness can become an instrument of governance pivotal to the achievement of a more transparent and inclusive society. Conversely, cash has been described as a symbol of deviance, a symptom of illegal activities such as tax evasion and corruption. This paper focuses on the transition towards cashless transactions in India. Drawing on Noemi Klein’s definition of the shock economy, it argues that demonetisation in India can be considered as a shock therapy meant to facilitate the pursuit of a pro-corporate agenda. In a cash-based economy like India, demonetisation created a state of shock that forced large sectors of the population to adapt to digital transaction, in a process that undermined informal activities and used fear as a levy to push forward an agenda that largely benefited big credit card companies, the IT sector and fintech.

Negli ultimi anni, c’è stata una crescente discussione sulla cashless society. In diversi paesi, economisti, policy markers e istituzioni finanziarie si sono espressi a favore di una transizione verso le transazioni digitali, sostenendo che la mancanza di contanti può diventare uno strumento di governance fondamentale per la realizzazione di una società più trasparente e inclusiva. Al contrario, il denaro contante è stato descritto come simbolo di devianza, sintomo di attività illegali come l’evasione fiscale e la corruzione. Il presente articolo si concentra sulla transizione verso operazioni senza contanti in India. Basandosi sulla definizione di Noemi Klein di shock economy, esso sostiene che la demonetizzazione in India può essere considerata come una terapia d’urto che ha costretto ampi settori della popolazione ad adattarsi alle transazioni digitali, in un processo che ha minato alla base l’economia informale e ha usato lo shock come una leva per portare avanti un’agenda che ha portato grandi società di carte di credito, il settore IT e il fintech.

