9241 - Indian Police District Adopts Biometric Time and Attendance for Staff - Find Biometrics

Indian Police District Adopts Biometric Time and Attendance for Staff

Posted on January 5, 2016

With Aadhaar leading the way, biometric time and attendance tracking continues its spread through India’s public sector. The district police office (DPO) of Virudhunagar state has announced that it has now implemented such a system for its own ministerial staff.

It’s a move aimed at improving administrative efficiency and preventing potential timesheet fraud. Commenting on its deployment to The Hindu, Virudhunagar Superintendent of Police P. Aravindhan said that administration via the old system took “a lot of time”, while “with the new system, the attendance is automatically stored in the computer within seconds past 10 a.m. every day.” He added that it also prevents workers from leaving the office before their designated daily end times.

While the system applies only to the ministerial workers at the DPO, since only they work on a regular daily schedule, it’s yet another instance of time and attendance tracking bringing further accountability to government workers and the public sector in general. This trend has been initiated from the top down, largely via the central government’s implementation of biometric tracking through its Aadhaar biometric citizen registry; and while it has proven controversial in some deployments, it also appears to be increasingly popular, and may soon become pervasive in the private sector too.

Source: The Hindu

—

January 5, 2016 – by Alex Perala

9240 - Odd-even scheme fails to hit attendance - Business Standard

Odd-even scheme fails to hit attendance

Numbers in central government offices higher than last Monday, but less than Friday's

N Sundaresha Subramanian  |  New Delhi 

January 5, 2016 Last Updated at 00:30 IST

Vehicles at ITO chowk during odd-even scheme in New Delhi. Photo: Dalip Kumar

The odd-even scheme, introduced by the Delhi government, did not have any significant impact on the attendance of employees in the hundreds of central government offices in the capital.

According to attendance.gov.in portal that publishes attendance statistics of over 500 offices under various departments and ministries in the capital, about 88,900 employees had marked their presence as of 5 pm. About 3,540 employees had reached office by 8am. The odd-even rule remains in force between 8am and 8pm. The attendance rose to 20,317 by nine before crossing the 80,000-mark around 10.30am. The presence graph showed sharp falls after 5pm dropping below 70,000-mark by 5.30 pm.

The number was slightly higher than attendance numbers reported on previous Monday, when 78,900 employees marked attendance. However, it was less than Friday, when only cars with odd numbered registration plates were allowed on road.

While the attendance number stayed around the 75,000-mark between December 29 and 31, it had shot up to 94,105 on January 1. Business Standard summed up the previous week's data from the line graphs on the portal that gave separate numbers reported through tablet based devices and PC-based devices. For example, on January 1, tablet-based attendance was 77,542 and PC-based attendance was 16,563 adding up to 94,105.

These numbers are based on attendance marked by employees with Aadhaar numbers through the tablet and PC-based biometric devices installed in these government offices. An employee at the portal's office confirmed that these are numbers for central government offices in Delhi and added that historic data beyond what is published on the portal was available, but could not be shared.

The portal reports a higher number of attendances under "department verified" category, which could include employees that did not have Aadhaar and offices that are yet to install biometric systems. On Monday, this number stood at over 110,000.

Based on this department verified numbers, of the 525 offices for which data was reported on Monday as many as 43 offices recorded 100 per cent attendance. Another 242 offices reported attendance of between 90-99.9 per cent.

Office of the commissioner of service tax, which is located in the IP Estate, was among the largest offices with all 519 employees reporting for duty. All 463 employees of Central Government Health Scheme, North Zone, in New Rajinder Nagar, were present on Monday.

Electronic Media Monitoring Centre under the ministry of information broadcasting (261) , Soil and Land Use Survey of India (260), CGHS, headquarters (221) were other large offices with 100 per cent attendance.

Over 100 organisations, which between them employed over 12,500 people, recorded zero attendance. Just one employee among 12,483 registered under Delhi Development Authority was marked present suggesting that the biometric reporting has not fully caught on. The website said it was still in beta version, meaning that it was still in the test mode.

The reporting was even worse delhi.attendance.gov.in, the portal for the state government organisations. Only 506 employees from four offices - the department of health, district magistrate West District, Delhi Urban Shelter Development Board and South Delhi Municipal Corporation - were registered in the portal. Of these, only 130 employees marked their presence on Monday. Historic data was not available for this website. None of the employees registered under DUSDB (271) was marked present on Monday, so was the lone employee registered under the SDMC.

8906 - Indian Teachers Protest Biometric Attendance Tracking - Find Biometrics

Indian Teachers Protest Biometric Attendance Tracking

Posted on October 9, 2015

Protesting teachers are staging a major sit-in at India’s Guru Jambheshwar University of Science and Technology. About 150 teachers participated in a demonstration against the government’s proposed implementation of biometric attendance tracking.

