Rajeshwar Kadari

Journal of Applied Physics and Engineering Vol.1, No.5 (2016) 1–13

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ISSN Number (online): 2455-4650

ICT Tools for MGNREGA A Case Study of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh States

Rajeshwar Kadari

National Institute of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj, Hyderabad-500030. Email: [email protected]

*Corresponding Author: Rajeshwar Kadari Phone: 9848780150 E-mail: [email protected]

Received: 27/2/2016, Revised: 26/04/2016 and Accepted: 17/05/2016

Abstract

Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) to provide for the enhancement of livelihood

security of the households in rural areas of the country by providing at least one hundred days of guaranteed wage employment in

every financial year to every household whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work and for matters connected

therewith or incidental thereto. In the light of past experience of problems in the wage employment programmes like duplication

of works, spurious transactions, parking of funds, partial wage payments, delay in payments, fudging of muster rolls etc,the Web

based Technology of ICT intervention in the implementation of NREGA is important to ensure the transparency and help in

information dissemination. ICT tools which includes Web based Management Information System, Biometric and Aadhar

enabled which will facilitates the online monitoring and evaluation of the programme and timely feedback will help in timely

corrective actions. The MIS involves in each and every stage of the module in the programme to bring the transparency and

accountability and which will acts as a decision making tool for the policy makers. The objective of this paper which discuss

about the role of ICT and MIS in MGNREGA and how ICT solution that will have a more efficient, strategic and inexpensive

way of helping people in speedy registration, timely availability of work and timely payment of wages. The process outcomes

include strengthening grassroot processes of democracy and infusing transparency and accountability in governance which can be

achieved through only ICT solution.

© 2016 Ishitv Technologies LLP All rights reserved.

Keywords: ICT, MIS, MGNREGA

1. Introduction

Mahatma Gandhi NREGA is the first ever law internationally that guarantees wage employment at an unprecedented scale.

The primary objective of the Act is to provide guaranteed wage employment and the auxiliary objective is to create durable and

sustainable assets through natural resources management and ultimately to address problems of drought, deforestation and soil

erosion. The Act came into force on February 2, 2006 and was implemented in a phased manner. In Phase I it was introduced in

mailto:[email protected]


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200 of the most backward districts of the country. It was extended to additional 130 districts in Phase II during 2007-2008. The

Act was notified in the remaining rural districts of India from April 1, 2008 in Phase III. As a result, all rural districts were

covered under Mahatma Gandhi NREGA. MGNREGS coverage in Andhra Pradesh is 13 districts, 661 Blocks and 13084 Gram

Panchayats and in Telangana State is 9 districts, 438 Blocks and 8831 Gram Panchayats.

NIC, along with Ministry of Rural Development and other stakeholders, conceptualized a web enabled management information

system (i.e. NREGASoft) to address the planning & monitoring needs of scheme. NREGASoft which was developed by NIC

using all the states expect Telengana and Andhra Pradesh States. These two states are using RAGAS (Rashtra Grameena

Abhivruddi Samacharam), is developed by the Rural Development Department of the Government of Andhra Pradesh in

partnership with Tata Consultancy Services (TCS).

NREGAsoft and RAGAS is a work flow; local language enabled e-Governance system and is available in offline as well as

online mode to capture all the activities under MGNREGS at Center/State/District/ Block and Gram Panchayat level.

NREGAsoft has been prepared and deployed at http://nrega.nic.in, by NIC in collaboration with Ministry of Rural

Development. Each stakeholder can access relevant information through the portal. NREGAsoft captures Registration of

workers, work demanded number of days of employment for whole family, funds transferred/utilized and number of works

undertaken under the scheme. Various stake holders of the project are: Citizen, Gram Panchayats, Block Panchayats, Zilla

Panchayats, Workers, Programme officers, District Programme coordinators, implementing agencies other then PRIs, State RD

Departments, Ministry of Rural Development, Govt. of India.

