Newsletter | January - May, 2026
Technology in the first half of 2026 has grown more invasive across nearly every domain, and with it, new forms of exclusion have emerged. This newsletter gathers recent developments, ground reporting, and analyses that illuminate what unfolds behind the headlines: biometric surveillance and facial recognition, the reshaping of labour by AI, and the legal battles now catching up to both. As always, please pass these readings along to your networks.
We demand accountability and urgent structural action. The Right to Food Campaign and Rethink Aadhaar Campaign present a four-member fact-finding report on the institutional neglect that left Jitu Munda, an Adivasi from Keonjhar, Odisha, with no choice but to carry his deceased sister's skeletal remains to a bank to access their joint savings.
Jeetu Munda, an Adivasi from Odisha’s Mallipasi village in Keonjhar felt no choice but to exhume and carry his sister Kalra Munda’s skeletal remains to prove to the bank that she was no more. Munda’s sister had passed away three months earlier in January. Her husband and child had also died earlie
Shanti Devi, from Gotidumar, says her bank account has been frozen over Aadhaar-based payments systems requirements and she can no longer access her NREGA wage or earnings from collecting tendu leaves. March 2026: The AI transition in India can disrupt the labour market and have…
Till the last weeks of 2025, resistance to forced digitisation and coercion continued – in the form of litigation by anganwadi workers in the Bombay High Court, by government teachers in Maharashtra and a powerful strike by over 2 lakh gig workers .
The UK government advertised its own digital ID card with claims that the switch to Aadhar saved India’s government over $10bn each year, a dubious claim that has never been proven , in the backdrop of Mankadia’s death is the fact that the Odisha government and the Union government are
In light of numerous instances of APAAR ID exclusion and fresh coercion being reported, we are re-posting our update from January 2025 on the subject. (Cover image: roadscholarz.net)
As Indian government tries to promote its model of biometric ID model to other regions, a growing list of articles and reports documenting the risks of Aadhaar :
A detailed investigation into the working of an Aadhaar Seva Kendra in Ranchi illustrates the bureaucratic ordeals imposed on people trying to update or enrol in Aadhaar. Assam’s government announced it will stop issuing Aadhaar numbers to adults to prevent non-Indian citizens from
Despite being the most widely held identity document in the country, Aadhaar has been excluded from the list of 11 documents officially prescribed by the ECI in Bihar for residence or identity verification. This surfaces a tension. What are the implications of treating Aadhaar as a primary
The SC suggested the government may consider Aadhaar as one of valid documents in Bihar voter roll exercise. Aadhaar is not a citizen ID, it continues to cause mass exclusions, privacy harms. There must be a clear separation between Aadhaar as a voluntary ID and it being a prerequisite to access any
Right to Food Campaign Strongly Condemns Exclusionary Facial Recognition Mandate for providing nutrition under Supplementary Nutrition Scheme The Right to Food Campaign demands immediate withdrawal of mandatory facial recognition for nutrition access and restoration of universal,…
Rethink Aadhaar expresses deep concern about the Election Commission of India’s (ECI) decision , dated June 24, 2025, to initiate a Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar. The revision introduces documentation requirements that are likely to result in the large-scale exclus
In spite of all the reports of hardship and exclusion as well as continuing fraud from the use of Aadhaar, the government keeps expanding its scope and making it mandatory for legal entitlements as well. We are sharing a round-up of recent developments. We urge you to share these updates with your n
Voter ID-Aadhaar linking is an outright assault on free and fair elections and the right to vote It violates Election Commission’s 2023 promise in court, and is yet another coercive enrolment scheme. The right to vote lies at the heart of democracy. Yet, the Election Commission of India’s prop
The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology had invited comments on the Draft Digital Personal Data Protection Rules, 2025. The Rules were framed and put in public domain almost 1.5 years after the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 was passed by Parliament. The drafting of the Ru
The draft rules of the Digital Personal Data Protection Act were released in January 2025, and the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MEITy) has given time till 18 February 2025 for the public to submit comments on the same. The DPDP Act will have significant implications for a rang
Press Release KYC Epidemic in Jharkhand Deprives Poor People of their Own Money (and also affects Jharkhand’s new “Maiya Yojana) Countless people in Jharkhand are unable to withdraw money from their bank accounts because the accounts have been frozen until they complete “KYC” formal
26.09.2023 को सुप्रीम कोर्ट की संविधान पीठ द्वारा आधार निर्णय (के एस पुट्टास्वामी और अन्य बनाम भारत संघ और अन्य (2019) 1 एससीसी 1) को सुनाए हुए आधा दशक हो गया है। ऐसा प्रतीत होता है कि एक सुविधाजनक भूलने की बीमारी हमारी सरकार को प्रभावित करती है क्योंकि यह आधार अधिनियम में नए नियम और ऐसे संशोधन बनाती है जो उस निर्णय
Today 26.09.2023, marks half a decade since a Constitution bench of the Supreme Court delivered the Aadhaar judgment (KS Puttaswamy & Anr. v. Union of India & Anr. (2019) 1 SCC 1). It appears that a convenient amnesia affects our government as it creates new rules and amendments to the Aadhaar Act that ignore and
