Glitches in app-based attendance add to rural jobs scheme workers’ woes

The mandatory monitoring of attendance of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act from May this year through the National Mobile Monitoring System (NMMS) app has only created hurdles for the programme’s workers, instead of solving problems.

Four months after the app was made mandatory, MGNREGA workers from across the country came together at Jantar Mantar on August 3 to protest problems related to the application and irregular payment of wages among other issues.

In worksites that have more than 20 workers, the app requires geotagged and timestamped photographs to register attendance. Poor internet connectivity, little access to smartphones and glitches in the app have thrown a wrench in the daily activities of the workers.

The expectation that rural workers, who earn Rs 400 a day, through the programme is absurd according to Shivamma, an MGNREGA supervisor or ‘mate’ in Raichur district. “I earn a maximum of Rs 9,000 to Rs 10,000 per month. I am forced to buy a smartphone so I can continue to work under the programme,” she says.

After the app was made mandatory instead of muster rolls, Virupamma had to borrow money to buy a smartphone at a high interest rate. Several other women who were ‘mates’ in the past, had to relinquish their roles to men since they did not own smartphones.

Even if the smartphone came, the process did not become any easier.

“Some days the app just won’t open. On such days we are forced to stay at the worksite for several hours with no food or respite from the heat, despite completing our work for the day,” says Anusuya, a worker from Raichur. Some days, the app only opens in the afternoon, and she is forced to abandon her work at home and walk 5 km to the worksite.

On days with technological glitches, some ‘mates’ who spoke to DH recount how they send images through WhatsApp to the PDOs and panchayat officials. Even after taking such initiatives a ‘mate’, who did not want to be named, lost two days of work in a week. “Workers are blaming me. I have also lost wages. We just want the old system back,” she says.

The app also requires that attendance is registered twice in a day in a predetermined time window. “This is in contravention of the provisions of the Act, which clearly state that workers are paid based on output. If they are paid according to time, they must be paid minimum wage,” says Swarna Bhat, an activist.

Officials in the rural development department confirm that initially, the app suffered through glitches. “It was at the birthing stage. The programme has helped with transparency in worksites with over 20 workers. There were some instances where machinery was used and payment claimed, the app solves that. In the past 3-4 months, we have received only two complaints per week,” says Shilpa Nag, Commissioner of RDPR, Karnataka.

Mates like Shivamma, however, still struggle under the burden of debt that such technological ‘silver bullets’ bring. “How can the government expect me to invest that money into a phone instead of food and other essentials?” she asks.