This web-based ICT tool with local language interface enables the rural wage seeker at the bottom most layer of pyramid to

access entitlements of NREGS by handling registration, work estimates, musters and wage payments to enable equal, correct and

timely payments directly into the accounts of the wage seekers, thereby enhancing the livelihood security of 18.5 million

underserved poor in 65,000 villages spreading over 275,000 sq Kms and preventing the malaise of discrimination, unequal wages

among men and women, delayed and less-than-entitled payment while ensuring sustainable development of degraded lands even

in remote areas leading to enhanced rural prosperity

The objectives and goals of RAGAS can be summarized as follows:

Put the wage seeker at the centre of operations

Minimize leakages, expedite payments, maintain measurement cycle strictly to ensure timely and correct payments

Provide system driven accountability

Ensure open access to information to all stakeholders and citizens

Enable transaction based reliable, timely and comparable information from the ground-up”.

Track every rupee spent on the scheme

Provide an effective platform for citizen-centric delivery of government services in general and financial services in

particular and to reach out to all the un-served populace including those who do not have any skills; with emphasis on

disabled, single women and socially disadvantaged.

http://nrega.nic.in/


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It aims to demystify work estimates, reduce drudgery of paper work, make work available on demand by maintaining a shelf

of works and monitor the works through measurement books and muster rolls. It also aims at funds management by tracking

wage payments, material payments and administrative costs.

It facilitates social audit and right to information.

It is a robust web based monitoring and review tool. .

By first week of January 2008, 9,23,466 lakh works worth 82,49,37.86 lakhs have been estimated and sanctioned to meet the

demand for wage employment. Around 3,38,812 works are in progress and 15,16,51.28 lakhs have been paid as wages creating

18,64,65,980 person days. Information for 10 million and odd muster rolls used so far is available on the internet under the

URL - www.nrega.ap.gov.in.. Irrespective of the location and time, the stakeholders can browse for information about the

villages, work status and wage payments and even conduct a social audit to ensure transparency and accountability.

2. Contribution of ICT toward Organizational Objectives

RAGAS is a powerful tool in the hands of the stakeholders who can browse information about entire gamut of activities under

NREGS. It has helped in addressing a lot of issues, thereby leading to the NREGS, AP initiative, with its holistic, service centric

and outcome-oriented approach, is a significant milestone in the e-government initiatives of AP. The merits are listed below:

2.1 Enabling transparency and Accountability

All the stakeholders viz. citizens, media, NGOs, officials, politicians are viewing the data live on the internet, and

using the information for furtherance of the cause. All stakeholders - citizens, media, NGOs, officials and politicians -

can view live data through the portal, and use the information for furtherance of the cause. By making data available for

public scrutiny, the NREGA Portal facilitates social auditing of the NREGA implementation, under the Right to

Information Act. Details of personnel and officials involved in implementation at each stage are being logged into the

system increasing the accountability. One of the ways in which accountability has also been built into the solution from

the point a rural household approaches its Gram Panchayat for a job to the point of payment for the job done, is to track

cash flow. At least one critical transaction at every stage passes through computers making it difficult (but not

impossible) to steal from the poor.

2.2 Eliminating the gaps which are observed in manual systems - Inflated schemes, bogus registration, inflated muster,

Fraudulent requisition of funds, Fraudulent wage payment, Lack of transparency.

2.3 Minimizing fraud. RAGAS has effectively blocked all the possible leakages thereby reducing fraud to a great extent.

The system demonstrated that the 15,16,51.28 lakhs INR spent as on January 2008 has really reached the deserving

wage seekers, without any leakage. By making available the Standard Schedule of Rates for each locality available

online, there is no possibility for excess sanction of amounts and subsequent recoveries at a much later date.

2.4 Minimizing effort and administrative costs. A cumbersome process of preparing estimates has been simplified duly

saving several person months of unproductive time which otherwise the field officials would have had to spend. This


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solution enabled the state to reduce the overall administrative cost, which otherwise would have cost many-fold. Field

input data fed in to the system and estimates are generated for each and every work.

2.5 Enabling accurate and faster wage payments. The payment cycle has been significantly reduced to less than 15 days.

Payments to wage seekers are being made entirely through agencies like banks and post offices ensuring that the right

amount reaches the worker.

