Srinivas Kodali, an independent researcher working on the intersections of technology, democracy and society  gave a talk on Algorithmic Governance in State Welfare – Technology and its Pitfalls on 11 October as part of the HSRC Monsoon Talk series. In view of the fact that algorithms are increasingly being used as part of day-to-day governance in India with the digitization of governance, Srinivas spoke of some of the applications of algorithms that are used by the government to distribute welfare.

These algorithms are determining who is eligible for state welfare and are causing exclusion when the data is faulty with errors. The design process involved with software development and algorithmic decision-making is currently a black-box process, with no transparency. India’s digitization projects in governance have helped create national databases with profiles of citizens for both governance and market applications which are still unaccountable to citizens. The talk investigated the practices that could be employed to document and demand accountability in this age of algorithmic governance. He presented the problems of secrecy of this technocratically biased system from those who exist within it. Starting from the enforcement of policy through algorithms and the question of justice in targeted welfare, to the concerns of digital safety, surveillance and beyond. 

October 2023