Prime Minister Narendra Modi has forged a reputation as a driven man and time runs out for the country’s bureaucrats to conform to his standards on Saturday as the deadline for new biometric attendance system kicks in.
The electronic system will track whether government officials are showing up for work on time.
What’s more, not only will Big Brother watch ‘babus’, as India’s officialdom is stereotyped, but the public can also keep track of them through a website – attendance.gov.in – that quietly went live at the end of September.
In New Delhi, nearly half of the babus were yet to adopt the new biometric attendance system, leading to the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) setting October 25 as the deadline for bringing the entire government workforce under the punctuality regime.
The corporate sector took to this system long ago, now, government officials, who are saddled with a reputation of taking it easier than the workforce in the private sector, have to fall in line.
The dashboard of the Biometric Attendance System displays a dynamic, real-time chart of how many people are at work. It is also possible to click through and check when an individual checks in and logs out of the system.