AU to introduce biometric attendance system

From January, students and staff members of Andhra University will have to become cautious when it comes to attendance. Going by the State government’s order, the entire campus will come under biometric system of attendance.
Right now the campus has about 100 Android-based machines placed at different departments on a pilot basis. All these machines will be replaced by Linux-based machines.
“We have floated a tender for the supply of 350 Linux-based machines and the tender has been finalised. The machines will be supplied by November-end and by December they will be installed at all departments and from January we wish to make them operational, said Vice-Chancellor Prof. G. Nageswara Rao.
The machines will be installed at a cost of ₹50 lakh. Once installed, the entry and the exit of students and staff members will be digitally recorded and they cannot be tampered.
CCTV coverage
This will increase the transparency and it can be monitored real time from the V-C’s and Registrar’s chamber, as it will be linked to the main server.
Apart from biometric machines, the campus will also come under CCTV coverage. Tenders have been floated for supply of 220 CC TV cameras at a cost of 50 lakh. “These cameras will cover all the departments and for the hostels we will have a separate tender,” said Prof. Nageswara Rao.
The V-C informed The Hindu that a team of police officers have already visited the campus and have selected the locations to install the cameras.
Apart from the departments, they will be installed at all strategic locations, he said. The cameras will be hooked to a 24/7 monitoring room.
The suppliers will erect LCD displays at the monitoring room and staff will be present monitor the campus, said Prof. Nageswara Rao.
The 91-year-old university is also all set for total automation. A three-member committee comprising Prof. P.V.G.D. Prasad Reddy, Prof. Krishna Mohan and Prof. L.B. Sudhakar Babu, is studying various options on how to go for total automation.
According to the V-C, everything right from E-filing to file tracking and from admission to award of degree to a student will come under the automation programme.

Ref : http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Visakhapatnam/au-to-introduce-biometric-attendance-system/article19858999.ece

Biometric security: your next password could be your face, eyes or even the way you walk

WHAT if you could stroll through a building’s lobby to be identified and gain access?

And what if your bank would let you gaze at your smartphone to unlock a payment?

Both are possible using advanced biometric authentication technology that is now being tested and even rolled out to an increasing number of smartphones, tablet computers, laptops, and smartwatches.

And new research shows the transition from passwords, or “something you know,” to fingerprint, face, and eyeball scans, or “something you are,” could be complete within two years for phones, with other devices to follow in 2020.

But, as Apple readies to launch its first face-scanner this month, do security experts consider this technology more secure or just more convenient?

Biometric security has been creeping into everyday technology for years, slowly replacing passwords and lengthy PIN codes.

Apple introduced its fingerprint scanner to phones in 2013, for example, while Microsoft unveiled facial recognition for its Surface computers in 2015.

The technology is evolving, however, and becoming both more common and more advanced.

Dissatisfied with the security of a fingerprint lock, Samsung introduced an iris scanner with its Galaxy S8 smartphone that photographs the coloured parts of your eyes and identifies up to 200 features in each eyeball to authenticate your identity.

Galaxy S8 and Note 8 users can use this technology to unlock their phone and even to authenticate bank transfers or credit card payments.

Apple will also upgrade the biometric security in its top smartphone within a fortnight, introducing Face ID to the iPhone X as a replacement for its fingerprint scanner.

The facial recognition system uses a host of front-facing sensors, including a flood illuminator, dot projector, and infra-red camera, to project over 30,000 invisible points on to the user’s face and create a 3D model of their appearance.

It’s similar technology to that used in the Xbox Kinect, though Apple also uses a neural engine in the phone’s processor to determine whether the person looking at the phone is someone new or whether the user has just grown a beard, added spectacles, or changed hairstyles.

Apple worldwide marketing vice-president Phil Schiller says there is “no perfect system, not even biometric-wise” for locking phones, but the new face-scanning technology would be significantly more secure.

“The data for (the iPhone’s fingerprint scanner) Touch ID has been one in 50,000, meaning that the chance that a random person could use their fingerprint to unlock your iPhone has been one in 50,000 and it’s been great,” he says.

“What are the similar statistics for Face ID? One in a million.”

The spread of biometric security features is also expected to accelerate over the next three years.

Acuity Market Intelligence predicts all smartphones will feature some form of biometric technology by 2019 and, by 2020, it will also feature in all laptops, tablets, and smartwatches.

Facial recognition could spread to online services too, with Facebook revealing it was testing the technology to confirm user’s identities.

Biometric technology could involve more than just face or fingerprint scans in future, though.

Internet giant Google has experimented with mapping speech patterns to identify users, and the CSIRO has developed technology that identifies people by the way they walk.

The prototype technology, which requires users to wear a device backed with motion sensors, was tested on 20 subjects earlier this year with an accuracy of 95 per cent.

CSIRO Data 61 networks research group leader Professor Dali Kaafar says the unique authentication system is “convenient because as we walk around each day our gait can be sampled continuously” and it’s also “more secure than passwords because the way we talk is difficult to mimic”.

