Benefit Disbursement System
Description
Disbursement of wages under NREGS has been a major concern for both state and central governments. Previously payments of entitlements were being under taken by Branch Post Offices (BOs) located in villages manually. Payments were delayed inordinately and payment of entitlements to the right and appropriate beneficiaries was not assured. Government of Andhra Pradesh has been interested in creating alternative framework and methodology using ICT for disbursement of entitlements to beneficiaries. APOnline Ltd took the initiative; designed, developed and implemented framework for disbursement of entitlements. APOnline Ltd provided necessary software and hardware technology infrastructure for disbursement of entitlements in rural areas channeled by Department of Posts (DoP). Commissioner Rural Development (CRD) provides funds for disbursement and monitors the overall implementation of the project. Tata Consultancy Services implemented ICT solution for NREGS in Andhra Pradesh for effective program implementation and monitoring. Government of Andhra Pradesh felt that in the whole program implementation, anomalies have been more frequent and hence disbursement through a structured mechanism is very much necessary. As an extension and forward linkage, APOnline developed ICT solution for NREGS, a framework involving DoP for disbursement of entitlements after accurate authentication of the entitlements through finger print authentication. This ICT system framework is meant for wage seekers who are enrolled under NREGS and Social Security pensioners Initially the project has been implemented in Nizamabad District of Andhra Pradesh and currently it is being implemented in Nalgonda district and later it is planned to be replicated to other districts.
What we deliver
This project is facilitating NREGS wage payments and pensions to right people by authenticating their finger prints. The system is helping the government in reducing the lead time for payments by designing efficient processes. System also eliminates the leakages and covers all rural poor under financial inclusion.
Whom we deliver
Our ICT solution is aimed at providing correct payment to NREGS workers and right amount of pensions to old and destitute. Basically the system users would be government officials, Branch Post Masters. System facilitates users of the system to check their identification by authenticating their finger prints and pay the amount. System also issues pay slip to the wage seekers specifying the amount paid. Besides, wage seekers can make enquiries regarding balance in their accounts. Any deviation can be checked with the data available in the server. Wage seeker can also raise his complaints or feed back through website.
Why is the project unique?
The project is one of its kinds, first introduced in India using network of post offices and advanced technologies for rural development programs. NREGS has been in use for last four years and many state governments are trying to use Information and Communication Technology (ICT) for monitoring and tracking of the program. Andhra Pradesh has implemented ICT system for NREGS and as a part of forward integration and weed out all the anomalies this solution has been evolved for wage disbursement to workers. It is in many ways an innovative project for the following reasons: • Wider post office network is used to disburse entitlements • Based on the job cards data all wage seekers finger prints and photos have been taken and stored in the server • In order to avoid matching and recognition problems, 8 finger prints data of wage seekers taken • Entitlements are disbursed only on finger print data match with original enrolled bio-metric data. • POS devices have been procured and distributed to all branch post masters • Software developed and deployed on all handheld devices • Post Masters and other stakeholders have been trained on the software and operation of POSs • Pay order information electronically sent to Sub-Post Office • Provision is created to download wage seekers information and pay orders in Sub-Post Office • Post master downloads wage seekers data and pay order information from central server through GPRS connectivity and collects money from Sub-Post Office • Wage seekers visit the Branch Post Office • Post master authenticates beneficiary’s finger prints with bio-metric data stored in the POS • Due entitlements are paid directly to wage seekers • If workers are interested in saving, they can retain the money in their postal savings accounts. • Payment data is uploaded to central server through GPRS connectivity From the point of view of implementation of rural development schemes, the whole process is a novel idea. Besides, it has done away with middlemen and banking correspondents for distribution of entitlements. Post office network is more reliable and definitely contribute to program implementation and in turn it also gets strengthened.
Roadmap
Digital content can be a great catalyst for development of people especially the under privileged and from rural areas. Though communication technology has spread across the globe even in rural areas but it is the digital content that makes it more meaningful, productive and accelerates development. Right digital content arm rural people with information base for understanding their rights and duties. ICT tools eliminated the gap created by time and space and helps in enhancing awareness among people. ICT tools have become inevitable part of human society and no modern economy can be sustained without an adequate and pervasive usage of ICT tools. Digital technology brings the best technology available worldwide to disadvantaged communities at an affordable cost. ICT tools can help in; • ICT tools can contribute for achieving millennium goals set by United Nations • ICT can contribute to economic development, education, health care, transportation, rural development, conduct of government etc. • ICT tools such as computers, Internet, telephone, Short Message System (SMS), facsimile and others exposed weaker sections of society, women and children, rural people to wider world. By using the tools either they can offer or receive the services • ICT tools contribute to expansion of citizen services delivery to rural areas and earlier it was only restricted to urban areas • ICT promoted awareness among rural people on various government programs and services • ICT helps in conceptualizing, implementing, monitoring and auditing welfare programs • Rural people can readily access the data on various inputs and produce prices from various parts of the world • Government can maintain readily available data on business, industry, society, and households etc. using ICT tools. • Weaker sections get information on various government schemes and provoke thinking how to get benefit out of such schemes. If state bureaucracy is hiding specific information, citizens can point out and also can escalate it to either higher levels of bureaucracy or to their elected representatives.
Contact
APOnline Ltd.
Kohinoor Park, Plot No. 1, Jubilee gardens, Cyberabad
Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India
500081
URL/Website – APOnline.gov.in