According to the Business Standard, the Guru Jambheshwar University Teachers Association (GJUTA) has called the state’s measure “anti-academic and anti-teacher,” while GJUTA President Dr. Anil Kumar Bhankhar criticized the government’s inaction in replacing top academic managers, implying the move to implement biometric attendance tracking is hypocritical. The protest comes at a bad time, given the central government’s recent judicial setback in its efforts to expand its Aadhaar program as a vehicle of access to government services.

The teachers’ resistance echoes that seen in other areas where the government has implemented biometric attendance tracking via Aadhaar ID card, with the central government having seen foot-dragging from the Defence Ministry in actually using the system. Still, Aadhaar-linked biometric attendance tracking has rolled out more successfully elsewhere, and government plans for its implementation in schools are long in the making, which suggests that the state won’t easily back down in the face of this opposition.

Source: Business Standard

8743 - Govt seeks review of Supreme Court’s Aadhaar order - Live Mint

Govt seeks review of Supreme Court’s Aadhaar order

UIDAI petition seeks court’s permission to use Aadhaar for social benefit schemes till it decides on the case

New Delhi: The government has moved the Supreme Court seeking modification of its 11 August interim order restricting the use of Aadhaar, the unique identity number, to paying subsidies for the public distribution system and cooking gas.

The restriction is threatening to undermine the government’s digital India initiatives such as biometric attendance, Jan Dhan Yojana, digital certificates and pension payments. It could also hurt the prospects of payments banks.

The petition filed by the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) on Wednesday—a copy has been reviewed by Mint—has sought court’s permission to use Aadhaar for all government social benefit schemes till it decides on the case.

UIDAI is seeking clearance to include use of the unique identity number for schemes such as biometric attendance system, Jan Dhan Yojana, digital certificates and pension payments, based on prior consent from the Aadhaar holders.

Separately, the central bank is also planning to move the apex court to seek approval on whether banks can use customers’ Aadhaar numbers as an acceptable form of identity proof, Mint reported (mintne.ws/1OOV0Io) on Wednesday.

A concerned government is making a determined effort to undo the damage to its Digital India initiatives.

“All government agencies have been asked to come up with how they intend to use Aadhaar so that a fool-proof defence can be put up in the Supreme Court,” a lawyer close to the development said, asking not to be identified.

Representatives of various government department’s met the Attorney General late on Tuesday to discuss the necessary steps that should be taken before approaching the court.

“The government’s stand is clear and it is that Aadhaar is here to stay. We have begun a round of consultation on how to back the scheme,” said the lawyer.

However, the petitioners challenging the Aadhaar scheme say they will continue to oppose any use of Aadhaar number for welfare schemes. “When the issue comes up for hearing, we will argue against use of Aadhaar for any purpose, including the PDS and LPG subsidies. What will start out as voluntary consent will soon transform to it being made mandatory,” said Anish Gupta, additional advocate general of Haryana and an advocate for the petitioners.

The three-judge bench of the apex court comprising justices J. Chelameswar, S.A. Bobde and C. Nagappan had said that “UIDAI/Aadhaar will not be used for any other purposes except PDS, kerosene and LPG distribution system. Even for the public distribution system (PDS), kerosene and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) distribution system, the card will not be mandatory”.

The bench was hearing several pleas challenging the validity of Aadhaar. Some relate to Aadhaar numbers being made mandatory to avail of certain government benefits and services. Others deal with the number itself being a violation of an individual’s privacy, especially in the absence of any backing regulation or oversight, and some deal with possible misuse of the information. The case has been referred to a larger constitutional bench to determine whether the right to privacy of a citizen is a fundamental right or not.

However, Nandan Nilekani, who had headed the Aadhaar project, has challenged the notion that individual privacy is being compromised.

In a column published in the Indian Express on 15 September, Nilekani claimed that no banking information is shared with UIDAI. “The UIDAI system is completely ignorant of the usage of Aadhaar for seeding and for the Aadhaar Payments Bridge (maintained by the National Payments Corporation of India, an RBI-regulated entity). When a customer does an Aadhaar authentication at, say, a microATM, the Aadhaar system knows that an authentication was done, but not the purpose for which it was done,” he added.

Apurva VishwanathSaurabh Kumar

8650 - Indian City Takes Out Trash with Aadhaar Attendance Tracking

Indian City Takes Out Trash with Aadhaar Attendance Tracking

Posted on September 2, 2015

The Indian city of Vijayawada is implementing biometric time and attendance tracking for some of its municipal workers. The Vijayawada Municipal Corporation (VMC) has announced the measure as a response to residents’ complaints that sanitation workers are skipping work while still reporting that it’s done.

The system is relying on the Aadhaar national biometric registry of citizens, with tablets and iris scanners distributed to department officials so that they can link workers’ Aadhaar accounts and start tracking their attendance. To begin with, the initiative will only apply to the 4122 employees of the VMC’s sanitation and health departments, and The Hindu quotes VMC Commissioner G. Veerapandian as asserting that “[i]n a fortnight, all employees will be marking their attendance under the new system.”

