The government is unlikely to roll back the app-based attendance for NREGA workers, indicates a notification issued by the rural development ministry on March 29, 2023. Meanwhile, it has given states time till June 30 to switch to the new Aadhaar-based payment system under the Central job guarantee scheme.
Recall here that the Centre has mandated mobile-based attendance for all NREGA workers (except individual beneficiary schemes and projects) from January 1, 2023, through the National Mobile Monitoring System (NMMS) app. Worksite supervisors are responsible for capturing attendance along with the geo-tagged photographs of the workers through the app.
The decision has been widely protested across India by NREGA workers and social rights activists who said technical glitches and poor internet connectivity were resulting in workers losing out on their wage payments.
“In some cases, workers have lost 50% of their wages owing to technical glitches in the app, and many women worksite supervisors have had to take loans to buy smartphones to use the app,” says NREGA Sangharsh Morcha, a grassroots-level worker group.
The ministry data show NMMS usage has been reported only in 1,58,390 of the total 269,637 gram panchayats. Also, 41.3% of the gram panchayats report no NMMS device usage.
While stating that the ministry is not aware of the protests, minister of state for rural development Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti said all the necessary steps were being taken for smooth operating of the digital attendance system.
“The ministry has been providing training to the states/UTs to ensure smooth transitioning to the NMMS app as and when requested. The technical issues being faced are taken up with NIC, rural development on a real-time basis. The new provisions/suggestions requested by states/UTs are being incorporated. All the issues concerning the NMMS application are reviewed and resolved from time to time,” Niranjan Jyoti told the Rajya Sabha in a written reply on March 29, 2023.
“So far, no issue regarding holding 100 days dharna in Delhi against (the) NMMS app has been reported to the ministry,” the minister added.
“The NMMS application has been modified to capture the second photograph just after 4 hours of uploading the attendance and first photograph. It has eased out the specific time point requirement for capturing the attendance and photographs,” the official statement read.
Under the new guidelines, a NREGA worker’s photograph must be clicked twice a day, once at 11 am and then at 4 pm at the worksite. These images must be uploaded on the MGNREGA website immediately. “The morning attendance along with the first photograph can be captured in offline mode and to be uploaded once the device comes into a network,” the minister said.
“In case of exceptional circumstances due to which attendance could not be uploaded, district programme coordinators have been authorised to upload the manual attendance,” it further added.
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An alumna of the Indian Institute of Mass Communication, Dhenkanal, Sunita Mishra brings over 16 years of expertise to the fields of legal matters, financial insights, and property market trends. Recognised for her ability to elucidate complex topics, her articles serve as a go-to resource for home buyers navigating intricate subjects. Through her extensive career, she has been associated with esteemed organisations like the Financial Express, Hindustan Times, Network18, All India Radio, and Business Standard.
In addition to her professional accomplishments, Sunita holds an MA degree in Sanskrit, with a specialisation in Indian Philosophy, from Delhi University. Outside of her work schedule, she likes to unwind by practising Yoga, and pursues her passion for travel.
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