(wl-3380)-Identity versus Identification: Surveillance through Family ID

With the recent news of the issuance of new Family ID in the state of Telangana, Union Territory of J&K and many other states mulling the same, many concerns have been raised anent surveillance and greater social control by the government. This paper examines the issuance of such identification cards from a Foucauldian lens of knowledge, disciplinary power and governmentality. Michel Foucault has worked extensively on how collection of personal information is a function of state power- vital to it’s establishment as well as it’s maintenance. Such forms of surveillance can have a manifold impact in a conflict zone. The paper analyses Family IDs as a scheme adopted by some states and proposed in some others through a Foucauldian lens of governmentality.