eSSL Biometrics keeps mid-day meal scheme on track

A simple use of technology has helped streamline gross misuse of funds in government’s mid-day meal programme in government primary schools. Not just the meals; the inexpensive biometric device using general packet radio service (GPRS) technology developed by a Bengaluru-based techie has also come in handy to check teachers’ attendance in these schools and more importantly, the drop-out rate of students, which is rampant and often ignored by school authorities for various reasons.

A pilot project taken up by Bengaluru-based software entrepreneur — Mallikarjun Patil in a village school – Government Composite High School in Nagenahalli, Mysore taluk — has done wonders in controlling pilferage of food grains meant for mid-day meals and saved government lakhs of rupees. Ms G. Satyavathi, chief executive officer, Zilla Panchayat, Mysore taluk had sanctioned permission for the unique project.

“I had heard about the rampant misuse of government funds in the mid-day meal programme. I wondered how technology could be used to help reduce the pilferage and improve school administration in general. I devised a battery-operated biometric gadget using GPRS technology but I needed to conduct a field test to check its functioning.

I found this village school, which is 10 km from Mysore and I approached Ms Satyavathi, chief executive officer, Zilla Panchayat, Mysore taluk for permission. The pilot was launched in November last year with her support,” said Mr Patil. The biometric device has been tailor-made for remote villages, where power supply and net work connectivity are poor.

“The GPRS technology comes in handy to push the data from remote locations to the server in Bengaluru. We have also created various web reports, which have brought in greater transparency and has cut down on the paper work,” said Mr. Patil. He added that hardware is supplied by eSSL— a hardware firm in Bengaluru.

Deccan Chronicle visited the Government School in Nagenhalli to see how the device works.
The portable biometric device has a stored data of finger prints of all the students – from primary section to the high school and when they come to school at around 9 am they have to punch the machine to record attendance. Even the teachers including the heads of the institution have to record their attendance.

By 10 am Mr Patil gets the information on how many children have turned up for the day and he then sends an SMS to the head cook of the school on the amount of rice, lentils and vegetables she should use for the day. The names of regular absentees are sent to the head master — Rajendracharya and head mistress H. Hemaksha so that they can visit the child’s home and draw her/him back to school.

“The Deputy Director of Primary Education and department heads are kept in the loop on the teachers’ attendance. The web-based system also allows government to analyse the database on boy-girl ratio; caste and annual income of parents with the use of graphs and bar charts,” said Mr. Patil.

The Revenue Secretary, Rajiv Chawla, impressed with the project said that it’s a “foolproof method to check pilferage of food grains; students and teachers attendance. It’s a simple, inexpensive multi-purpose device, which has controlled many irregularities in government run primary schools; from the mid-day meal programme to checking teacher absenteeism and drop out rate of children,” said Mr. Chawla.

eSSL Mid Day Meal Article

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Biometric Fingerprint Time Clocks

Buddy punching—not the violent connotation, but equally malicious and punishable under most corporate guidelines on proper employee behavior—is the practice of cheating time clocks by punching in the attendance card or swiping the ID of a co-worker in his absence.

Attendance monitoring used to mean endless paperwork, sifting though documents and manual computation. That has changed with the onslaught of biometric fingerprint time clocks that have high-tech applications but simple implementation.

There are several brands in the market, and they offer basically the same features, although some may be a bit more sophisticated (they allow several program schemes adaptable per employee specifications). A device can be programmed to quickly identify special work-schedule arrangements made for certain employees, for example.

A biometric fingerprint time clock generally is composed of three major components that make it work: scanner (on which one places a finger for the print to be scanned); software (that transforms the scanned information into digital format); and database (where authorized fingerprints are stored in digital format).

Biometric fingerprint time clocks may be installed on each side of a door to facilitate close monitoring of employee ins and outs. The biometric clock is wired into the door latch, allowing it to mechanically open and shut it. But if it’s just attendance monitoring you desire, one unit for your whole office may suffice. A device is capable of storing large amounts of data.

Once installed, you will have to get each employee to register a fingerprint. You may need to have your IT (information technology) employees help you with this. They will create a master list of names and their corresponding fingerprints. Additional programming is needed for flexi-time employees who do not subscribe to the general work-schedule hours.

After completing the database, the device ready. Employees will only need to put a finger on the scanning interface of the time clock. The print will be processed, and if it matches an image stored in the database, the door will open mechanically. If not, access will be denied; there’s no prying open the door or getting around the system.