It’s a measure similar to one used for various federal government employees, who have had Aadhaar-linked biometric attendance tracking systems installed in their offices. While that has seen some foot-dragging from certain government departments, the ultimate aim of ensuring employee attendance remains in sight, and no one can reasonably argue against the objective. Whether or not the VMC initiative has a smoother rollout, ultimately Vijayawada residents are likely to see better service from their sanitation departments, and that will be a breath of fresh air for all concerned.

Source: The Hindu

8647 - VMC launches iris-based attendance system for staff - The Hindu

VIJAYAWADA, September 2, 2015

VMC launches iris-based attendance system for staff

• S. SANDEEP KUMAR

VMC Commissioner G. Veerapandian checking the iris-based attendence system in Vijayawada.- PHOTO: BY ARRANGEMENT

A complaint that the Vijayawada Municipal Corporation (VMC) regularly gets from residents is sanitary workers skipping their duties and not clearing garbage. Yet, at the end of the month, majority of workers record 100 per cent attendance in corporation registers.

Apart from skipping duties and managing their attendance, there are other irregularities in the existing manual attendance system used by the corporation. Employees also swap duties with one person signing the attendance register for the other. 

Rising to the occasion, the VMC is now using Aadhaar based iris scanning technology to record attendance. Under the new system, which was launched last week, officials scan the iris of employees and link it with their Aadhaar numbers.

To begin with, the new system is being implemented for sanitary workers and health section employees. The VMC procured 55 tablets and Iris scanners and distributed them to sanitary inspectors in all divisions.

Armed with a tablet and IRIS scanner, the sanitary inspector will now scan the iris of a worker, and the bio metric app in the tablet links it with Aadhaar card to check for authenticity. The new system also comes with GPS-enabled feature, which helps in identifying the locality where the attendance is recorded. The entire process is completed in just three seconds.

In all, there are 6,130 employees attached to the VMC, of whom 4122 belong to the health and sanitary section. “In a fortnight, all employees will be marking their attendance under the new system,” said VMC Commissioner G. Veerapandian.

For employees and workers who lack Aadhaar cards, the corporation is also making arrangements for them to get the cards.

In addition to checking bogus attendance by employees, it helps in keeping a tab on their work in the designated areas. All details are then uploaded on the website vmcap.gov.in , he said.

Under the new system, officials scan the iris of employees and link it with their Aadhaar numbers

8594 - SC ruling on Aadhaar puts Digital India plan in jeopardy - Live Mint

SC ruling on Aadhaar puts Digital India plan in jeopardy

Ruling to affect top govt initiatives such as biometric attendance, Jan Dhan Yojana, digital certificates, pension payments

Saurabh Kumar Apurva Vishwanath

New Delhi: Top initiatives of the government such as biometric attendance, Jan Dhan Yojana, digital certificates, pension payments and more recently the introduction of payments banks, which critically depend on the Aadhaar unique identity number, are in jeopardy.

This is because a Supreme Court ruling on 11 August restricts the use of the Aadhaar number as eKYC (electronic know-your-customer) to distribution of cooking gas cylinders, kerosene and foodgrain through the public distribution system.

Through the use of eKYC, customers can get their credentials verified without physical documents by allowing the bank to access their proof of identity, address, email address and mobile number linked to their Aadhaar numbers.

The grant of payments bank licences last week has triggered the realization in government that the apex court’s rulings, unless clarified, will be an impediment. The government has approached the attorney general’s office for consultation to allow these new entities to use eKYC to sign up customers, according to a person close to the development.

“In all likelihood, the Supreme Court may be moved for permission,” said the person, who did not want to be identified as the matter was still being debated.

How Aadhaar plugs leakages in PDS and LPG subsidy transfer

Aadhaar is not mandatory, says SC in interim order

According to Reserve Bank of India (RBI) rules, “the operations of the (payments) bank should be fully networked and technology driven from the beginning, conforming to generally accepted standards and norms”.

This implies eKYC is integral to their operations. RBI guidelines state that any bank willing to use the Unique Identification Authority of India’s (UIDAI) eKYC service is required to sign an agreement with UIDAI.

But the process of eKYC may be a violation of the apex court’s order as the affidavit submitted in the Supreme Court by the attorney general says that personal information of an Aadhaar cardholder through biometrics or otherwise is not shared with any other person or authority.

The apex court made the interim ruling on 11 August in an ongoing hearing where several pleas related to Aadhaar have been clubbed together. Some relate to Aadhaar numbers being made mandatory to avail of certain government benefits and services. Others deal with the number itself being a violation of an individual’s privacy, especially in the absence of any backing regulation or oversight, and some deal with possible misuse of the information.

Anish Gupta, additional advocate general of Haryana and an advocate for the petitioners who challenged the validity of the Aadhaar scheme, said that any sharing of information by UIDAI will amount to contempt of court.

“If it was already in use by some entities, then that amounts to a violation of the Supreme Court’s interim order. Even if the government wants payment banks to use Aadhaar, it will be challenged in the court. The central government can’t share any details given by an individual during Aadhaar enrollment with any party,” he added.

