Encouraged by its employees working harder and longer after the introduction of the Aadhaar-enabled attendance system, the Modi government is likely to revisit a plan to introduce flexible work timings for bureaucrats.
This comes after an analysis of data generated by the new attendance system indicated 47,000 government employees who moved to the biometric system are already working 20 minutes longer than they did in September when the system was introduced.
In 2009, the home ministry had allowed its employees to come in a little late after it installed the biometric system, provided they put in 40 hours every week. The ground rules framed by then home secretary GK Pillai allowed officials stuck in peak hour jams to be excused if they are late by 30 minutes.
The existing rules, however, allow employees who turn up after 9 am only twice a month. If they are late by even a minute the third time, the rules require department heads to mark them on half-day?s leave even if they stay back later.
According to attendance.gov.in, the website that puts the attendance record in public domain, not everyone still turns up on time.
For instance, on 1 January, 31.6% of staff showed up before the official start time of 9 am while another 56 % marked their attendance between 9 and 10 am. About 8% marked their presence between 10 and 11 am while the remaining 5% signed in after 11 am. From 1 January, all government officials in Delhi are required to mark their presence on this system.