000			01728nam a22001937a 4500
999			_c64930 _d64930
008			200523b2018 ||||| |||| 00| 0 eng d
020			_a9780199463510
082			_a342.5408 SRI-T
100			_aSriraman, Tarangini
245			_aIn pursuit of proof : a history of identification documents in India / _cTarangini Sriraman
260			_aIndia _bOxford University Press _c2018
300			_a323 p.
365			_aINR _b850.00
500			_aWeaving together a hitherto unattempted history of making and verifying identification documents, In Pursuit of Proof tells stories from the ground about the urban margins of India and Delhi in particular. The book moves with agility across the late colonial era and the postcolonial years marked by ration cards, refugee registration certificates, permits, licences and affidavits. How did the ration card, introduced during the Second World War, crystallize into proof of residence? After the Partition, how did the Indian state classify refugees as poor, displaced and lower caste? Might there be alternative conceptualizations of the much-maligned ‘Licence Raj’? How does proof manifest itself for those living in Delhi’s slums? And how does the unique identification number, termed the Aadhaar, impinge on rural migrants dwelling in the city? Relying on intensive ethnographic and archival methods, the book answers these questions and theorizes the Indian state as one whose welfare capacities of governing are drawn from popular knowledge practices of documenting and proving identities.
650			_aPolitics and government
650			_aIdentification cards--Law and legislation
650			_aRecording and registration
650			_aIdentification numbers, Personal