2.6 Enabling Change Management of policies, rates and so on. Changes in policies, work estimation standards, payment

rates during the course of implementation of the scheme based on ground realities could quickly be adapted.

2.7 Enabling Program Monitoring. The program is being closely and effectively monitored using RAGAS. Fulfillment of

100 days guarantee for every household can be monitored. Every work and every rupee spent on EGS can be tracked.

All the MIS reports required by the district, state and central administration are readily available, reducing the effort of

preparation of such reports and increasing the accuracy of data.

2.8 Facilitating Social Audit. Another unique feature is that all the information is available on internet, both in English and

Telugu, the local language of Andhra Pradesh. Both government officials and public can access the social audit

reports. By making data available for public scrutiny, the website (nrega.ap.gov.in) facilitates social auditing of the

NREGS implementation, under the Right to Information Act.

2.9 Enabling Easy tracking of all the processes of EGS to ensure that the entitlements like equal wages, work site facilities,

timely wages and so on reach the citizen.

3. Enabling an Effective Decision Support System to avoid slippages in implementation.

This is the first time in the country that a rural development programme is using an IT solution so comprehensively.

Implementation of this system has enabled employment of a large number of rural youth as computer operators, instilled a sense

of accountability in the administration and instilled confidence amongst the rural poor in demanding due entitlements.

3.1 Transferability

As this project is computerising the processes in the Government of India Act (NREGA), it is common to all the states in Indi a.

With a local language interface and very little customization this project can be used anywhere in India or abroad. In fact,

observing the impact of this project, the software is extended to other Rural Development Programmes in Andhra Pradesh like

Watersheds and Comprehensive Land Development (CLDP) programmes. RAGAS deals with land related works, estimates and

payments it can be used by any organization small or big dealing with such activities.


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3.2 Project summary

3.2.1All business processes have been engineered in such a way that delivery of every service is through the software and is

based on actual transaction.

3.2.2 The use of technology begins at the stage of registration of all wage seekers. The Panchayat secretary verifies the

applications of wage seekers and enters the details in a Register maintained at the Gram Panchayat. The information

about the wage seeker is entered into the computer placed at Mandal Level and the front page of the Job Card is printed

with the unique ID and details of the household. The photo is captured from the database of the Civil Supplies

Department’s biometric (IRIS) ration cards. The wage seekers’ post office/bank account numbers are also captured. So

the registration is completed without any delay and the entire information of the wage seeker is available for any future

use.

3.3 JOB CARD

3.3.1The next major service is to open works to enable the wage seeker to earn his wages. Using RAGAS, the time taken to

generate work estimates has been reduced from 15 to 20 days of cumbersome procedure to a few minutes. Since the

estimates are system generated and based on accurate formulae, the technical sanctions are provided quickly. The

sanctioning limits to Assistant Engineer/ Deputy Executive Engineer have been enhanced for quick sanctions and

sufficient works are kept ready to meet the demand for work. Even the estimates are realistic since the rates are pre

fixed at the back end. For the first time, the computer system uses templates for each type of work for arriving at the

manpower, material requirement estimates and complete engineering calculation for the works. The works are opened

and letters to executing agency and material supplier are generated by the computer to avoid any delays. The

customized measurement sheet that requires capturing of simple measurements at the work place is generated. The

muster rolls with unique IDs are associated with this work.

3.3.2 Once the work commences, the payments to citizens (wage seekers) has to be ensured within a fortnight. Field

assistants at the GP level close the muster rolls on every Saturday and bring them along with measurement sheets to

Mandal computer centers. The technical assistants measure the works and verify the musters. The data is fed into the

computer and pay orders are generated within minutes. Pay slips are also generated and given to wage seekers; pay

orders are sent to the sub post office along with the cheques. Money is paid in advance to the post offices so that post

offices can make payments as soon as they receive pay orders: timely payment is ensured. For material payment, based

on the material supplied pay order is generated and the payment is made to the material supplier’s account

3.3.3 The highlight of this application is ensuring equal wages among men and women. The works are carries out in groups;

muster is maintained group wise; data is entered group wise into the computer and the wages depending on the groups

out turn and the individual attendance is divided equally among the group, irrespective of gender. Since the amount is

directly deposited into individual accounts equality of wages is ensured

3.3.4 All the payments including admin and other expenses are captured. The availability of funds is also indicated after

every payment to enable timely requisition of funds.