UK Requires Compulsory Fingerprints from Visa Applicants

BANGALORE: Every person seeking to enter the UK from countries outside the European Union, including India, will be fingerprinted prior to being issued a visa, if a proposed law that aims to tighten UK’s borders is passed by British MPs.

A Bill stipulating this and other immigration reforms — the UK Border Bill — is pending before the British Parliament and there’s an urgency now to clear it after the botched terror strikes in London and Glasgow involving foreign nationals.

When it’s in place, the fingerprint of anyone seeking to enter the UK — for work or as a tourist — will be scanned at visa issuing offices and put through criminal/terrorist databases, before clearance.

“UK has introduced biometric fingerprinting as identification in passports to make immigration at entry points easy. Now, plans are to extend it to those applying for visas,” sources said. But there is a silver lining: There has been no knee-jerk reaction or official slowdown on Indian citizens getting UK visas, so far.

Despite UK PM Gordon Brown’s statements over background checks, a British high commission source said: “No changes have been brought in following the recent events in the UK.” On average, 700 to 1,000 visa applications from India are being processed and cleared every day.

Sources said if the applicant has the specified documents outlining purpose of travel, financial position of the person/sponsor and so on, there is no need for even a personal interview for visa. In most cases, if documents are in order, the visa is issued.

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/UK_plans_to_make_fingerprinting_a_must/articleshow/2205666.cms

UK to outsource biometric visa checks to Mumbai

The UK is to outsource visa application checks “wherever there is an outsource partner”, following trials in its largest visa posts in Mumbai, Delhi and Islamabad. This process, which will be implemented alongside the introduction of biometrics for all visa applications, is intended to cover at least 60 per cent of an annual total of 2.5 million applications by 2008, saving £3.7 million via a reduction of “46 staff years per year”.

The cunning outsourcing plan by the Foreign & Commonwealth Office, which handles overseas visa applications, will be implemented as the UK Passport Office tightens security via the introduction of biometrics and by requiring new (and subsequently all) passport applicants attend a personal interview. Which could, one speculates, result in a country it was a hell of a lot easier to get into than out of, but the outsourcing partners will, we feel sure, be thoroughly vetted.

The process, the FCO tells us, “cost just £35,000 to develop” (did they outsource this too?) and allows UK visa staff to advise the outsourcing partner what information is needed. The partner then collects this from the application, puts it into electronic format and passes it on to the British Mission. As biometrics are rolled out, outsourcing partners are likely to deal with this too. “From our experience of fingerprinting in a variety of posts in East Africa,” says the FCO, “we have learned that we can safely scan fingerprints within our outsourced operations.”

The decision to fingerprint all visa applicants was taken after “the success of the Colombo fingerprinting trial in 2003”, which as we noted at the time was so ‘successful that it caught a maximum of xxx fraudsters. In common with other UK Government departments, the FCO claims that the UK “is committed by EU regulations to introducing biometrics into the worldwide visa operation” – as far as the FCO is concerned this is sort of, nearly true, but not quite, and the FCO’s current visa plans are rather different from what it will have to do if it ever really is “committed by EU regulations”.

The EU’s visa plans aren’t directly connected to its biometric passports ones, nor do they directly connect to the FCO ones. European ministers intended to have a blueprint for the introduction of biometric visas in place by the end of last year, but the discovery that the plans didn’t work put things up in the air. Ministers still intend to go ahead with biometric visas, and a trial of a separate visa card is commencing, but as far as we’re aware the European Parliament hasn’t yet been blackmailed into rubber-stamping a firmed-up scheme.

That however is neither here nor there as far as what the FCO is doing is concerned. The European system is intended to be part of the Schengen II/Visa Information System database network, with the biometric visa itself available for checking via standard border control equipment on entry to the EU. The FCO system fingerprints visa applicants in order to give the UK the capability to check for duplicate applications. The EU system means the subject of the visa carries their biometric data with them, whereas the UK’s doesn’t. If the UK is to participate in the EU system then the FCO will have to upgrade (if that’s the word) its plans and issue whatever the EU decides on, either a sticker in the passport or a separate card, probably the latter.

The FCO’s claim to be committed by regulations therefore appears to be based on its pretending that the UK is a signatory to Schengen when it really isn’t. The FCO explains the Schengen position here, so we don’t have to, but the UK’s attitude to Schengen can probably best be summed up as one of being in for the bits we like, but out for the bits we don’t. How ‘in’ we are on this one might turn out to be less clear than is immediately apparent.

Matters will be further complicated if the UK ID scheme flies. Those resident in the UK for over three months will be required to register for a card, so might this process take place via an overseas office on the granting of visas for over three months? How, if at all, will the current/planned FCO system intersect with the ID scheme, or with Europe’s VIS or a European ID card for non-EU residents?

