Moving past Covid, Rajya Sabha Secretariat returns to biometric attendance

Biometric attendance system, which was suspended following the COVID outbreak, has now resumed in the Rajya Sabha Secretariat after two years.

Biometric attendance in Rajya Sabha Secretariat which has over 1,300 employees, was introduced in August 2018. It was suspended on March 6, 2020.

"It has been decided to resume Aadhaar-enabled Biometric Attendance System (ABAS) in the Rajya Sabha Secretariat which was under suspension as a preventive measure to contain the spread of COVID-19," an internal circular of the Rajya Sabha Secretariat stated.

"Accordingly, all officers/staff of the Rajya Sabha Secretariat are instructed to mark their attendance on ABAS machines with effect from June 1, 2022," it further said.

Meanwhile, ABAS will be run on a trial basis from the date of issue of this circular up to May 31, 2022 for enabling new registrations and for checking and rectification of functional and technical issues, if any, as per the circular.

The Rajya Sabha Secretariat has instructed employees who are not registered in ABAS to register themselves online within five days of the issue of the circular.

Biometric attendance was introduced at the behest of Vice President of India and Rajya Sabha chairman M Venkaiah Naidu to introduce a transparent attendance system.