Keywords:Aadhaar, cashlessness, demonetizzazione, panopticon digitale

  1. Bengali S., Parth M.N. (2017). People are dying because of an audacious cash policy that India says will modernise its economy. L.A. Times. -- Text available at the web site: www.latimes.com/world/la-fg-india-currency-20161230-story.html. Accessed May 24, 2019.
  2. Chakraborty C.P., Abraham K.M., Senthil V.S. (2016). Committee to Study the Impact of Demonetisation on the State Economy of Kerala. -- Text available at the web site: www.macroscan.net/pdfs/impact_demonetisation.pdf. Accessed May 24, 2019.
  3. Chakravarty C.P. (2016). How Modi Changed (And Changed) The Demonetisation Narrative. -- Text available at the web site: http://archive.indiaspend.com/cover-story/how-modi-changed-and-changed-the-demonetisation-narrative-54391. Accessed May 24, 2019.
  4. Chauhan C. (2017). How Modi’s demonetisation move boosted the number of Aadhaar accounts. Hindustan Times. -- Text available at the web site: www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/aadhaar-penetration-improved-after-demonetisation/story-Zjg2PaV6q2mOl6hzIZr7CJ.html. Accessed May 24, 2019.
  5. Dey N., Roy A. (2017). Excluded by Aadhaar. -- Text available at the web site: https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/excluded-by-aadhaar-4689083/.Accessed May 24, 2019.
  6. Dinda A. (2017). Demonetisation could lead to famine, Mamata Banerjee says. Gulf News. -- Text available at the web site: -- http://gulfnews.com/news/asia/india/demonetisation-could-lead-to-famine-mamata-banerjee-says-1. Accessed May 24, 2019.
  7. Forbes S. (2016). What India Has Done To Its Money Is Sickening And Immoral. Forbes Magazine. -- Text available at the web site: www.forbes.com/sites/steveforbes/2016/12/22/what-india-has-done-to-its-money-is-sickening-and-immoral/#4e8db39517f5. Accessed May 24, 2019.
  8. Gabor D., Brooks S. (2016): The Digital Revolution? Financial Inclusion: International Development in the Fintech Era. New Political Economy, 22 (4): 423-436. DOI: 10.1080/13563467.2017.1259298
  9. Gandhi J. (2016). Give me 50 days over scrapped notes, punish me if problems persist: Modi. Hindustan Times. -- Text available at the web site: www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/modi-turns-emotional-as-he-speaks-on-demonetisation-says-has-more-such-steps-in-mind/story-naFFmlHrFbhqbdUrj6ALBK.html. Accessed May 24, 2019.
  10. Garikipati S., Agier I., Guérin S., Szafarz A. (2017). The Cost of Empowerment: Multiple Sources of Women’s Debt in Rural India. Journal of Development Studies, 53 (5): 700-722. DOI: 10.1080/00220388.2016.1205734
  11. Gettleman J. (2018). Modi’s Cash Crackdown Failed, Indian Bank Data Shows. New York Times. -- Text available at the web site: www.nytimes.com/2018/08/30/world/asia/modi-india-rupee-cash.html. Accessed May 24, 2019.
  12. Ghosh C.J., Chandrasekhar C.P. (2017). The Financialization of Finance? Demonetization and the Dubious Push to Cashlessness in India. Development and Change, 49 (2): 420-436.
  13. Guérin I., Lanos Y., Michiels S., Nordman C.J., Venkatasubramanian G. (2017). Insights on Demonetisation from Rural Tamil Nadu. Understanding Social Networks and Social Protection. Economic & Political Weekly, 52 (52): 44-53.
  14. Guérin I., D’Espallier B., Venkatasubramanian G. (2013). Debt in Rural South India: Fragmentation, Social Regulation and Discrimination. Journal of Development Studies, 49(9): 1155-1171. DOI: 10.1080/00220388.2012.720365
  15. Haering N. (2017). A well-kept open secret: Washington is behind India’s brutal experiment of abolishing most cash. -- Text available at web site: http://norberthaering.de/en/home/27-german/news/745-washington-s-role-in-india. Accessed May 24, 2019.
  16. ICICI (2016). Weekly report, November 7-11. -- Text available at the web site: http://content.icicidirect.com/mailimages/Denometisation.htm. Accessed May 24, 2019.
  17. Klein N. (2017). How power profits from disaster. The Guardian. -- Text available at web site: www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/jul/06/naomi-klein-how-power-profits-from-disaster. Accessed May 24, 2019.
  18. Kumar S., Bumra S. (2017). Demonetisation in India: Pre and Post effect on Indian Industry. International Journal of Scientific & Engineering Research, 8 (7). -- Text available at web site: www.ijser.org/researchpaper/DEMONETIZATION-IN-INDIA-PRE-AND-POST-EFFECT-ON-INDIAN-INDUSTRY.pdf. Accessed May 24, 2019.
  19. Manur A. (2016). We are trying to become a cashless society - but is that a great idea?. -- Text available at web site: https://cashessentials.org/news/we-are-trying-to-become-a-cashless-society-but-is-that-a-great-idea/. Accessed May 24, 2019.