The FCO claims it will cost £77 million to handle 2.5 million biometric visa applications, and our anonymous tipster for this story suggests this might imply a one-off cost of around £1.8 billion for biometric capture of the entire UK, but we’re not so sure. It’s not clear how much of the FCO cost is capital investment or the annual cost of the system, and what the FCO is planning isn’t necessarily comparable to the Home Office’s ID plans. Unless the FCO intends to maintain its own system in splendid, stripped-down isolation, however, we’d expect the actual cost to climb as the need for compatibility with the other systems increases.

Foreign Minister Jack Straw did not however like the ID scheme in the first place, so may not be willing to bust a gut to keep step with it now, particularly given heartening news that Ireland (another non-Schengen country) may junk biometric passports, and that the US might be about to conclude that biometric passports aren’t nearly as much fun as it initially thought.

Source: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/06/27/bio_visa_check_outsource/

40,000 Schools fingerprint system project – India

“40,000 Schools fingerprint system pilot project (eSSL) inauguration by Hon. Chief Minister of Gujarat, Shri Narendra Modi”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Gujarat state government has initiated a pilot project to ensure full enrolment of all eligible students and to reduce dropout rate in primary schools.

The pilot project covers 680 primary schools, 70 Cluster Resource Centres (CRCs) and 4 Block Resources Centres (BRCs) in Narmada district, one of the most backward districts of Gujarat having predominant tribal population and low literacy. It will cover around 2,508 teachers and 76,000 students.

The pilots being implemented by Bangalore based enterprise Software Solutions Lab (ESSL).

In 2003, Gujarat Government had launched “Shala Praveshotsav” (Enrolment Drive) and “Kanya Kelavani Rath” (Girl Child Education Campaign), which has been very successful and is achieving full enrolment of all the eligible students.

However, while the extent of coverage of primary education in the state has been satisfactory, the high rate of dropout is a matter of serious concern.

Having achieved the successful enrolment, the challenge facing the Government is to improve retention and reduce the dropout.

It was discovered that apart from socio-economic reasons, absenteeism of teachers, particularly in tribal areas and remote villages is one of the most important reasons for high dropout rates,

“ All noble initiatives of the State Government lose effectiveness and seriousness, when teachers remain absent without due permission, for a long period. It was, therefore, urgently needed to have a strong and reliable mechanism to monitor attendance of teachers and students,” said a senior official.

A standalone fingerprint biometric machine with external uninterrupted power supply up to 12 hours will be installed in each primary school for recoding attendance of teachers as well as students. At the end of the month, the attendance data is transported to the taluka (Block) HQ in a portable memory device like a pen drive. This attendance data is processed with the help of a software application for getting pay rolls of teachers and other various reports.

The pilot project has great scope of further expansion depending upon its success in Narmada district. The pilot model of biometric attendance system is most likely to be replicated in all other districts of Gujarat if it is tested successfully in district like Narmada.

The expanded project is expected to cover around 40,000 schools, which are to be covered, in a phased manner, in the coming 2-3 years. 

Lift a Finger(print) to Track Employee Time

Automate hourly paid employee timekeeping with eSSL Biometric Time and Attendance System.

“Eliminate Buddy Punching” 

RFID based time and attendance systems have a big loophole: buddy punching. For example: Ram Come Lately, delayed on his way to work, can ask fellow employee Sunil Buddy to swipe Lately’s RFID employee badge through the time clock. The time clock will faithfully record Lately’s attendance before he arrives, and the employer will pay Lately for time that he didn’t work..

Biometric time systems eliminate buddy punching because they are inextricably linked to the employee, not to a token such as an employee badge or a time card.

The eSSL  eBiome time clock is a wall-mountable box with a optical fingerprint scanner, a monochrome backlit four-line LCD, and a numeric keypad with five menu-control buttons. The clock can be directly hooked up to a PC using a serial port, USB connection, or (the way I tested it) connected to a network via ethernet.

Once eSSL eBiome is installed, operations are fairly straightforward. You set up new employees using the eBiome software on the PC. Their fingerprints are then scanned and enrolled using a password-protected administration menu on the eBiome time clock.

“Easy Time Tracking”

The timekeeping process is simplicity itself. To record the start of work, an employee rests the enrolled finger on the eBiome time clock’s fingerprint sensor until it’s recognized. This requires just a second or two and is acknowledged with both a message on the display and an audio tone. To sign out from work, the employee repeats the fingerprint scan.

Is the eSSL eBiome Biometric Time and Attendance System worth it?

