"India/Global: New technologies in automated social protection systems can threaten human rights", 29 April 2024

Governments must ensure automated social protection systems are fit for purpose and do not prevent people eligible for welfare from receiving it, Amnesty International said today as it published a technical explainer on the underlying technology behind Samagra Vedika, an algorithmic system that has been used in India’s Telangana state since 2016.

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Publication of the technical explainer follows media reports blaming Samagra Vedika for allegedly excluding thousands of people from accessing social protection measures, including those related to food security, income, and housing.

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" The external procurement of these systems by governments from private companies increases the barrier for civil society and journalists to investigate the technical makeup of digitalized social protection. As a result, private and public actors who are responsible for the design and implementation of these automated tools escape accountability, whereas people impacted by these systems get stuck in a bureaucratic maze, with little to no access to remedy.”

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Amnesty International wrote to Posidex Technologies Private Limited – the private company that provides the entity resolution software upon which the Samagra Vedika system relies – in advance of the publication of this technical explainer. Amnesty International has not received a response at the time of publication.