In eKYC, a customer provides the 12-digit Aadhaar number at a financial service provider’s centre and inputs biometrics through a UIDAI-compliant reader. The encrypted data is sent to the Central Identities Data Repository of UIDAI. If the Aadhaar number and biometrics match, the eKYC form with the financial services provider is populated with the customer’s details such as name, date of birth, gender, address, photograph, among other details.

However, Satya Poddar, partner-policy advisory group at consultant EY, said that in this case, the Aadhaar number is only used to validate the information that the financial services provider already has from the customer. “Here, the authority is not proactively giving out the information to the bank, but is only reconfirming when the customer is voluntarily providing biometrics. So, my impression is that it may not be a violation,” added Poddar.

The eKYC process is an ongoing process, according to A.P. Hota, chief executive officer and managing director, National Payments Corp. of India, which also operates a gateway for eKYC.

“It (eKYC) will be our default option as 95% of the population that we will deal with have Aadhaar cards. It will allow customers to have access to services immediately,” said Rajeev Arora, chief technology officer, FINO PayTech Ltd, one of the recipients of the payments bank licence.

Arora, however, added that people who do have Aadhaar will be allowed to submit other documents for KYC. But this process takes a few days time as papers need to be verified with the authorities concerned. Vodafone m-pesa Ltd and Airtel M Commerce Services Ltd, two other payments bank licence winners, said they have not yet decided on the operational details. The other eight licence winners are Aditya Birla Nuvo Ltd, Cholamandalam Distribution Services Ltd, the department of posts, National Securities Depository Ltd, Reliance Industries Ltd, Dilip Shanghvi (founder of Sun Pharmaceuticals Industries Ltd), Vijay Shekhar Sharma (founder of PayTM) and Tech Mahindra Ltd.

8540 - High Court introduces biometric attendance system for staff - The Hindu

MADURAI, August 14, 2015

High Court introduces biometric attendance system for staff

• SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

Photo: R. Ashok

Justice R. Sudhakar, Administrative Judge of the Madras High Court Bench in Madurai, inaugurating the bio-metric attendance system in Madurai on Thursday.

A court officer said that the earlier system of signing attendance registers had its own flaws since some of the Office Assistants used to take away the registers from the respective departments five to 10 minutes before the designated time thereby leading to lot of heartburns among the staff.

The Madras High Court Bench here on Thursday introduced Biometric Attendance System (BAS) for its staff in order to avoid complaints of the age old system of signing attendance registers, placed in respective departments, causing several inconveniences to its employees.

Justice R. Sudhakar, the administrative judge of the Bench, inaugurated BAS in the presence of Registrar (Administration) M. Sreenivasan and Registrar (Judicial) S. Srinivasan and a huge number of court staff who expressed happiness over the introduction of the new system, expected to be foolproof.

A court officer said that the earlier system of signing attendance registers had its own flaws since some of the Office Assistants used to take away the registers from the respective departments five to 10 minutes before the designated time thereby leading to lot of heartburns among the staff. “We will have to lose half a day’s salary if we come late for more than two days in a month.

When such stringent conditions are imposed to ensure punctuality, it is always better to leave it to machines to keep a watch on the exact time when an employee reports for duty,” he said.

However, a court attender said that it would be better if the court administration makes use of BAS both for recording the time at which the employees report for duty as well as the time when they leave home instead of the present system of using it to record the time of entry alone. “Many employees attached to the judges work beyond eight hours a day. If a particular judge comes to court by 9 a.m. itself, then we also have to be here by that time and if a judge leaves the chamber only by 9 p.m. after completing dictation work, then we also have to stay back.

Therefore, it would be nice if our time of exit is also recorded and we are paid some overtime allowance,” he added.

8334 - Soon, raising hands for attendance will be out - TNN

Soon, raising hands for attendance will be out

Gauree Malkarnekar, TNN | Jul 21, 2015, 03.49AM IST

PANAJI: Attendance registers and roll calls in schools may soon be on their way out.

Goa, under a central government scheme, will install Aadhaar-enabled biometric attendance systems in two government primary schools in North Goa on a pilot basis during the current academic year. The state has been allotted 5 lakh to begin the implementation.

"Once the machines come, we will identify the schools where they will be installed," said director of education G P Bhat. The machines will make real-time attendance monitoring possible for both students and teachers and based on its success in the pilot schools it is likely to be implemented in other government primary schools, starting in the northern district.

Such systems have already been installed on similar pilot basis in some government primary schools in Jharkhand and are expected to keep a check on student strength and ensure that teachers are keeping to the prescribed school time. In most other states, the system has been proposed but remains to be implemented.

According to assessment carried out under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), Goa has a student attendance of 92% at the primary school level and 90% at the upper primary school level. No all-Goa figure of teacher attendance has so far been submitted to SSA officials who are based in New Delhi.

Central government officials believe that functioning of schools will become more transparent once teachers and students start using the biometric devices, including in the supply of the midday meal scheme.