It’s certainly faster and more efficient to use than paper-based manual time tracking systems, and it’s probably more accurate than nonbiometric time systems. If you have five or more hourly paid employees, the system is cost-effective. While the ease of installation and the quality of documentation could be improved, once set up the system is simple enough to use–and it can save your business money by tracking time automatically and accurately.

Biometrics and “Return On Investment”

 

At this time of tight budgets, the mantra of business is “Return On Investment!” With few exceptions, expenditures are measured against the bottom line. Outlays for capital expenses are strictly evaluated in terms of profitability and the total cost of ownership. The era of purchasing new gadgets due to their “whiz-bang” factor is long gone. How can biometrics provide the sought after “R.O.I.” in this environment?

A biometric hand reader prevents a felon from entering your office or warehouse. Can this preventive measure be assigned a dollar amount? A fingerprint scan stops an unauthorized person from gaining access to your computer system. Can a value be determined?

Confusion about the cost benefits of implementing biometric technology has several origins. For example, a business may have never conducted an audit of its critical data and physical assets. This lapse may cause them to have no idea of their value if those assets are lost or compromised. A company may also be unaware of its down-stream liability if their negligence results in damage to other firms or individuals. The costs of the resulting legal consequences and liability can often be overlooked.

In fairness to many businesses, it is difficult to assign a cost to these types of issues because they represent an uncertain, and hopefully unlikely, eventuality. However, as remote as that eventuality may seem, every day many firms face stunning financial losses due to theft, fraud and legal settlements.

Are there areas of the enterprise that can clearly show the profitability of adopting biometric solutions? Predictably, the greatest profits are realized in the applications that are considered the strongest for biometrics: “system access.”

High on the list of frustrations for many companies is the plague of password problems surrounding their information systems. Denial of access, expired and forgotten passwords, log-on failures and other fiascos affect productivity and consume help desk resources. Biometrics can offer a cost effective cure for this dilemma. A formula for evaluating the R.O.I. can be roughly determined using a simple legal pad. A survey is conducted to determine the amount of time the help desk spends on password and access problems during the course of their day. After collecting this data for 30 days, calculate the percentage of hours spent on access issues against the total hours of help desk operation. This will provide a general baseline for determining the cost of these issues. For some firms it will be miniscule, but for other companies it may loom large and need attention. Surprisingly, many surveys reveal that approximately 30% of help desk resources are devoted to access and authentication issues. Estimated costs can then be calculated by evaluating the help desk’s time spent addressing these problems. If it is 20% of daily activity, for example, calculate that percent as a dollar amount of the total help desk cost. Over the course of a year, it would not be uncommon to have an annual recurring charge of $200 to $300 per employee for access issues. This dollar drain does not even consider that the hours dedicated to these repetitive tasks could be better spent elsewhere by the I.T. staff. This diversion of time and talent results in a double impact on the bottom line.

The introduction of a biometric access solution can provide benefits on different levels often resulting in reduced expenses and stronger authentication. For example, fingerprint-scanning devices for access to data and computer systems are now being adopted in greater numbers. The costs of this hardware and its supporting software can vary from an inexpensive simple fingerprint pad reader or biometric mouse to more comprehensive enterprise solutions involving the use of resident servers or licensing arrangements. A key factor in the business decision to install these technologies is to consider carefully the one-time expense for these applications and hardware versus the ongoing costs of maintaining a current system of access support with its annual and repetitive expenses.

In summary, by utilizing biometric technology to effectively deal with the issue of control and access, the enterprise may create a system that provides safer and more secure authentication at a greater savings to the bottom line- a true case of a better “R.O.I.”

Terrence F. DohenyPresident/CEOBeyond If Solutions, LLC

www.beyondifsolutions.com

Terrence Doheny is President and CEO of Beyond If Solutions which provides advanced technologies for access control and information security for the individual and the enterprise.

Source: http://www.managementhelp.info/Biometrics-Return-On-Investment/69 

Andhra Bank gives thumbs up to biometric ATMs

Source: http://infotech.indiatimes.com/Enterprise/Security/Andhra_Bank_gives_thumbs_up_to_biometric_ATMs_/articleshow/1642747.cms

Capitalising on one of the most fool-proof identification marks (the thumb impression), Hyderabad-based Andhra Bank is looking at rolling out more biometric-based ATMs.

“A thumb impression can’t be copied or stolen and is highly individualistic. It thus forms a good basis for us to launch ATMs using biometrics,” said Andhra Bank CMD K Ramakrishnan.

