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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | NREGA gets 'smart' by Arvind Mayaram

NREGA gets 'smart' by Arvind Mayaram

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published Published on Sep 24, 2010   modified Modified on Sep 24, 2010



While there is all-round concern about how the NREGA funds are being utilised at the grass-roots level, the Union rural development ministry has initiated the process of inducting technology to streamline the delivery system under NREGA. This will have a revolutionary impact on programme delivery.

With about 50 million people working on site in 2,50,000 panchayats all across the country, the magnitude of the task is daunting. However, once the initial task of creating biometric databases and establishing infrastructure at the village level has been completed, the impact on delivery would be immense.

The fundamental matter of issuance of the job cards to those demanding work without political partisanship, elimination of ghost workers from the muster-rolls, introduction of electronic muster-rolls to avoid delays in manual processing and therefore wage payments, electronic transmission of work measurement and authorisation of payment of wages to the banks electronically—these are some of the objectives that are to be met through the introduction of GPS enabled biometric systems at the grass-roots level.

A recent decision taken by the ministry in consultation with department of IT, Unique Identification Development Authority (UIDAI), department of financial services and others, the entire plan would be rolled out within a period of one year. While biometric attendance at site and work measurement may start within a year, the entire NREGA operation—such as capturing all the processes right from registration, demand of work, issue of dated receipt, allocation of work, attendance at worksite with GPS coordinates, measurement of work and wage payments etc—is likely to be transferred to the electronic platform on real time basis.

The introduction of a UID-enabled biometric database for attendance and the use of ICT would improve the overall delivery system. For this, biometric data of all NREGA workers would be collected. A system for taking biometric attendance on site everyday through hand-held devices and transmitting this data through mobile phones for authentication would be put in place. This would be GPS-enabled. Muster-rolls would automatically be generated electronically. The existing MIS would also be integrated with biometric data, with the purpose of setting up an integrated process of capturing, generating date receipts for applications, allocation of work, opening of works and reducing delays in measurement and payments.

This entire process is being implemented through public private partnership. For this, stringent technical qualifications will be evolved in partnership with the respective state governments. The service level standards, model concession agreements (MCA) and so on would be prepared by the rural development ministry and be used as standard templates by the state governments. This will also bring a degree of uniformity to operations across different states. To ensure quality and long-term commitment, the entire work for one state would be entrusted to one qualified private service provider. This entity is expected to provide end-to-end solutions and maintain operations at the village level for a specified period of time through a concession.

The rural development ministry is drawing upon the work done by IT department and UIDAI for creating a panel of service providers and identifying secure hand-held device technologies. The Indian Banking Association has similarly developed specifications for the use of biometrics for core banking functions. It is expected that the Business Correspondent programme announced by the Union finance minister in his budget speech would also link up with this system, resulting in seamless disbursement of wages right up to the doorsteps of the NREGA worker.

This is an audacious initiative. But for a strong political will and clarity at the administrative level in the ministry, such a revolutionary decision could not have been taken. In one shot, the Union rural development ministry is linking the most backward areas in the country with public private partnerships and ICT. The challenge now lies in getting the state governments on board. Without their active participation, it would be difficult to get the system on the ground quickly. But once all the stakeholders are convinced that this is the only way to go forward, there would be no stopping. This would become one more building block in the unfolding story of resurgent India.


The Financial Express, 24 September, 2010, http://www.financialexpress.com/news/nrega-gets-smart/686746/0


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