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Figure 1 Wage Seeker Registration Process

3.3.5Data from the Mandal Computer Centres (MCCs) is uploaded to the state server through a data network or dial -up

connection. The data is then uploaded into Oracle RDBMS server using specially developed tools for verification,

validation and data pre-processing

3.3.6 Irrespective of the location, beneficiaries can browse for information about their village, work status and wages. By

making data available for public scrutiny, the portal facilitates social auditing of the NREGA implementation, under the

Right to Information Act

3.3.7The website presents the information on the internet for public viewing. The viewer can drill down up to the level of a

household/works/muster.

4 Functional Modules of the TS&APREGS application

The TS&APREGS application consists of the following basic modules.

4.1 Wage Seeker Module

The Wage Seeker module is used for registration of the households. The respective Gram Panchayat under the supervision of the

Sarpanch (village head) / Village Secretary carries out registration of the households at village level. A wage seeker and hi s

family members can register under this Act by submitting an application at the Gram Panchayat. A register maintained at the

gram panchayat will be sent to the Mandal Computer Centre (MCC)

for entry of the wage seeking household information.

The MCC allocates a household / Job Card ID that is a 18-digit

identification number consisting of 14-digit habitation code

(District, Assembly, Mandal, Gram Panchayat, Village and

Habitation) and a 4-digit household / Job Card running serial

number. A household / Job card shall be generated for each

household and handed over to the Gram Panchayat. The gram

Panchayat completes the job card by affixing the photograph of the

group photo duly attesting the same and hands it over to the

household.

4.2 Work Estimates Module

Works to be executed at any village need to be identified by the gram sabha or village group or village secretary or by all of them

together with the help of input sheets. The identified work will have necessary measurements along with the leads. With the help

of input sheets work estimates shall be generated in the system and will be sent to Gram Panchayat / Village for scrutiny and for

prioritization. Depending on its nature and type, every work has a given set of tasks. All the above details for a particular work

are estimated task-wise and the total estimated effort and material requirements for that work are computed. Prioritized list of

such works will be sent to MDO / PO. At the mandal level, works will be further prioritized after addition of some more works

and sent to MCC. After necessary technical approval, these works will be sent to District Administration in a pre-defined format

for administrative approval. Final administrative work sanction is issued by the District Collector and is handed over to the

relevant departments / gram panchayat for execution.


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Work IDs are generated for all the works and a list of works is

generated for each village, which is sent to the Panchayat for display

at the Panchayat office, the village Field Assistant / Field Assistant

for executing the work, the wage seekers for attending to the desired

worksite. This list is called ‘Shelf of Sanctioned Works’.If the work

involves procurement of material, intimation is sent to material

supplier to supply the material at the worksite mentioning the date of

delivery. Alternately, material may be supplied directly to the place

of work and reimbursement may be claimed by mentioning in the work

done report / progress report.

4.3 Work Execution & Payment Module

Works that are sanctioned will be intimated to the village Panchayat. Field Assistant and wage seekers congregate at the work

site and carry out the work as per standards and guidelines already propagated. A wage seeker willing to work comes to work site

and performs the work allocated. Once a week, the Field Assistant prepares the summary of Work Progress Report and submits

the report along with the Muster Roll to the MCC. Field Assistant also gives an acknowledgement slip to each wage seeker duly

mentioning the weekly work details for the week.The diagram and the following flowchart represent the processes involved in a

sequential order.

