DoPT to install fingerprint scanners to check absenteeism

According to reports Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) is developing a fingerprint scanning system. It is meant for regulating access for 2,000 employees and as a tool to log their work hours.

DoPT have requested for 12 scanners to record the arrival and departure timings of staff that coordinate the human resource matters for all Central Government employees.

The department said the software that supports the system should produce a monthly report suggesting “defaulters”; the number of employees that didn’t work their designated hours.

The department had also stressed in the documents about an alert that should be generated and sent to the e-mail ID of all employees on the penultimate Monday of every month indicating their loss in the working hours for that month.

Usha Ramanathan, an independent law researcher told the source that there were no protocols or regulations about the collection and management of biometric information. "One huge problem is in the way in which the different kinds of people in the hierarchy can capture any information they want. They tell you to give and you've got to give. Privacy is not just about you not knowing about me, it's also about personal security”, says Ramanathan. She added saying, staff has no other choice but to surrender their biometric information.