Mr Ramakrishnan said the bank intended to have as many as 150 biometric ATMs in place during the next fiscal. The bank has already having three biometric ATMs

“Our studies have revealed it is not just the rural/semi-urban branches where such biometric ATMs would be needed but even our customers in metro/urban centres have evinced interest in such machines,” he added.

He said that the cost of such a roll-out (of biometric ATMs) would be low given the decreasing price of hardware and ATMs.

Another area of focus was on mobile ATMs, Mr Ramakrishnan said. The bank was open to having more such mobile ATMs which double as mobile branches besides offering customers the facility of using their debit/ATM cards at the ATMs installed in these mobile vans.

Andhra Bank which ended (as of December 31, 2006) with a total business of Rs 61,689 crore was hopeful of ending the current fiscal with a volume of Rs 67,000 crore comprising Rs 39,000 crore of deposits and Rs 28,000 crore of advances. On credit cards, Mr Ramakrishnan said the bank was drawing up plans to issue more credit cards and was keen to tap its existing customer base.

“With a monthly interest of 1.8% to 2% Andhra Bank’s credit cards are most competitively placed compared with its peers. Our monthly outstanding card portfolio ranges anywhere between Rs 140 crore to Rs 180 crore,” he added.

Although Andhra Bank is one of the pioneers in the Indian credit card market, its credit card base is pegged around 1.5 million cards compared with 2.23 million debit/ATM cards.

He said that while credit cards was a key asset segment, the bank was keen to focus on areas such as priority sector lending, agri and education loans. Andhra Bank’s net non-performing assets stood at 0.44% as of December 31, 2006.

Biometrics India – E-passports

The Minister of State in the Ministry of External Affairs, Shri E. Ahamed informed the Lok Sabha today in a written reply to a question that the Government have decided to introduce e-passports, also known as bio-metric passports, initially for diplomats and officials as a pilot project by the end of 2007. Based on the experience gained from this pilot project, it is proposed to start issuance of e-passports in the ordinary category by the end of 2008. A Technical Committee has been constituted to finalise the technical specifications of the e-passports and this matter is under examination.The cost of converting ordinary into bio-metric passports will be worked out on the basis of the technical specifications that are finalised.

The Government have been continually taking a number of steps to bring about more transparency in Passport Offices. These include computerisation of all Passport Offices, introduction of on-line registration, tele-enquiry, passport adalats, strengthening of grievance redressal mechanism, etc. The National Institute of Smart Government (NISG), Hyderabad has prepared a comprehensive study on passport issuance system. The implementation of this report will, inter alia, enhance further transparency in the functioning of Passport Offices.

Source: Government of India Press Information Bureau

Biometric cash machines bring joy

Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/6478627.stm

Mahendra Sahni can now collect his money without wasting time [Pics: Prashant Ravi]

These days Mahendra Sahni, a daily wage worker in India’s most backward state of Bihar, struts up to a gleaming new cash machine in his village to withdraw his hard earned money.

The middle-aged, illiterate fish farmer from Vaishali district makes about 2,000 rupees a month ($44).

For years he used to waste nearly a day getting to the bank and queuing up to get his wages.

Now, when he inserts a cash card into the machine, he is greeted with an voice instruction in Hindi: “Please put your thumb on the specified space.”

When he does that, crisp currency notes roll out of the machine with the voice saying, “Your cash is ready. Please accept it.”

Sahni and 14 other poor daily wage workers from Vaishaligarh and neighbouring areas are among the first villagers in Bihar to have access to biometric cash machines to withdraw their money.

“This shows how science has made progress and can be used for poor village people like us,” says Sahni.

The biometric cash machines are custom-made for people who cannot read or write and use features like fingerprint verification and voice guided animated screens and easy navigation.

The federal government has now announced that everybody in Vaishali employed under its ambitious new National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme will get their wages through these new cash machines.

The scheme promises some 60 million households in India a level of financial protection through guaranteed work or unemployment benefit.

Banking made easy

For the moment, the cash machine run by the state-run Central Bank of India, is targeting some 210 daily wage workers in the area.

“It is basically for poor workers like Sahni who cannot read or write their names. Banking for them will become easy with these cash machines,” says the bank’s local manager Pranay Kumar.

Biometric cash machines promise to change banking in rural India

The biometric cash machines work through a series of processes.

First, the fingerprint of an account holder is captured through a scanner at the time of the opening of the account.

A template is created for each fingerprint and stored in the cash card given to the customer.

When Sahni goes to the cash machine and inserts the cash card, his fingerprint is captured using an inbuilt scanner and it is matched with the impression stored in the cash card.

