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How is the introduction of technology in modern governance systems changing the relationship of marginalized citizens in India to the nation-state, and with what consequences for contemporary populist politics? Digital India is a flagship policy of the Government of India to foster “economic growth combined with social inclusion.” Central to Digital India is the Aadhaar card, a biometric identification now distributed to 1.3 billion Indians, and a real time mobile payment technology, Unified Payments Interface (UPI), that has significantly replaced cash transactions. This technological transformation was imagined and implemented against the social backdrop of India's large informal economy. Prior scholarship has shown that technological promises to improve governance and economic opportunities are often not fully realized and create new sources of friction, especially for marginalized communities. Nevertheless, digital technologies have been taken up by actors in the informal economy, such as street vendors in urban cities like New Delhi. How do street vendors rationalize breakdowns in techno-economic promises and how does digitization nevertheless alter their political subjectivity? Rattan shows how technological interventions are justified and accepted by citizens through a recasting of mediating institutions like the traditional bureaucracy as a threat to the nation’s progress. Through a study of digitization, Rattan explores on-ground tensions in the nature

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