Skip to main content

Union minister 'lying': multiple complaints made on NREGA workers' digital attendance

 
Taking strong exception to Union Minister Giriraj Singh’s recent statement in the Lok Sabha, statement that the Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD) had not received any complaints related to the National Mobile Monitoring System (NMMS) digital attendance app, top advocacy network NREGA Sangharsh Morcha has claimed, it relentlessly drew the Ministry’s attention to the chaos that has been unleashed by the NMMS app and the Aadhaar-based payment system (ABPS), both of which are now compulsory for NREGA wage payments.
According to the top NGO, its members made multiple visits to the MoRD on 15th, 17th & 20th February. 
“Workers from Bihar met Amit Kataria, Joint Secretary on 20th February. On 1st March, a delegation of workers from West Bengal went to the Minister’s residence to seek an appointment. In the previous year, representation from the campaign met the Secretary, Joint Secretary and Commissioner of MoRD two times to draw attention to the havoc being created due to the imposition of the App”, it said.
In a note, the NGO said, “These are inappropriate technologies and were made compulsory, on 1 January and 1 February 2023 respectively. We have raised these concerns through various means including written complaints, social media posts and delegations (or attempted delegations) to the MoRD.”
Attaching a sample of its complaints, the NGO insisted, “All of them have been ignored by the Ministry. We have also attached the MoRD’s own data regarding the status of both these interventions.” It added, “We have reached an unprecedented situation where many NREGA workers work without being paid because of technical problems related to NMMS or ABPS.”
Stating that “this is grossly unjust, unacceptable and illegal”, the NGO demanded “an opportunity to brief the Ministry on the ground realities of digital harassment and their consequences for NREGA workers.”
Offering a graph which looks at the proportion of the muster rolls issued on the NMMS that have actually been filled, it said, “On average, only 70% of muster rolls issued on the NMMS this FY have been filled. This indicates NREGA functionaries are facing difficulties in filling muster rolls.”
Comparing the number of eMRs that were issued but not filled in February FY 21-22, and February FY 22-23 for 10 states, the NGO network said, “There is a huge difference in the numbers for all states, with February FY 22-23 having a very large number of unfilled eMRs.”
It added, “Since the introduction of the NMMS app, Mates and workers across the country have complained of multiple issues that do not allow them to fill their eMRs - network issues, inscrutable error codes, and device problems. The data shows that there are lakhs of workers whose demand for work led to the issuance of eMRs, but whose attendance was never filled. The NMMS app has undermined workers’ right to work as guaranteed under NREGA.”
It continued, “The MoRD’s own data on the MIS showed that on 1 February, 2023, when the ABPS was mandated, only about 40% of NREGA workers were eligible for ABPS payments. This meant that about 10 crore workers from across India could no longer be paid for work.”
It added, “More than a month since the mandation of ABPS, still only 47.1% of workers are eligible for ABPS payments. On 15 March 2023, the MoRD extended the deadline for mandatory ABPS to 31 March, 2023, but that is unlikely to be enough to ensure all workers are able to get ABPS payments.”

Comments

TRENDING

When Pakistanis whispered: ‘end military rule’ — A Moscow memoir

During the recent anti-terror operation inside Pakistan by the Government of India, called Operation Sindoor — a name some feminists consider patently patriarchal, even though it’s officially described as a tribute to the wives of the 26 husbands killed in the terrorist strike — I was reminded of my Moscow stint, which lasted for seven long years, from 1986 to 1993.

Ahmedabad's civic chaos: Drainage woes, waterlogging, and the illusion of Olympic dreams

In response to my blog on overflowing gutter lines at several spots in Ahmedabad's Vejalpur, a heavily populated area, a close acquaintance informed me that it's not just the middle-class housing societies that are affected by the nuisance. Preeti Das, who lives in a posh locality in what is fashionably called the SoBo area, tells me, "Things are worse in our society, Applewood."

Tracking a lost link: Soviet-era legacy of Gujarati translator Atul Sawani

The other day, I received a message from a well-known activist, Raju Dipti, who runs an NGO called Jeevan Teerth in Koba village, near Gujarat’s capital, Gandhinagar. He was seeking the contact information of Atul Sawani, a translator of Russian books—mainly political and economic—into Gujarati for Progress Publishers during the Soviet era. He wanted to collect and hand over scanned soft copies, or if possible, hard copies, of Soviet books translated into Gujarati to Arvind Gupta, who currently lives in Pune and is undertaking the herculean task of collecting and making public soft copies of Soviet books that are no longer available in the market, both in English and Indian languages.

RP Gupta a scapegoat to help Govt of India manage fallout of Adani case in US court?

RP Gupta, a retired 1987-batch IAS officer from the Gujarat cadre, has found himself at the center of a growing controversy. During my tenure as the Times of India correspondent in Gandhinagar (1997–2012), I often interacted with him. He struck me as a straightforward officer, though I never quite understood why he was never appointed to what are supposed to be top-tier departments like industries, energy and petrochemicals, finance, or revenue.

Environmental report raises alarm: Sabarmati one of four rivers with nonylphenol contamination

A new report by Toxics Link , an Indian environmental research and advocacy organisation based in New Delhi, in collaboration with the Environmental Defense Fund , a global non-profit headquartered in New York, has raised the alarm that Sabarmati is one of five rivers across India found to contain unacceptable levels of nonylphenol (NP), a chemical linked to "exposure to carcinogenic outcomes, including prostate cancer in men and breast cancer in women."

PharmEasy: The only online medical store which revises prices upwards after confirming the order

For senior citizens — especially those without a family support system — ordering medicines online can be a great relief. Shruti and I have been doing this for the last couple of years, and with considerable success. We upload a prescription, receive a verification call from a doctor, and within two or three days, the medicines are delivered to our doorstep.

A conman, a demolition man: How 'prominent' scribes are defending Pritish Nandy

How to defend Pritish Nandy? That’s the big question some of his so-called fans seem to ponder, especially amidst sharp criticism of his alleged insensitivity during his journalistic career. One such incident involved the theft and publication of the birth certificate of Masaba Gupta, daughter of actor Neena Gupta, in the Illustrated Weekly of India, which Nandy was editing at the time. He reportedly did this to uncover the identity of Masaba’s father.

Revisiting Gijubhai: Pioneer of child-centric education and the caste debate

It was Krishna Kumar, the well-known educationist, who I believe first introduced me to the name — Gijubhai Badheka (1885–1939). Hailing from Bhavnagar, known as the cultural capital of the Saurashtra region of Gujarat, Gijubhai, Kumar told me during my student days, made significant contributions to the field of pedagogy — something that hasn't received much attention from India's education mandarins. At that time, Kumar was my tutorial teacher at Kirorimal College, Delhi University.

A sector under siege? War and real estate: Navigating uncertainty in India's expanding market

I was a little surprised when I received an email alert from a top real estate consultant, Anarock Group , titled "Exploring War’s Effects on Indian Real Estate—When Conflict Meets Concrete," authored by its regional director and head of research, Dr. Prashant Thakur. I had thought that the business would wholeheartedly support what is considered a strong response to the dastardly terrorist attack in Pahalgam, Operation Sindoor.