Central Bank’s executive director K Subramanyam says biometric devices will go a long way in offering banking services in India’s villages where 70% of its people live.

Payment through cash machines will also protect the workers from local contractors who routinely extract a cut from their wages in return of getting them on the list of government employment schemes.

For the moment, Sahni and his neighbours are happy to have discovered a hassle-free way of withdrawing their meagre savings.

The entire procedure of cycling to the branch and going through the paperwork with help from others and waiting in the queue for the money took up valuable work time.

The other day, he picked up 1,000 rupees in five minutes flat from the cash machine and cycled back home to begin work again.

“Withdrawing money couldn’t be a better experience,” he says.

Biometric IDs for Slum Dwellers – Biometrics Fingerprint solution in Maharastra Mumbai Pune India

Source: http://www.techtree.com/India/News/Biometric_IDs_for_Slum_Dwellers/551-81605-547.html

Land sharks in this city don’t spare even slum dwellers it seems…

Which explains why the Maharashtra government has decided to bring in a biometric ID system specially for slum dwellers, to protect them from the greedy bunch.

Reportedly, the identification system is meant for only those slum dwellers in Mumbai, who come under the purview of the state-sponsored slum re-development project.

The government has taken the decision subsequent to receiving several complaints that alleged slum dwellers being enticed into giving up their property to real estate developers, looking to start illegal construction on these plots of land.

Swadhin Kshatriya, Principal Secretary of the State Housing Department, said, “The move to bring in the biometric identification system comes in the wake of several cases filed by slum dwellers, who have complained that their plots are being developed without their consent.”

“Initially, the identification process will be introduced in schemes approved by the state Slum Re-development Authority (SRA). This will help us reduce the number of complaints to a great extent,” Kshatriya said.

Under the biometric ID system, a unique number will be created for each beneficiary. And the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has reportedly already started digitizing city maps to ascertain the authenticity of slum dwellers’ claims for accomodation under the SRA scheme.

In future, the biometric system will be introduced for the Dharavi Redevelopment Scheme, and redevelopment of BDD ‘chawls’ spread across South Central Mumbai.

Biometrics India – Fingerprint India – fingerprint attendance india – Biometric attendance india Offers

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Biometrics in 40,000 Schools of India

Project Titled : “Fingerprint Biometric Attendance System for Primary Schools in Narmada District (Gujarat)”.

Brief Description:

Supply, installation and commissioning of 600 numbers of standalone Fingerprint Biometric Machines in various primary schools in Narmada District (Gujarat)

Tender Ref.: DPN/FBAS/01/2006

District Panchayat – Narmada
Jilla Panchayat Bhawan-Narmada,
Near Karjan Irrigation Project Office,
Rajpipla, Dist. Narmada (Gujarat) 393 145

Background:

To ensure full enrolment of all eligible students and to reduce drop-out rate in primary education, Government of Gujarat launched “Shala Praveshotsav” (Enrolment Drive) and “Kanya Kelavani Rath” (Girl Chid Education Campaign) from the year 2003. This programme has been very successful and is achieving full enrolment of all the eligible students. 

The extent of coverage of primary education in the state has been satisfactory but high rate of drop-out is a matter of serious concern. In the last three years, the Primary Education Department of Government of Gujarat has introduced several schemes to address the problem of drop-outs.

While lots of initiatives are being taken to improve primary education, it is equally important to sustain and deepen these reforms. After the success of enrolment drives with the achievement of full enrolment, the challenge now is to improve retention and reduce the drop-out.

Apart from socio-economic reasons, absenteeism of teachers, particularly in tribal areas and remote villages is one of the most important reasons for high dropout rates. All noble initiatives of the State Government lose effectiveness and seriousness, when teachers remain absent without due permission, for a long period. Above entioned areas, which are also the areas of lowest female literacy rates are suffering a lot because of this problem. It is urgently needed to have a strong and reliable mechanism to monitor attendance of teachers and students.

In order to have strict watch on the attendance of the teachers and the students, a Fingerprint Biometric School Attendance System was proposed for Narmada District. Government of Gujarat has accepted the proposal and has sanctioned a pilot project of a Fingerprint Biometric Attendance System for all primary schools in Narmada District to be implemented by the District Panchayat – Narmada (Rajpipla). After implementation, Narmada probably will become the first district in the country to cover all primary schools by a Fingerprint Biometric Attendance System.

