Between MyGov and Bharat Net, here are the highs and lows of Digital India

Schemes that address clear market demand have clicked; those that focus on behavioural change, not so much

The biometric collection of attendance records of government employees remains Delhi-centric almost five years after the scheme was rolled out. Just 2,33,994 employees are registered on the Aadhaar-enabled Biometric Attendance System (BAS) according to its website, less than 7 per cent of the total civilian employees employed by the Indian government. Almost no state uses it to track its employees’ attendance record.  

The BAS is part of this government’s agenda to leverage technology to ensure that its benefits accrue to large swathes of the population. Meant to usher in a behaviour change among government employees, it has clearly not travelled far.

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