Karauli (Rajasthan): To check the leakage of funds through fake job cards and bogus attendance in the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) projects, authorities in Karauli region of India's north-western Rajasthan state introduce thumb impression machines to register authenticity and presence of workers.
The specially designed machine works on biometric technology and saves the thumb impression of a worker. The machine is imported from Japan and China and cost around Rs 25,000 each. The device is battery operated and can be easily carried at work sites, thanks to the handy size.
The attendance of a worker is registered in this device and the payment is done on the basis of data recorded in it.
Authorities resorted to this after it was found that some of the workers were cheating - with some of them having three to four fake job cards each. The machines cost around Rs 25,000 each and are imported from Japan and China.
"To break the nexus of fake job cards in the NREGA, we have introduced thump impression machine to take the attendance of workers. In this we use the biometric technology and take the thump impression of a worker because a person can fake his job card and signature, but he or she cannot fake the thump impression. After taking the thump impression, we get the details of the person registered in his job card," explains Karauli district Collector, Neeraj Kumar Pawan.
Authorities say the use of the thumb impression machine would minimise the chances of getting forged job cards since it records and registers the thumb impression of a worker.
"It affects us because some people make fake job cards using their powers. I have a family of 10 members and we were supposed to get two job cards, which we do not have. But people with money and power get around three to four job cards," says a labourer engaged in NREGA project, Dilip.
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