In Pursuit of Proof

In Pursuit of Proof brings forth a hitherto unattempted history of making, claiming, and verifying identification documents in the urban margins of India and Delhi in particular. The book summons to life past and contemporary processes of bureaucratic recognition and administrative verification of subjects by locating them in the everyday material worlds of especially the poor. It is an intricate and layered exposition of a state whose welfare capacities of
governing are drawn from popular practices of knowledge around documenting and proving identities.