Pilot Project:

The pilot project is planned to cover 680 primary schools, 70 Cluster Resource Centres (CRCs) and 4 Block Resources Centres (BRCs) in Narmada District. It will cover around 2508 teachers and 76,000 students. A stand alone fingerprint biometric machine with external un-interrupted power supply upto 12 hours will be installed in each primary school for recording attendance of teachers as well as students. At the end of the month, the attendance data will be transported to the taluka (Block) HQ in a portable memory device like a pen drive. This attendance data will be processed with the help of a software application for getting pay rolls of teachers and other various reports.

The pilot project has a great scope of further expansion depending upon its success in Narmada district. Narmada district is one of the most backward districts of Gujarat having predominant tribal population and low literacy indicators. The pilot model of biometric attendance system is most likely to be replicated in all other districts of Gujarat if it is tested successful in a district like Narmada. The expanded project is expected to cover around 40,000 schools, which are to be covered, in a phased manner, in the coming 2-3 years.

Pilot Project Implementation:

As an implementing agency District Panchayat – Narmada (Rajpipla) has decided that the procurement of the standalone Fingerprint Biometric Machines (FBMs) along with accessories would be through National Competitive Bidding while the software application would be developed by the NIC-Gujarat. To carry out this objective, District Panchayat – Narmada proposes to finalise a rate contract with only manufacturers of Fingerprint Biometric Machines (FBMs) in India for supply, installation and commissioning of standalone FBMs as per specifications given in the tender document.

Card-Based Systems and Biometric Applications to Drive Security Markets

Source: http://www.networkcomputing.in/InfSecurityAug10-07CardBasedSystemsandBiometricApplicationstoDriveSecurityMarkets.aspx 

Heightened concerns over security along with liberalization and strong economic growth have driven the Asia Pacific region toward high-end electronic access control systems in recent years.

The sheer size of the market combined with low penetration levels make for huge market potential, and the advent of IP-based surveillance systems, the development of property sector in Asia acific, and fewer biometrics regulatory issues in Asia Pacific as compared to other markets such as the United States and the United Kingdom are all expected to contribute to the future growth of electronic access control systems (EACS) in the region, said a new analysis from Frost and Sullivan.

The analysis on Electronic Access Control Systems Market in Selected APAC Countries, revealed that revenues in this market totaled $0.50 billion in 2006, and are likely to reach $1.34 billion in 2013.

“EACS have been growing in importance since the last ten years and the primary reasons for this are the sophistication and increased security offered by them and also the flexibility in their deployment that provides numerous reconfiguring options to customers,” said Frost & Sullivan Analysts Parul Oswal and Navin Rajendra. “Additionally, the overriding need to reduce fraud across government and commercial settings is boosting the demand for EACS. Both governments and corporate are deploying access control technology for applications ranging from time and attendance to physical access.”

Among EACS product types, keypads presently account for the highest revenue percent share in the EACS markets of countries examined in this study. However, this is likely to change by 2013, with some countries expected to leapfrog keypads and go to card-based or biometrics-based technologies that provide higher security.

“On the other hand access cards, comprising proximity and contactless, are likely to experience increased adoption rates, and their share is expected to increase from 32.6 percent in 2008 to almost 60.0 percent by 2013,” said Oswal. “Demand for biometrics is also likely to increase due to technology advancement, increasing concerns over security and the growing urgency to catch up with the western markets.”

Notwithstanding these positives, high investment and the cost of integration of the technology with the existing backend system are likely to be key restraints for the markets growth. Moreover, as there are no local integrators in the Asia Pacific region, there is a dearth of quality integration services, leading to poor market penetration for many technologies.

“Employee ID projects in private organizations do not enjoy the same economies of scale as government projects, due to the lower rate of card shipments, leading to an increased cost of deployment,” she said. “Hence, the resultant ROI for medium-sized companies with a few tens of thousands of employees is relatively low.”

Overall, market growth is expected to be driven primarily by cards-based systems and biometric applications. Offering competitive prices to end users is likely to be a key success factor due to increasing competition from lower cost providers, especially those from China and Taiwan.

Fingerprint Biometric Attendance System for Primary Schools

Project Titled : “Fingerprint Biometric Attendance System for Primary Schools in Narmada District (Gujarat)”.

Brief Description:

Supply, installation and commissioning of 600 numbers of standalone Fingerprint Biometric Machines in various primary schools in Narmada District (Gujarat)

Tender Ref.: DPN/FBAS/01/2006

District Panchayat – Narmada
Jilla Panchayat Bhawan-Narmada,
Near Karjan Irrigation Project Office,
Rajpipla, Dist. Narmada (Gujarat) 393 145

Background:

To ensure full enrolment of all eligible students and to reduce drop-out rate in primary education, Government of Gujarat launched “Shala Praveshotsav” (Enrolment Drive) and “Kanya Kelavani Rath” (Girl Chid Education Campaign) from the year 2003. This programme has been very successful and is achieving full enrolment of all the eligible students. 

