PREAMBLE
We live in a moment of digital reckoning.
Across the world, Digital Public Infrastructure has been declared the new backbone of governance, a promise of efficiency, inclusion, and progress. India leads this revolution. Aadhaar, UPI, DigiLocker, India Stack — these names now travel the world as templates for the future.
And yet.
For the artisan in a remote village, for the woman who cannot read, for the elderly farmer whose fingerprints no longer authenticate, for the migrant worker who walks ten kilometres to a ration shop only to be turned away — for them, this revolution remains a rumour.
The road is being built. But the road does not reach them.
We refuse to accept that this is the cost of progress.
We believe that any infrastructure worthy of the word “public” must serve those with the fewest alternatives — first, fully, and without condition. We believe that scale without inclusion is not success. We believe that a right without meaningful access is no right at all.
This is our manifesto. This is JanDPI.
WHAT WE DO NOT ENDORSE
We stand against the quiet violence of digital exclusion where systems designed to deliver welfare instead deny it, where technology meant to reduce friction instead deepens it, where access is assumed for those who have never known it.
We do not endorse:
🚫 Top-down design that treats citizens as data points
🚫 Digital-only mandates from those who cannot comply
🚫 The myth of universal access that hides the reality of last-mile failure
🚫 Efficiency as the highest virtue at the cost of equity and dignity
🚫 The burden of proof placed on the poor to prove what is theirs by right
WHAT WE STAND FOR
We stand for a Digital Public Infrastructure that is of the people, by the people, and with the people.
OUR MISSION
JanDPI exists to reframe Digital Public Infrastructure as a public good, rooted in equity, dignity, and accountability.
We will not rest until DPI reaches the unconnected, the unlettered, and the marginalised through assisted access, inclusive design, community ownership, and public accountability so that no one is excluded by the very systems built to serve them.
OUR VISION
We envision a world where:
✦ Digital Public Infrastructure is truly public in design, in delivery, in accountability
✦ Access is guaranteed, not assumed — a right, not a privilege
✦ Systems are inclusive, humane, and responsive to the diverse realities of those they serve
✦ Communities are active participants and co-creators — never passive users
OUR PRINCIPLES
We hold these truths about Digital Public Infrastructure to be non-negotiable.
DPI MUST BE:
I. Government-Led & Publicly Accountable
Public infrastructure demands public stewardship. Private support is welcome — but accountability rests with the state. The citizen’s recourse is to government, not to a help desk.
II. A Public Good
DPI is not a product. It is not a platform. It is a public good — designed for the people, by the people, with the people. Like roads, like water, like education — it belongs to everyone.
III. People-Centric
Systems must be grounded in lived experiences. Design must begin not in a boardroom, but in a panchayat — not with a use case, but with a human being.
IV. Open & Interoperable
DPI must speak a common digital language without forcing uniformity. Citizens should never have to navigate multiple apps and logins to claim what is theirs.
V. Secure & Privacy-Preserving
Data is not currency. Data is dignity. Every system must protect personal information with strong safeguards, purpose limitation, and unwavering consent.
VI. Financially Inclusive
Inclusion is not measured in accounts opened — but in lives transformed. DPI must enable real economic participation, not just digital tokens of access.
VII. Accountable
Every system will fail someone. What separates a public good from a private platform is what happens next. DPI must offer clear, accessible, human grievance redressal — close to where people live.
VIII. Meaningfully Accessible
Technical availability is not access. A system that exists but cannot be used by the person who needs it is not infrastructure — it is exclusion in code.
ACCESS MUST BE:
Assisted
Where literacy, ability, or familiarity falls short — human intermediaries must fill the gap. Self-service is a privilege; assistance is a right.
Affordable & Reliable
No citizen should pay to access what is theirs. No service should fail when it is needed most. Cost and connectivity must never be the gatekeepers of entitlement.
Multilingual & Inclusive by Design
India speaks in hundreds of tongues. Its digital systems must too. Inclusion is not a feature added later — it is the foundation laid first.
Offline & Low-Tech Friendly
Until every household has reliable connectivity, no one’s rights can depend on it. Public infrastructure must work where the network does not.
OUR FOCUS — WHERE WE WORK
We commit our research, advocacy, and grassroots energy to nine frontiers:
1. Public Accountability & Governance of DPI
Ensuring DPI is government-owned and democratically accountable to those it serves.
2. Assisted & Last-Mile Access Models
Building shared access points, intermediaries, and walk-in services where the digital meets the human.
3. Inclusion Across Language, Literacy & Ability
Designing for the realities of every citizen — not the assumptions of a few.
4. Community-Led & Decentralized Infrastructure
Championing bottom-up, locally rooted digital systems that draw power from where they are used.
5. Ethical, Transparent & Responsible AI and Data Systems
Demanding trustworthy technology that respects rights — and refuses harm.
6. Safety, Security & Risk Mitigation
Protecting citizens — especially the most vulnerable — from digital fraud, surveillance, and exclusion.
7. Digital Sovereignty
Insisting on public ownership of critical digital rails. The infrastructure of a nation cannot be the asset of a corporation.
8. Regional Cooperation for DPI
Building bridges across the Global South — sharing standards, learning, and solidarity.
9. State Capacity
Strengthening public institutions to design, deliver, and govern DPI with skill and integrity.
OUR CALL
To the Government —
Build with us, not for us. Make accountability local. Make access non-negotiable. Treat every excluded citizen not as an edge case, but as the test case.
To the Private Sector —
Innovate, partner, build — but do not own what belongs to the public. Profit from the rails; do not become them.
To Civil Society —
Hold the line. Document the gaps. Amplify the voices. Refuse the false choice between progress and inclusion.
To Technologists & Designers —
Begin in the village. Sit beside the user. Code as if the person you serve cannot read your screen — because often, they cannot.
To Researchers & Policymakers —
Question the metrics. Disaggregate the data. The number of users tells one story; the number of those left behind tells the truer one.To Citizens —
Your voices are the design brief. Your grievances are the policy agenda. Your participation is the infrastructure.