8177 - Government to take disciplinary actions against "habitual latecomers"; asks employees to maintain punctuality - Economic Times

Government to take disciplinary actions against "habitual latecomers"; asks employees to maintain punctuality

By ET Bureau | 23 Jun, 2015, 05.49AM IST

Government introduced Aadhaar Enabled Biometric Attendance System in central government offices, including attached and subordinate offices, to ensure punctuality.  

NEW DELHI: The Centre has warned government employees that disciplinary action will be taken against "habitual latecomers" to office and asked officials at all levels to maintain punctuality. The government had last year introduced Aadhaar Enabled Biometric Attendance System in central government offices, including attached and subordinate offices, to ensure punctuality. 

"This department on November 21, 2014 and January 28, 2015 while recognising that the biometric attendance system is only an enabling platform had, inter alia, stated that there was no change in the instructions relating to office hours, late attendance etc," the Department of Personnel and Training said in a circular titled 'Observance of punctuality in office', issued to all ministries on Monday. 

The circular referred to Rule 3(1)(ii) of CCS (Conduct) Rules, 1964 which, DoPT said, stipulates that every government servant shall at all times maintain devotion to duty. "Habitual late attendance is viewed as conduct unbecoming of a government servant and disciplinary action may be taken against such a government servant," the circular said. 

Read more at:

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/47778243.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst

8166 - KVs to get biometric attendance system - TNN

KVs to get biometric attendance system

Rajeev Mani, TNN | Jun 19, 2015, 10.40AM IST

ALLAHABAD: Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan has instructed over 1,000 KVs across the country to install biometric machines to mark attendance of teachers and employees. Headquarters would monitor the machine and initiate action against defaulters. 

The initiative is a step towards ensuring punctuality in KV staff, including teachers. 

In a letter sent to regional KV offices, the Delhi headquarters has stated that biometric attendance system (BAS) would be mandatory for all KVs under the Digital India programme of the Union government. 

Under the BAS, a teacher or employee's fingerprint would be authenticated online and matched with bio-metric stored in employee's Aadhaar number. Every employee would have to furnish Aadhaar number, basic demographic details and photograph for registration. 

The new BAS would come with a number of features, including cloud-based attendance software that would be installed and operated from the National Data Centre (NIC) through dedicated secure connectivity between NIC and UIDAI data centre. 

The data fed into the system would be accessible to all ministries, departments and subordinate organisations using NIC network. The connectivity of devices or terminals would be maintained through wi-fi and GPRS. 

Deputy commissioner of each region would function as nodal officer and keep a watch on the entire initiative. 

Many KVs, including nine of Allahabad, have already installed the bio-metric machines. However, the attendance is currently being managed by school authorities. Hence, neither the regional offices nor those at the helm of affairs in the ministry can access the data. 

Following the implementation of the new system, neither the teachers, nor officials nor clerical staff would be able to miss the school as the attendance would be accessible to anyone sitting in New Delhi. 

"The system would help in increasing proficiency of the work force as there have been instances when teachers or employees have tried to take authorities for a ride,' said principal of a KV in Allahabad.

8121 - Biometric watch before pay - Telegraph India

Biometric watch before pay

AMIT GUPTA

Ranchi, June 7: No attendance, no pay.

Jharkhand is moving towards a system where monthly salaries to its 300,000 government servants will be paid only after reviewing their biometric attendance and finding it satisfactory, a historic departure from the existing norm.

The Aadhaar-enabled biometric attendance system, where employees press a fingerprint to a device to clock individual 'in-time' and 'out-time', makes it impossible for habitual latecomers or early-leavers to fudge the hours they clocked at work per day.

Rules framed by the state personnel, administrative reforms and rajbhasa department to make biometric attendance compulsory for all government employees will soon be tabled before the cabinet.

State IT secretary Sunil Kumar Burnwal, who video-conferenced with Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) nodal officers and deputy commissioners on June 2 and 4 to push for biometric attendance at every government office, said: "Drawing and disbursement officials will release salaries only after getting biometric attendance records. That's our idea."

To make it happen, the IT department, custodians of Aadhaar-enabled biometric attendance system that started in Jharkhand on January 1, 2014, is aggressively pushing to install biometric devices, right up to blocks, circle offices, schools, hospital, anganwadi kendras and others.

According to IT department sources, 1,150 biometric devices have been provided at the level of districts to install them at government offices.

"Around 80 per cent of biometric devices have been installed. We asked DCs to explain why 20 per cent biometric devices haven't been, and to do what's necessary to install and use them at the earliest," Burnwal said.

So far, records suggest that 45,371 government employees are registered users of biometric attendance system, with 26,361 marked as active users.

On June 5, records show over 13,800 employees marked their biometric attendance.

But, that's a fraction of the total government employee count. Jharkhand has on its rolls around 1.90 lakh regular employees and around one lakh contractual employees like parateachers (HRD) and sahiyas (health), among others, all of whom need to come under biometric attendance system.