The extent of coverage of primary education in the state has been satisfactory but high rate of drop-out is a matter of serious concern. In the last three years, the Primary Education Department of Government of Gujarat has introduced several schemes to address the problem of drop-outs.

While lots of initiatives are being taken to improve primary education, it is equally important to sustain and deepen these reforms. After the success of enrolment drives with the achievement of full enrolment, the challenge now is to improve retention and reduce the drop-out.

Apart from socio-economic reasons, absenteeism of teachers, particularly in tribal areas and remote villages is one of the most important reasons for high dropout rates. All noble initiatives of the State Government lose effectiveness and seriousness, when teachers remain absent without due permission, for a long period. Above entioned areas, which are also the areas of lowest female literacy rates are suffering a lot because of this problem. It is urgently needed to have a strong and reliable mechanism to monitor attendance of teachers and students.

In order to have strict watch on the attendance of the teachers and the students, a Fingerprint Biometric School Attendance System was proposed for Narmada District. Government of Gujarat has accepted the proposal and has sanctioned a pilot project of a Fingerprint Biometric Attendance System for all primary schools in Narmada District to be implemented by the District Panchayat – Narmada (Rajpipla). After implementation, Narmada probably will become the first district in the country to cover all primary schools by a Fingerprint Biometric Attendance System.

Pilot Project:

The pilot project is planned to cover 680 primary schools, 70 Cluster Resource Centres (CRCs) and 4 Block Resources Centres (BRCs) in Narmada District. It will cover around 2508 teachers and 76,000 students. A stand alone fingerprint biometric machine with external un-interrupted power supply upto 12 hours will be installed in each primary school for recording attendance of teachers as well as students. At the end of the month, the attendance data will be transported to the taluka (Block) HQ in a portable memory device like a pen drive. This attendance data will be processed with the help of a software application for getting pay rolls of teachers and other various reports.

The pilot project has a great scope of further expansion depending upon its success in Narmada district. Narmada district is one of the most backward districts of Gujarat having predominant tribal population and low literacy indicators. The pilot model of biometric attendance system is most likely to be replicated in all other districts of Gujarat if it is tested successful in a district like Narmada. The expanded project is expected to cover around 40,000 schools, which are to be covered, in a phased manner, in the coming 2-3 years.

Pilot Project Implementation:

As an implementing agency District Panchayat – Narmada (Rajpipla) has decided that the procurement of the standalone Fingerprint Biometric Machines (FBMs) along with accessories would be through National Competitive Bidding while the software application would be developed by the NIC-Gujarat. To carry out this objective, District Panchayat – Narmada proposes to finalise a rate contract with only manufacturers of Fingerprint Biometric Machines (FBMs) in India for supply, installation and commissioning of standalone FBMs as per specifications given in the tender document.

BMP set to introduce hi-tech attendance recording system

Source: http://www.hindu.com/2003/11/06/stories/2003110612250300.htm

The Biometrics equipment at the Bangalore Mahanagara Palike building in Bangalore on Wednesday. — Photo: K. Bhagya Prakash

BANGALORE Nov. 5. Over 700 employees working in the Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BMP) head office will soon have a new attendance recording system called Biometrics.

The system, part of the BMP’s information technology initiatives, is likely to be launched on November-end. Ten of these machines, developed by Radiant Info Systems, have been installed at the head office for trial runs. The employees have been practising the use of these machines in the past week.

The BMP, in its budget for the year 2002-2003, promised to introduce Biometrics, a technology more advanced than the magnetic swipe card system installed at the Vidhana Soudha and other government offices in the State. In the first phase, the technology is being introduced in the head-office only. Based on its success, it would be introduced for all the 14,000 BMP employees at all levels, including the three zonal and field offices in the city, sources said.

Under the technology, an employee has to press his or her thumb on the small machine fixed on a wall to record their attendance. The impression of the thumb matches with the one already stored in a computer, and this enters his or her attendance.

The sources said though the system was also designed to record entry and exit timings of the employees and also for access control (to allow only BMP employees inside the office), the BMP planned to use it just to record the attendance for the time being. The technology was foolproof than a swipe card system wherein employees have to swipe a card issued to them on the machine. Under the latter, there were chances of malpractice as an employee can swipe the card for his colleague.

The attendance recording system was basically to monitor the BMP’s workforce. Introduction of the technology would not only save paper work but also enable streamlining of administration, the sources added.