Figure 3 Work Execution & Payment Process

At the MCC, attendance is captured from the submitted Muster Roll. The data is validated and stored in database. Based on the

reported progress of work and the number of person-days spent, payment to the workers is computed and a Wage List is

generated. The generated wage list is then sent to the Village Panchayat and the paying agency. The paying agency can be either

the Post Office savings account or Bank Account or Village Organization or Gram Panchayat which ever is convenient to the

wage seeker. If the work is completed, the Field Assistant reports the same to the executing department, which sends an official

who prepares the Work Closure Report and submits the same to the MCC. Village Panchayat also endorses their remarks in the

work closure report on the quality of work.

Figure 2 Work Estimation Process


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4.4 Material Management Module

This module used for enrolling material suppliers and skilled wage seeker. If the work involves procurement of material,

intimation is sent to material supplier to supply the material at the worksite mentioning the date of delivery. Alternately, material

may be supplied directly to the place of work and reimbursement may be claimed by mentioning in the work done report /

progress report. On supply of the material at the worksite or at a place decided by the work execution department, the supplier

submits a delivery note duly endorsed by the Panchayat or the execution department official. Payment order for the supplied

material is directly issued to the supplier and deducted from the fund allocated to the work against material. The Supplier can

draw the amount from designated bank. The details of delivery are entered, validated against supply order and stored in database.

The Field Assistant along with the interim Progress Report also submits a material consumption report, which is included in the

work done report. This module provides facility to register authorized suppliers. Selection and awarding of supply contracts is

not in the scope this system. Once a supplier is shortlisted by the administration, the data related to the supplier is entered into the

system. The diagram and the following flowchart represent the processes involved in a sequential order.

Figure 4 Material Management Process

4.5 Fund / Accounts Module

Funds / accounting module takes care of all accounting needs. It covers the works costs, wage payments, funds receipts

(allocation or otherwise) and transfer (de-allocation), claims, miscellaneous receipts and advances under the Scheme. Funds

consumption is captured under Works cost, Awareness & Campaigning and Administrative Expenses. It also generates the

accounting reports viz. Bank Books, Cash Books, General Ledger, Journal Ledger as well as Cheque Book Register and Cheque

Issue Register along with the Monthly Financial Report. On submission of work progress report by Field Assistant and work

closure report by the concerned department official, fund position is tallied against the fund allocated and balance fund available.

Material payment order issued to the material supplier is also adjusted from the funds committed to the work. The expenses

incurred by Claimants for the scheme are submitted and are paid to claimants by pay orders. Similarly, Advances can be taken for

incurring expenses and same can be settled. Information regarding Mandal operating banks, authorised approvers and Cheque

book(s) details can be maintained.


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Figure 5 Fund / Accounts Process

4.6 Analysis Module

This module is used to analyze the available data in the database and generate reports for monitoring the successful

implementation of the program. This module will be useful in identifying undesirable trends to take corrective actions.

Some of the reports that have been identified are: -

4.6.1 Work ageing (details like elapsed days since start and scheduled completion)

This analysis compares the planned start and completion of the sanctioned works with that of the actual start and

completion dates. This analysis helps in identifying delays in starting a work or its completion. Accordingly the

Program Officer can take remedial actions.

4.6.2 Household work days completion analysis

This analysis compiles the details of number of days worked by a household for the year till date. This statistics

enables the calculation of status of the wage provision to the wage seekers. This also helps the PO and the district

administration to sanction more works and coordinate the implementation more rigorously.

4.6.3 Household wage earning analysis

This analysis compiles the details of wage earned by the household for the year till date. This statistics enables the

calculation of status of the wage earning capacity of the household. Action may be taken if the per day wage rate is

below certain acceptable level. This also helps the PO and the district administration to sanction more works and

coordinate the implementation more rigorously.

4.6.4 Caste and community based analysis


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This analysis compiles the details of wage earned and working days of households based on community and caste.

This statistics enables the calculation of status of the wage earning capacity of the household based on community

and caste. Action may be taken if the per day wage rate is below certain acceptable level. This also helps the PO and

the district administration to take remedial actions if the distribution is improper.

