The Union Ministry of Rural Development has ordered that digitally capturing attendance is now mandatory for all worksites employed under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), regardless of the number of workers engaged.
The new guidelines will be applicable from January 1, 2023.
Key provisions
- To ensure transparency and accountability, the centre in May 2021, had started a pilot project to capture attendance via a mobile application, the National Mobile Monitoring System (NMMS).
- From May 16, 2022 capturing attendance via the app was made compulsory for all worksites with 20 or more workers.
- This required uploading two timestamped and geo- tagged photographs of the workers.
- The job fell on the mates/supervisors, who are paid only marginally more than the unskilled workers.
Concerns
- Widespread complaints over the lack of technical support,
- the necessity to own a smartphone,
- paying for an Internet connection,
- issues with erratic internet connectivity.
- The muster roll has to be generated based on demand and therefore, no worker can come and join at the work- site.
- Often, the workers may finish their work but are forced to return to the worksite for the second photograph.
- The endless conditions placed on MGNREGS workers themselves, many activists feel, is enough to dissuade them from relying on the scheme, thus failing its basic purpose.
- There is no guarantee that no corruption will take place under the new system.
