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About DIRI

India has the world’s largest biometric enabled digital identity system in use and in its present form, Aadhaar presents unique challenges as well as represents enormous potential.

DIRI is a targeted and multidisciplinary research initiative to explore key questions around digital identity systems with a focus on making Aadhaar an integral part of welfare programmes & explore private sector applications to achieve growth, efficiency and effectiveness.

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“Digital Transformation Of India Is Perhaps The Most Important Development Priority…………Our Work At DIRI Aims To Ensure Digital Identity Benefits All Stakeholders Of The Society And Create The Infrastructure To Make Data A Public Good.”

Professor Bhagwan Chowdhry – Executive Director, DIRI

Our research on digital identity focuses on three interconnected themes — digital identity & the individual, anonymization & aggregation of data and leveraging data & identity for public welfare.

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Book Chapters

24

Blogs and Op-eds

10

Data Briefs

3

Journal Papers

6

Working Papers

Research in Action

Below is the demonstration of the cutting-edge work done in mining media, Twitter, and unstructured data across platforms to generate insights for policymakers and researchers alike.

We use state of the art NLP, data visualization, data gathering, and data aggregating tools to develop dashboards and insights as data products. Under these, our ambit is to work on all facets touched by the digitization of individuals' identity in the country.

IndiaPulse@ISB

Log in every Thursday to get the REAL Pulse of India at IndiaPulse@ISB

Tell us what you think at IndiaPulse@isb.edu

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Follow us @DIRI_ISB

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Aadhaar in the news

At DIRI, we are using state-of-the-art Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence methods to mine and analyze the large and rich corpus of print media (English language). Our analysis provides powerful insights into the media and public perception of Aadhaar.

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10

News Papers

16 k+

Articles

9

Years

2 M+

Words

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Suno suno: Aadhaar on Twitter

Twitter provides a deep account of what the public perceives when they interface with their digital identity. Our intent is to capture both positive and negative reactions that policymakers could take cognizance of.

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Daily Tweets

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Days

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Locations

400 k+

Unique Tweets

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NREGA Distress

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Our Publications

Working Papers | Diri

A Friend Indeed: Does The Use of Digital Identity Make Welfare Programs Truly Counter Cyclical?

Apr 02, 2019

Blog | Diri

Can India’s handloom industry become Aatmanirbhar?

Can India's handloom industry become Atmanirbhar?

Oct 13, 2020

Data Brief | Diri

MGNREGA and Aadhaar: Analysis of payment durations and rejections in Jharkhand

Jan 01, 2019

Data Brief | Diri

MGNREGA and Aadhaar: Misdirected Wage Payments in Jharkhand

Dec 01, 2020

Skill Port

One nation one skill port is one small step in technology but a giant leap in the evolution of resolving the complex problem of matching unskilled and semi-skilled labour force with suitable employers, pan India. Digital identity Research Initiative at ISB, funded by the Omidyar network, is developing India’s first tamper proof, human centric and layerable skill port with its technology partners.

The skill port is powered by state-of-the-art blockchain technology, built on a user-friendly app, that enables workers with both feature phones and smart phones.

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World Class Team

Guided by a steering committee of eminent policymakers, academicians, industry leaders, and commentators, the small and tightly-knit but growing team at the DIRI enjoys working on research and policy issues.