4.6.5 Gender based work and wage analysis

This analysis compiles the details of wage earned and working days of households based on gender. This statistics

enables the calculation of status of the wage earning capacity of the household based on gender. Action may be

taken if the per day wage rate of male/female is below certain acceptable level. This also helps the PO and the

district administration to take remedial actions if the distribution is improper.

4.6.6. Wage and material distribution analysis

This feature analyses the distribution of works taken up by a village or Mandal based on the wage and material

components. This statistics enables the study of the types of woks being carried out and adherence of development

of as per policy that stipulates higher utilization of funds as wage. This also helps the administration to take remedial

actions if the distribution is improper.

4.6.7 Work Execution Agency Analysis

This feature analyses the distribution of works to the various execution agencies. This statistics enables the study of

conformance to the NREG Act which stipulates that Gram Panchayat should be the execution agency for at least

50% of the works sanctioned for a village. This also helps the administration to take remedial actions if the

distribution is improper.

4.6.8 Work Jurisdiction analysis

This feature analyses the distribution of works taken up by a village or Mandal based on jurisdiction. This statistics

enables the study of number of works carried out as per jurisdiction. As per the law, a Panchayat is authorized to

carry out at-least 50% of the total works allocated to the village. This also helps the administration to take remedial

actions if the distribution is improper.

4.6.9 Work category analysis

This feature analyses the distribution of works taken up by a village or Mandal. This statistics enables the study of

the types of woks being carried out and adherence of developmental activity as per policy. This also helps the

administration to take remedial actions if the distribution is improper.

5. Reports

A provision to view various kinds of reports related to wage seeker, work registration, work execution, materials management

and accounting will be provided. This module generates & prints Mandal Exception, RTI, Employment Generation, Financial

Performance and Physical Performance reports. Following accounting reports are generated

5.1 Cash Book: Receipt of cash is recorded in this Book.

5.2 Bank Book: The Status for any Bank Account, the transactions and balance for a particular bank account are recorded here.


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5.3 General Ledger: Expenses incurred for a particular Head Of Account are recorded here.

5.4 Journal Ledger: Virtual transactions such as receipt of bills towards an advance and balance for a particular claimant are

recorded in the Journal Ledger.

5.5 Advances & Advance Watch: The Register is an advance ageing watch. Previous outstanding advances are listed here

5.6 Cheque Book Register & Cheque Issue Register: This register deals Cheque Books received for a fund account. Issue of

cheque for the same are recorded in Cheque Issue Register.

5.7 Monthly Financial Report: This is essentially a usage certificate for the funds allocated under the Scheme. It gives a

summarized description of the usage of funds and balance remaining amounts.

6. Dash Board

Information that is readily required by the Program Control Officer is presented on the main screen of the system using the Dash

Board. System analyses various aspects of the implementation of the program and updates the dashboard periodically. User can

access the related information directly by clicking the hyper link provided on the dashboard.

7. Administration Module

This module provides special administrative features, which are accessible only to privileged user like the Program Officer and

system administrator. This module handles following features: -

7.1 Add Users

This feature handles specification of authorized users and their privileges. There will be two levels of users namely,

‘operator’ who can operate the system and ‘administrator’ who can also specify various system settings and configurable

parameters.

7.2 Reset Password

Forgotten password by the various type of users shall be reset by using this feature.

7.3 Gram Panchayat Account Details

In the absence of Bank or Postal Department in any particular Village, account will be opened in the name of Gram

Panchayat. This feature is used to register Gram Panchayat or Village Organisation as one of the paying agency. The

account so created will be operated by Village Sarpanch. Wage earned by wage seeker in that village shall be credited to this

account. Village Sarpanch shall be responsible for distributing the wages based on the wage list.

7.4 Add Paying Agency

Those villages which has either a Bank or a Postal Department in their village has to register either (or both) Bank or Postal

Department as a paying agency. Up on up registration, all wage seeker will open accounts. The wages earned will be

credited to individual accounts of wage seekers.

7.5 Grievance Management


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This feature is used to enter the complaints received from various stakeholders into the system. This feature can carry

out management of these complaints. They include entry, forwarding to respective departments/officials, progress

monitoring and closure of the complaint.

