Two-day International Conference

************************************************************************************** Retreaded Indian State: Symbiotic Relationship of Surveillance and Capitalist Development in 21st Century P. Arun Department of Political Science, University of Delhi [email protected] Modern technological advancement brings about changes in the nature and functions of the modern state, which makes it essential for us to reconsider the relationship between the Indian state and the Indian democracy. Nowadays, data collection has begun to be treated as storable material in order to retread the state and, to rejuvenate governance, democracy and development. From the lens of surveillance studies, this paper shall explore the nature of Indian state which is being retreaded in the twenty‐first century. Currently, surveillance needs to be regarded not just as a technological entity but as a grand narrative which has accreted as a cultural entity to reduce fear, insecurity, mis‐governance, corruption and access to speedy public service delivery and welfare. However, in the production of such a cultural discourse, the utilization of surveilling technologies by the state for its ideological and developmental discourse is something quite apparent in Modi’s era. It is deployed to observe, monitor, influence, support and restrain those who are the ‘five‐star activists’ and ‘five‐star investors’ of national development. This paper will focus on recent actions taken by the Indian state against two individuals ‐ Priya Pillai (Greenpeace) and Christine Mehta (Amnesty International). The main focus here is to disentangle the nature of the retreaded state by exploring the symbiotic relationship of surveillance and capitalism in India. In such a context the surveilling mechanisms are deployed to stitch the counter dissenting voices. Finally, this paper will inspect the counter effects of deploying sovereign power in arbitrary manner on freedom of expression, human rights, democracy and citizenship. **************************************************************************************