“What is the harm in linking digital wallets to India’s unique biometric ID Aadhaar?

None, many people would argue.

But Poornima*, a transgender activist living in a big city in north eastern India, knows differently.

Among the trans people she works with, many engage in sex work and rely on the popular Indian digital wallet Paytm for payments. Wallets that, until 2017, gave no insight into their working lives.

Enter Aadhaar.

Following a strong policy push by the government, this randomly generated 12 digit digital ID was made mandatory over a few short years in order for residents to access state benefits, welfare subsidies, and to file taxes. In 2017, linking digital wallets like Paytm with Aadhaar also became compulsory for a while. And sex working communities like Poornima’s were concerned.

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