There is a rising dependence on digital tools such as biometrics, apps, Facial Recognition Technology to ensure accountability among government employees and welfare workers.

About Snake Oil concept

• Overreliance on Surveillance: The government increasingly treats surveillance-based solutions as a cure-all for administrative problems, especially corruption. 
  • Digital tools—apps, biometric systems, real-time monitoring—are viewed as effective tools to discipline public servants. 
• Illusion of Effectiveness (“Snake Oil”): These technologies can be likened to the 19th-century American “snake oil” sold as a universal remedy, suggesting that such tools offer the illusion of control but fail to address the deeper institutional and behavioural causes of corruption.

The Biometric Era

• MNREGA (NMMS App): The National Mobile Monitoring System (NMMS) App required workers to upload two photos daily for monitoring. 
  • Corrupt actors found a loophole by uploading old JPEG files or photos of other people.
• Anganwadi (Poshan Tracker/FRT): The Ministry of Women and Child Development introduced Facial Recognition Technology (FRT) through the Poshan Tracker app for ‘Take Home Ration’ distribution, requiring photos of mothers with blinking eyes for confirmation. 
  • However, denial of benefits can continue despite the digital safeguards, especially when there are practical challenges like poor connectivity, crowds, or cumbersome apps.
• PDS (AABBA): Exclusive Access: The shift to Aadhaar-Based Biometric Authentication (ABBA) for PDS in 2017 created an exclusive access loophole, only the beneficiary could collect rations, disproportionately hurting the elderly and persons with disabilities who relied on others for pickup. 
  • Though some States tried to override systems, they remained weak. Simultaneously, ration dealers exploited ABBA, forcing full biometric authentication but under-delivering rations—as seen in Jharkhand, where 5 kg entitlements often became 4.5 kg.

Limitations of Biometric and Digital Monitoring in Welfare Programs

• Inefficiencies in Digital Monitoring: Digital monitoring systems can create perverse incentives that undermine the effectiveness of welfare programs.
  • Example 1: In Jharkhand’s Khunti block, workers focused on clocking in and out on time, shifting their attention from task completion to meeting digital attendance requirements, undermining the actual work.
  • Example 2: In Andhra Pradesh, an ANM had to walk 300 meters to find a network signal for uploading breastfeeding counseling proof. Due to geo-fencing, the system falsely marked her as absent, resulting in a show-cause notice, despite her dedication and effort.
• Accountability vs. Responsibility: Accountability relies on external pressure and punitive controls, ensuring compliance but rarely improving outcomes, while responsibility stems from internal motivation—the genuine desire to serve. 
  • Digital monitoring cannot nurture this inner ethic or inspire workers to act in the public interest.
  • Jean Drèze and Amartya Sen (2025) advocate for a shift from a focus on accountability to nurturing responsibility, urging us to go beyond punitive measures towards empowering individuals.
• This highlights the inherent limitations of biometric and digital monitoring—while it enforces external accountability, it fails to encourage internal responsibility, ultimately disempowering workers and undermining the core purpose of welfare programs.

Agnotology in Welfare Programmes

• Deliberate Ignorance of Failure: Agnotology means the deliberate act of remaining ignorant. The government is accused of ignoring the failures of existing apps (like NMMS in MNREGA) while still pushing new technologies like FRT. 
• Possible Role of Vested Interests: It states that vested interests may influence decision-making because tech companies benefit from creating assured markets for their products. 
  • High costs of devices, servers, and authentication create business incentives.

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Conclusion

The true solution requires improving work culture, altering social norms, and building trust in workers, rather than relying solely on surveillance

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