In places where it is functional, a project officer, preferably a UIDAI staff working on behalf of IT department for biometric attendance, tables daily and weekly attendance summaries. He sends reports to IT department, which controls a central server at the data centre at the Dhurwa office of JAP-IT (Jharkhand Agency for Promotion of Information Technology) in the capital.

The state introduced biometric attendance from January 1, 2014, thanks to efforts made by senior IAS R.S. Sharma, former chief secretary of Jharkhand, now serving as Union IT secretary. Biometric attendance started at hi-profile offices such as state secretariats, divisional commissionary headquarters, offices of DCs, BDOs, which normally register most footfalls.

Initially, some senior IAS officers had objected to the idea of compulsory biometric attendance, saying often they worked up to 8-9pm, so coming in late by a few minutes should not matter or be recorded.

But Burnwal, countering the objections, said recording attendance would be good for workaholic IAS officers. "If you work till 10pm and it does not get recorded, the government does not know. So yes, the time you enter and the time you leave are both recorded and the government knows how many hours you have clocked on duty," he said.

Personnel department officials expect a sea change.

"Once the cabinet says yes, biometric attendance will be mandatory for all government employees," deputy secretary of personnel department P.K. Tiwary said.

Under-secretary in the personnel department Chandra Bhushan Prasad, who handles matters related to biometric attendance, said the state's real aim would be served once the system starts functioning in schools, health and anganwadi kendras, among others.

"So far, biometric attendance is limited to elite state, division and district headquarters. We need to reach out to offices in villages, blocks, circles and panchayats," Prasad said. "Biometric attendance, which works on Android, can change the way the government machinery functions."

7954 - Aadhaar system to monitor UT employees' attendance - Tribune India

Posted at: May 13 2015 2:30AM

Aadhaar system to monitor UT employees' attendance

How the system works

Over 100 such devices have been installed in UT offices. Based on the Aadhaar system, that is GPRS and WiFi enabled, the new system logs the entry and exit time of employees and tracks chronic latecomers.

Rajmeet Singh

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, May 12

Bringing in new accountability and transparency in the functioning of government offices from tomorrow, UT employees will mark their attendance though the Aadhaar Attendance Management System.

Over 100 such devices have been installed in UT offices. Based on the Aadhaar system, that is GPRS and WiFi enabled, the new system logs the entry and exit time of the employees and tracks chronic latecomers. Around 5,500 employees will be covered under the project and around 500 such machines will be installed.

Initially, the employees posted at the UT Secretariat, Sector 9, and the Estate Office, Sector 17, will mark their attendance through the smart device that authenticates an employee’s identity on the basis of the picture taken and matches it with the unique identity number of the employee.

“If any employee of the Estate Office has gone to the UT Secretariat on duty, he can mark his attendance there. It will automatically get stored in central data. Such devices are being installed in the offices of the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation, Chandigarh Housing Board, CITCO, and government hospitals in Sectors 16 and 32,” said an official.

Officials in the Department of Information and Technology, who are overseeing the project, said the system enabled heads of departments (HODs) to access the real-time data on employees' attendance while sitting in their offices. All employees, barring the HODs, will have to mark thier attendance on the new system.

“The system facilitates search, down to the names of individual employees, and all data can be downloaded. The public reporting of data creates pressure on supervisors to ensure compliance. The moment the attendance is marked, a message comes on the registered mobile number,” said an official.

The new system will replace the earlier installed biometric attendance system.

7950 - State to link Aadhar for staff attendance - The Hindu

State to link Aadhar for staff attendance

VIJAYAWADA, May 12, 2015

SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

To ensure transparency in duties and punctuality, the State government is mulling to seed employees’ Aadhaar details. 

Towards this initiative, the government is planning to take up a pilot project with municipal employees across the State.

As part of the drive, a special programme was organised for Vijayawada Municipal Corporation (VMC) officials by UIDAI Deputy Director General M.V.S. Reddy here on Monday. All the heads of different sections in VMC attended the programme.

Making a power point presentation to officials, Mr. Reddy explained the steps involved seeding the employees Adhaar details.

7949 - Aadhaar-based Attendance System - Indian Express

Aadhaar-based Attendance System

By Express News Service

Published: 12th May 2015 06:00 AM

VIJAYAWADA: UIDAI director MVS Reddy said that the transparency in the attendance of corporation staff will be maintained with the new Aadhaar-based attendance system. 

Speaking at a meeting with officials at the municipal corporation here on Monday, he said that the government would implement this Aadhaar based attendance system first in the corporation, which will later be extended to all the government offices in the state. Later, he gave a powerpoint presentation on the new technology. VMC commissioner G Veerapandian was present.

7907 - Khattar launches biometric system - The Tribune India

Haryana

Posted at: May 3 2015 12:07AM

Khattar launches biometric system

State goes digital as CM rolls out 7 e-services, apps for graft-free administration

Now, govt staff can’t miss work

Panipat: District Informatics and Science Officer Mukesh Chawla said, “Fifteen biometric machines started functioning on a trial basis at the Mini-Secretariat. These machines were installed as per DC Samir Pal Srow’s directions.” He said all the employees of various government departments would be covered for biometric attendance in three phases. Sources said the attendance detail of all employees would now be available online.

Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar inaugurates the Biometric Attendance System at the mini-secretariat in Panchkula on Saturday. Tribune Photo: Nitin Mittal

Hina Rohtaki

Tribune News Service

Panchkula, May 2

Waving off traditional barriers in public services, the Haryana Government became tech-friendly with the launch of several e-services and applications today.

E-services and software applications including — e-Stamping; Jeevan Pramaan; revised state portal; Aadhaar Enabled Biometric Attendance System (AEBAS); CM Window mobile app; and Aadhaar-linked registration of birth.

The services were inaugurated by Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar in Panchkula today.

An official release said, “The digital infrastructure as a utility to every citizen includes easy access to common service centres and ‘cradle-to-grave digital identity’, e-Governance and e-Services on demand envisage electronic financial transactions and mobile platform based services.”

Khattar while inaugurating these services, said, “It is a matter of concern that at present the public has to submit birth certificate as an evidence of their existence and also have to visit the government offices time and again for the same.”

“Besides other benefits, the launch of these services would make e-governance visible; inject a dose of efficiency in the administration, and make Haryana move up the ladder of progressive states,” Khattar said.

Eleven e-services of the Revenue Department were also launched. These include: Scheduled Caste, Backward Caste, Other Backward Caste, Special Backward Caste, Tapriwas, Vimukt Jati, Economically Backward General Caste and Resident certificates, income certificate for education purposes, income certificate for other purposes and rural area certificate.

Similarly, some services of the Health Department were also launched. Under these, birth certificate, death certificate, and copies of certificates shall be provided.

Not just this, the state has become the first state in the country to implement Aadhaar-linked registration of birth. This system would ensure that every newborn will get an Aadhaar number at birth, besides the birth registration. Haryana also became the first state in the country to implement the Aadhaar-enabled AEBAS.

E-stamping would make the registry process easier as there would be no need to purchase stamp paper for the registry. Citizens can now generate e-Stamp by paying online. The revised state portal would have information about various and programmes of the departments.

In order to ensure that the government employees reach their offices in time, Aadhaar Enabled Biometric Attendance System (AEBAS) has been implemented in government offices of the state.

Meanwhile, making the CM Window more effective, a mobile application was launched. Anybody can get to know the status of his or her complaint on their mobiles, using the app.

Khattar said that apart from this, 20 citizen-centric services have been linked with e-services under the Service Act to ensure their time bound delivery through the Citizen Service Centres (CSCs), one of which he inaugurated at Sector 15 Panchkula.

The government also plans to set up CSCs in villages across Haryana. During 2015-16, about 2,500 CSCs shall be set up across the state, the officials claimed.

Other landmarks

First state in the country to implement Aadhaar-linked registration of birth

Implementation of the Aadhaar-enabled AEBAS

Quote-unquote

It is a matter of concern that at present the public has to submit birth certificate as an evidence of their existence. The launch of these services will make e-governance visible, inject a dose of efficiency in the administration and make Haryana move up the ladder of progressive states. — Manohar Lal Khattar, chief minister

7903 - Haryana Govt launches e-services, apps for graft-free admin - Deccan Herald

Haryana Govt launches e-services, apps for graft-free admin

Chandigarh, May 2, 2015 (PTI)

The Haryana government today launched seven e-services and software applications in a measure to provide hassle free and graft-free administration to the people of the state.

Launching the services in Panchkula near here, Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar said the e-services would help translate the dream of 'Digital Haryana' into reality.

'Digital Haryana' would seek to provide digital infrastructure as a utility for every citizen, e-Governance and e-Services on demand and facilitate digital empowerment of citizens, an official release said here.

The digital infrastructure as a utility to every citizen includes easy access to common service centre and "cradle-to -grave digital identity", e-Governance and e-Services on demand envisage electronic financial transactions and mobile platform based services, it said.

"Besides other benefits, the launch of these services would make e-governance visible; inject quite a dose of efficiency in the administration, and make Haryana move up the ladder of progressive states," the Chief Minister said.

The e-services and other add-on facilities launched by Khattar include -- Access to Common Service Centre, Services on demand, e-Stamping, Jeevan Pramaan, Revised State Portal, Aadhaar-enabled biometric Attendance System, CM Window, Mobile app and Aadhaar-linked registration of birth.

"Haryana is the first state in the country to launch some services on such large scale," Khattar said.

He said the state government plans to provide the citizens access to 'Access to Common Service Centre' (CSC) in their villages, followed by which 2,500 CSCs shall be set up across the state.

"Today, we are enabling the CSCs to deliver 20 e-services in the fields of revenue and health as well as other B2C (business to consumer) services through CSC-SPV, a Government of India entity. Under this, a citizen can file application for various kinds of certificates. The file moves electronically to various concerned authorities--tehsildar/ medical officer of Health Department," the Chief Minister said.

