Aadhar Based Payment System Adoption In Mahatma Gandhi NREGS To Enhance Transparency And Efficiency

The State/UT-wise information about the active workers enrolled in the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (Mahatma Gandhi NREGS) during the fiscal year 2021-22 can be found in Annexure-I. Additionally, Annexure-II provides details on the number of workers whose Aadhaar numbers have been linked to the Aadhaar-Based Payment System (ABPS) under Mahatma Gandhi NREGS as of July 28, 2023.

It's important to note that no worker enrolled in the Mahatma Gandhi NREGS has been denied wage payments due to the implementation of ABPS. The adoption of ABPS was decided upon to ensure prompt wage payments to beneficiaries and address issues arising from frequent changes in bank account numbers by the beneficiaries, which often resulted in non-updation by the Programme Officers. By using ABPS, the Scheme remains unaffected even if bank account details change. Moreover, the adoption of ABPS serves the purpose of de-duplication, ensuring that only legitimate beneficiaries receive the Scheme's benefits, making it the most suitable alternative.

Starting from February 1, 2023, the Aadhaar Based Payment System (ABPS) became mandatory for the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (Mahatma Gandhi NREGS). However, upon the request of some States, the Ministry decided to continue using either ABPS or NACH mode for wage payments to beneficiaries until August 31, 2023, based on the status of ABPS for each beneficiary. Any issues related to ABPS in the states/UTs are promptly addressed.

National Mobile Monitoring System App

To enhance transparency, the implementation of Mahatma Gandhi NREGS in States/UTs now requires capturing worker attendance through the National Mobile Monitoring System (NMMS) App, except for individual beneficiary works. This process involves geo-tagged, two time-stamped photographs of the workers taken in a day. Worksite supervisors are responsible for using the NMMS App to capture attendance and photographs.

Technical issues in the NMMS App are dealt with in real-time by the National Informatics Centre (NIC), Rural Development. The App is continuously updated based on suggestions and provisions requested by States/UTs. The NMMS App has been modified to capture the second photograph after 4 hours of uploading the attendance and the first photograph. The morning attendance and both photographs can be taken in offline mode and later uploaded when the device connects to a network. In exceptional cases where attendance cannot be uploaded, the District Programme Coordinator (DPC) is authorized to upload manual attendance.

Annexure-I

Annexure-II