Vijayawada: In the move to prevent irregularities in the NREGS attendance system, the AP state government will soon introduce an AI-based facial recognition system. According to the rules, NREGS field assistants must upload group photos of workers who attended the job. However, some people are illegally withdrawing funds because they upload photos with locals who weren't actually working there. The AI-based system prevents such medical malpractice and saves enormous amounts of public funds, officials said.The state government has already secured clearance from the centre to deploy this new technology in NREGS. The guidelines have been issued to district managers to implement a new attendance system. The government aims to make the most of its technology after discovering massive irregularities in the implementation of the NREGS programme. These irregularities not only resulted in misuse of public funds, but also left real job seekers without work.Previously, some uncruel district and field level officials had pocketed Nregs' money by doing work on machines instead of deploying manual labor. Similarly, certain works that were not eligible under the NREGS were also completed. Influential leaders of the ruling party were involved in sanctioning these works, rendering actual workers helpless.After realising these lapses, both the state and the center began several reforms. The centre completed the EKYC as Aadhaar is required for job seekers. Interestingly, Andhra Pradesh is one of the few states that have completed the EKYC process for almost 95% of job seekers. The availability of the ward and village secretariat, as well as the admissions centres of Aadhaar, helped the AP register almost 95% of the workforce with Aadhaar.The government has found leaks in the fund, even after tightening its implementation process. I realized that a small number of field assistants were misusing group photography rules for pocket money, and decided to implement a new attendance system based on AI.