  20. Masiero S. (2019). The digitalization of anti-poverty programs: Aadhaar and the Reform of Social Protection in India. In: Graham M., ed., Digital Economies at Global Margins, Cambridge, Massachusetts London, England: The MIT Press. -- Text available at the web site: www.idrc.ca/sites/default/files/sp/Images/idl-57429_2.pdf. Accessed May 24, 2019.
  21. Mishra D. (2018). Post Demonetisation: Growth of a fintech ecosystem in India. Medium. -- Text available at the web site: https://medium.com/@devsenamishra/post-demonetization-growth-of-a-fintech-ecosystem-in-india-8fd8b39451dd. Accessed May 24, 2019.
  22. Patnaik P. (2016a). Demonetization as the Basis for a Fiscal Stimulus. Macroscan, -- Text available at the web site: www.macroscan.org/dem/dec16/pdf/Fiscal_Stimulus.pdf. Accessed May 24, 2019.
  23. Patnaik P. (2016b). The Chimera of a ‘Cashless’ Economy’. Macroscan. -- Text available at the web site: www.macroscan.org/dem/nov16/pdf/Cashless.pdf. Accessed May 24, 2019.
  24. PWC (2015). Report on ‘disrupting cash: Accelerating electronic payments in India’. PWC Report. -- Text available at the web site: www.pwc.in/assets/pdfs/publications/2015/disrupting-cash-accelerating-electronic-payments-in-india.pdf. Accessed May 24, 2019.
  25. Sagar S. (2017). Cashless is not casteless. Countercurrents. -- Text available at the web site: www.countercurrents.org/2017/01/09/cashless-is-not-casteless/. Accessed May 24, 2019.
  26. Scott B. (2017). Hang on to your Cash. This dash to Digitise Payments is Dangerous. The Guardian. -- Text available at the web site: www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/sep/13/cash-digitise-payments-money-cashless/. Accessed May 24, 2019.
  27. Scott B. (2016). The War on Cash. The Long Short. -- Text available at the web site: https://thelongandshort.org/society/war-on-cash. Accessed May 24, 2019.
  28. Scott B. (2017). In Praise of Cash. Aeon. -- Text available at the web site: https://aeon.co/essays/if-plastic-replaces-cash-much-that-is-good-will-be-lost. Accessed May 24, 2019.
  29. Scott B. (2017). Cash in the era of the digital payments panopticon. Moneylabreader, 2: 146-158. -- Text available at the web site: http://networkcultures.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/MONEYLABREADER2OVERCOMINGTHEHYPE.pdf. Accessed May 24, 2019.
  30. Scott B. (2019). The Gentrification of Payments. Spreading the Digital Financial Net. Tni Longreads. -- Text available at the web site: http://longreads.tni.org/state-of-power-2019/digital-payment-gentrification/. Accessed May 24, 2019.
  31. Sethi A. (2016). Demonetisation, Aadhaar, and the Great Rural ID Theft. The quint. -- Text available at the web site: www.thequint.com/news/india/demonetisation-currency-note-ban-aadhaar-and-rural-identity-theft-rs-500-1000-narendra-modi-arun-jaitley. Accessed May 24, 2019.
  32. Sircar S. (2018). How Does Aadhaar Verdict Help the Excluded Millions? It Does Not. The quint. -- Text available at the web site: www.thequint.com/news/india/does-aadhaar-judgment-help-excluded-poor. Accessed May 24, 2019.
  33. Sumathy V.G., Savitha T. (2017). Impact of Demonetisation in Agriculture Sector. IOSR Journal Of Humanities And Social Science, 5 (2): 35-38.
  34. Summers L.H., Sarin N. (2016). Most sweeping change in currency policy in the world in decades. -- Text available at the web site: http://larrysummers.com/2016/11/21/most-sweeping-change-in-currency-policy-in-the-world-in-decades/. Accessed May 24, 2019.
  35. The United States Agency for International Development (USAID). Beyond Cash. Why India Loves Cash And Why That Matters. -- Text available at the web site: www.digitaldevelopment.org/beyond-cash. Accessed May 24, 2019.
  36. TNM (2016). E-commerce companies are bombarding us with front page ads after demonetisation. The News Minute. -- Text available at the web site: www.thenewsminute.com/article/e-commerce-companies-are-bombarding-us-front-page-ads-after-demonetisation-52670. Accessed May 24, 2019.
  37. Visa (2017). Annual Report, 2017. -- Text available at the web site: https://s1.q4cdn.com/050606653/files/doc_financials/annual/2017/Visa-2017-Annual-Report.pdf. Accessed May 24, 2019.
  38. Zhu H., Gupta A., Majumder B., Steinbach S. (2017). Macro Shocks and Micro Woes: Short-Term Effects of India’s Demonetization on the Poor. -- Text available at the web site: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3001396. Accessed May 24, 2019.

  • Between Strategies and Contingencies: Boundaries Between Subaltern Women in Rural North India Misako Kanno, in South Asia Multidisciplinary Academic Journal /2022
    DOI: 10.4000/samaj.7849

Francesca Coin, Your data or your life. On demonetisation, cashlessness and the digital panopticon in India in "SOCIOLOGIA DEL LAVORO " 154/2019, pp 44-59, DOI: 10.3280/SL2019-154003