7.6 Authorized Approver Management

Information that includes authorized approvers, Technical approvers, Field Assistants, Check Measured & Super check

officials.

7.7 Conveyance

This feature is used to add/update the material wise lead and conveyance rates. Based on the material selected in the

combo box, a grid is shown below for entering Lead and corresponding conveyance rate.

7.8 Unemployment Wage

This feature is used to decide whether unemployment allowance can be paid or not. All the grievances related to

unemployment allowance which are entered in the grievance module are listed in this module. Authorized officials only

will be allowed to operate this module.

7.9 Panchayat and Village Information

New Panchayats, Villages and Habitations can be added / updated using this feature. Spelling mistakes if any both in

English and Telugu of Gram Panchayats, Villages and Habitations can be corrected using this feature.

7.10 Upload Data

This feature is used for periodic uploading of data to District / State server.

7.11 Assembly Information

During the wage seeker registration module implementation it has been seen that some of the GP are not assigned / linked

to proper Assembly constitutions. This feature is used to associate / link Gram Panchayat to Specific Assembly.

7.12 Habitation, Paying Agency Association

This link is used for associating Habitation to either Gram Panchayat or Village Organization (as a paying agency). If no

member of the household has an account, then their daily earned wages will be credited to the paying agency to which the

Habitation is associated.

8. Innovations using ICT

8.1 Using Rural ATMs

The low-cost rural ATM (Gramateller), being developed by Vortex Technologies can be implemented if the bank account

transfer mechanism is put in place. The ATM works with both used and new notes and has a fingerprint based

authentication system. It works on very low power with a built-in battery back-up and does not require air conditioning.


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8.2 Using Biometrics

An interesting pilot in using biometrics for authentication of workers was carried out on April 27, 2006, at Jakulla Kutha Palli

(JKPalli, a remote hamlet of about 200 families, under the Amaduguru Mandal, about 95 kms fromAnanthpur District

Headquarters) Reportedly the bio-metric tracking was 100 percent successful, with no failures, using a standalone biometric

device and a 12 volt car battery, as there was no power supply for the whole day in the entire Mandal. The bio-metric

authentication, was not without its own attendant problems, as some of the women, came directly from work, with cement/lime

mortar coating on their fingers. Some fingers were very rough and a second finger print registration had to be taken. But 100

percent success rate was achieved, out of which, 80 percent in the very first attempt and 20 percent in the second attempt. Around

50 percent of the beneficiaries are women. The minutes of the meeting of the local committee for payment disbursement in JK

Palli elaborates the details of biometric tracking and payment.

8.3 Synergetic Approach

There are other projects like Common Service Centres, e-Panchayats, etc., which are planned to be implemented in the coming

months and years. In almost every state computers are slowly but surely percolating down to the panchayat level and it is only a

matter of time before the State-Wide Area Networks are also available at the panchayats’ doorsteps. The use of ICT in NREGA

implementation should be seen in synergy and complementary to all these initiatives that are contemplated or in progress. Then

only can the full potential of ICT be harnessed for empowering the common citizen.

8.4 Info-Kiosk Centre

To bring transparency and accountability into the scheme, One World Foundation India developed and deployed an icon-led and

voice-enabled info-kiosk to help illiterate workers access information on the legislation, their rights, entitlements, wages due,

attendance etc. Aspiring workers can register for workers after biometric authentication and get receipts. The system also

provides for the government to keep track of the workers’ shifts and pay them accordingly.

References [1]. Madhuri Sharma and DC Misra (2006), Strengthening National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) through E-Governance.

[2]. The National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA), 2005, Operational Guidelines, 3rd ed., 2008.

[3]. www.nrega.net/ict/mis/index_html

[4]. http://www.nrega.ap.gov.in/Nregs/

[5]. Role of ICT in MGNREGA edited by Bino Paul and S M Fahimuddin Pasha

http://www.nrega.net/ict/mis/index_html

Documents

Rajeshwar Kadari