‘Lean on me': Sifarish, mediation &amp; the digitisation of state bureaucracies in India

Thomas Chambers

doi:10.1177/1466138120940755

Abstract

Through an ethnographic focus on Muslim neighbourhoods in a North Indian city, this article traces the effects of increasing digitisation of Public Distribution Systems (PDS) and ID provision in India by examining the implications for relations between the state, low-level political actors and local populaces. The article explores the practice of sifarish (leaning on someone to get something done) which, it is argued, cannot be seen within simplistic rubrics of ‘corruption’ but instead comprises a socially embedded ethical continuum. With one of the stated aims of digitisation being the displacing of informal mediation, the ethnographic material illuminates the efforts of low-level political actors to navigate emerging digital infrastructures. Digitisation, however, does not end mediation and carries with it ideological, political and economic interests. This, the article argues, enables state/people spaces of mediation to be commodified and marketized and further cements processes of marginalisation experienced by India’s Muslim minority.

Highlights

On the 1 July 2015 the Indian Prime Minister, Nerandra Modi made a speech at an event titled ‘Digitising India’ in which he stated, ‘digitalisation of all government work is essential to deal with problems like corruption, help provide transparent and efficient governance and bridge the rich-poor divide’ (The Telegraph India, 2015)
It is important to clarify at the opening of this conclusion that my intention has not been to reify sifarish as an idealised mode of mediation
What can be argued is that emerging digital pathways are no less ambivalent

Summary

Introduction

On the 1 July 2015 the Indian Prime Minister, Nerandra Modi made a speech at an event titled ‘Digitising India’ in which he stated, ‘digitalisation of all government work is essential to deal with problems like corruption, help provide transparent and efficient governance and bridge the rich-poor divide’ (The Telegraph India, 2015). Sifarish acts as a conduit in processes of claim-making between marginalised people and the state (albeit in ways that are cross-cut by embedded social relations).

Results

Conclusion