Eleven e-services of the Revenue Department have been launched under 'Services on demand' with the launch of other services of the Health Department.

Under these, copies of birth certificate and death certificate shall be provided. The state shall provide more than 100 e-services to the citizens by the end of the year, Khattar informed.

Haryana has also developed an e-Stamping application for online sale of e¬stamps through which the citizens can generate e-Stamp by paying online.

State portal has also been revised to fulfill the vision of providing easy and convenient information to the citizens about Haryana, and is further linked to the websites of departments to provide information on various schemes, the release said.

For the benefit of pensioners, they can get Jeevan Pramaan Certificate from any CSC in Haryana if they have an Aadhaar number.

"Haryana is the first state to launch this scheme on such a large scale in the country. Before 2012, pensions were provided through banks. After 2012, the disbursement was shifted to Treasuries," the release stated.

Soon, the CSCs shall be enabled to provide the verification mechanism so that pensioners do not have to travel to the Treasury for the verification process. Approximately 40,000 pensioners shall benefit from the new system, the release said.

Aadhaar-enabled biometric Attendance system (AEBAS) is a Aadhaar-based attendance system, which was also launched today and shall be used to mark attendance in all district mini-secretariats, two secretariats in Chandigarh and seven other departments.

"CM Window, Mobile app: The CM Grievances Redressal System" was launched on December 25, 2014. The 'CM Window' is operational in all Deputy Commissioner offices. Citizens can go to e-Disha kendras and lodge their grievances at CM Window.

With a view to enabling the citizen to track the status of one's grievances, an Android app has been created which will provide the detailed status of a particular complaint.

The Aadhar-linked registration of birth was also launched, under which all babies born in Haryana will be concurrently Aadhaar-enrolled and their birth certificate issued within seven days.

This measure, will not only help monitor delivery of all welfare and health-related benefits to an infant but will also help in tracking the child from birth to immunization to school admission, the release said.

Haryana Revenue Minister Abhimanyu, Health Minister Anij Vij, MP Ratan Lal Kataria, Panchkula and Kalka MLAs Gian Chand Gupta and Latika Sharma, Chief Secretary D S Dhesi, Deputy Commissioner, Panchkula Vivek Atray and other senior officers of various departments were also present on this occasion.

Meanwhile, interacting with reporters later, Khattar described the e-governance as fundamental of his government.

He said that his foremost priority is to provide efficient, hassle free and graft-free administration to the people of the state by using information technology and minimizing human interface.

Replying to a question, Khattar said the state government is also going to make registration of death mandatory in the state.

On being asked whether the Aadhaar-enabled biometric attendance system would be successful in the state, the Chief Minister said the BJP government is committed for the success of any scheme or programme implemented by it.

Apart from the services launched today, he said that 20 citizen centric services have been linked with e-services under the Service Act to ensure their time bound delievery through the Citizen Service Centres (CSCs).

The Chief Minister said apart from the government jobs, special emphasis would be given to provide employment to youth in industrial sector. He said that the government is going to announce its industrial policy within next 15 days.

"Big industrialists including those from Haryana who have settled their businesses in other states as well abroad would be invited to set up their ventures in Haryana. This will not only boost development but also provide ample employment opportunities to the youth in the State," he added.

7420 - Now U.P. to enrol 3.5 lakh people for Aadhaar everyday - The Hindu

LUCKNOW, February 20, 2015

Now U.P. to enrol 3.5 lakh people for Aadhaar everyday

SANDEEP JOSHI

With an aim of generating unique “'Aadhaar” numbers for almost 20 crore residents of Uttar Pradesh, the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has now stepped up its drive by enrolling 3.5-lakh resident everyday and so far covering 40 per cent of the State’s population.

Aadhaar of more than eight crore residents has been generated so far.

Now, to accelerate the pace of enrolment in the state, 2,000 enrolment centres have been opened across the state where about 8000 enrolment kits have been deployed that are being operated by 66 enrolment agencies, officials in UIDAI's Lucknow regional office said.

For Uttar Pradesh, the UIDAI has initiated several steps to give impetus to the enrolment process, which includes organising training and certification camps for operating agencies. Over 2,000 operators have already been granted certification while the Authority plans to enrol more operators to speed up the process, they said.

The UIDAI's Lucknow office is also keeping a close eye on all the enrolment centres and taking strict action against operators who are trying to take money for enrolment or not carrying out the process smoothly. Already several erring agencies have been blacklisted, while strict vigilance was being kept of the entire process. 

The UIDAI is also carrying out awareness drive telling people not to pay money for Aadhaar enrolment and lodge a compliant if any agency asks for money, officials said.

Uttar Pradesh being the biggest State, the Centre is more focused on early completion of the Aadhaar enrolment which is directly linked to various schemes and initiatives, including the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY), the Mahatma Gandhi Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), Direct Benefit Transfer of LPG Subsidy (DBTL), Universal Account Number (UAN) of Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO), public distribution system (PDS), pensions and scholarships, passports and attendance in government offices.