India, July 12 -- She once sat in a shaded corner of the village, clothed in a sari, hunched over 11 paper registers, recording births, weighing babies, and distributing dry rations. Few noticed her. Fewer still imagined she was building the foundations of the Indian state. Today, she carries a smartphone. She scans QR codes, verifies biometrics, delivers nutrition kits, and teaches the alphabet.
The Anganwadi worker, quietly and without fanfare, has become the face of India's most local and human form of governance. What changed? Nearly everything.
In 2014, India's Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) were still largely analogue. Feedback loops were slow. Growth monitoring data was patchy. Migration of pregnant and lactating wome...