“Since (it) keeps authenticating the user continuously, it collects a significant amount of information about our movements, making it difficult to imitate or hack unlike guessing passwords or PIN codes,” he says.

Ref : http://www.news.com.au/technology/gadgets/mobile-phones/biometric-security-your-next-password-could-be-your-face-eyes-or-even-the-way-you-walk/news-story/ceb12bf2eaad7feed078ee00461d80e5

Biometric attendance in Secretariat from Sep-15th

The State government has decided to introduce biometric attendance system for the Secretariat employees from Saturday.

The Chief Minister, the Chief Secretary, and every employee working in the Secretariat has to mark his or her attendance through the biometric system.

e-Pragati

“The biometric attendance will come into force from Saturday,” Mr. Naidu said on Friday.

“Through the biometric attendance system, the government intends to record the working hours. It also wants to bring every department under e-Pragati. Every Tuesday, the progress and effective implementation of e-Pragati would be reviewed,” he said.

The government has observed that the level of absenteeism is quite high. In a study, it found that about one-third of the employees were absent during May.

Since then, the government has been contemplating taking corrective measures to improve the attendance. In a bid to enforce full attendance in the Secretariat, the government has been toying with the idea of biometric watch. But the employees have been resisting it.

Most of the employees haven’t shifted their families to Vijayawada or Guntur. They have been shuttling between Hyderabad and Amaravati. As a result, the Secretariat often turns empty by noon every Friday and the employees turn up late on Monday. Also, one finds vacant tables in many offices in the Secretariat. The employees keep off their desk on one pretext or the other.

Ref : http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/andhra-pradesh/biometric-attendance-in-secretariat-from-today/article19694339.ece

No biometric attendance system, no salary: Bijnor CDO

BIJNOR: In a bid to ensure punctuality and check fudging of attendance by government employees, Bijnor chief development officer Indramani Tripathi on Friday ordered that if the 36 departments at the Vikas Bhawan here do not get biometric attendance machines installed by September 30, their salary would not be released.

"Instructions to install biometric attendance machines were given soon after the new government came to power in the state. But just five of the 36 departments at the Vikas Bhawan have followed the instruction so far," the CDO said. "Starting October 1, attendance will not be marked on registers and it will be compulsory to mark attendance on biometric machines, failing which salary of the employees will be withheld," he added.

Such machines have been set up in only two departments in the district, where 502 government employees, out of around 24,000, are at present mark their attendance on biometric machines.

According to sources, biometric machines for attendance were installed at the Vikas Bhawan and the collectorate two months back. Ironically, these machines at the collectorate, which has 250 employees, have not been started, and since these are not working, employees are still marking their attendance on registers. The biometric machines at the Vikas Bhawan are working well but most of the employees do not mark their attendance on these.

The departments at the Vikas Bhawan that have not installed biometric machines include District Rural Development Agency, Rural Engineering Services, agriculture, horticulture, cooperative, social development, minority department, soil conservation, District Urban Development Agency and Non-Conventional Energy Development Agency, etc. Besides these, departments such as education, irrigation, forest and power corporation also have not installed biometric attendance machines.

According to data provided by NIC-Bijnor, there are 21 agencies and organisations where 6,743 government employees have been linked and they use biometric machines for attendance in the state. In Bijnor district, two organisations with 502 employees have been connected to the biometric system.

On being asked about the matter, district in-charge of NIC-Bijnor, Nand Kishore, said, "Most of the government departments have not shown any interest in biometric attendance system. These have not installed biometric machines under some pretext or the other. The district magistrate has already issued instructions to all departments regarding the matter."

Ref : https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/meerut/no-biometric-attendance-system-no-salary-bijnor-cdo/articleshow/60798951.cms

Biometric attendance system in Anganwadi centres soon

Mahabubnagar: With an aim to bring transparency, accountability in Anganwadi centres, the district administration is planning to introducebiometric attendance system across all Anganwadi centres in the district.

It is a well-known fact that in spite of spending crores of rupees to improve the condition of children below five years and pregnant women in the rural areas, the government is unable to reach its intended targets.

This clearly indicates that the Anganwadi centres are not functioning up to mark as intended by the government.  The main reason for this ineffectiveness is said to be the lack of proper supervision by the authorities.

Moreover, as most of the Anganwadis are located deep in the rural hamlets and faraway places supervising them on a day-to-day basis is a tedious task for the district administration. In view of this, the district administration has decided to introduce biometric system in all the Anganwadi centres.

 

“We have held meetings with various NGOs to find out various possibilities to introduce the biometric system in the Anganwadi centers. For this, we have had meetings with members of Aga Khan Foundation and CDFI NGO and discussed the issue.

 

Once this is in place, all the children attending the Anganwadi centres will be linked with their Aadhaar numbers and every day they have to register their attendance in thebiometric system,” informed Ronald Rose, District Collector, Mahabubnagar.  Not just the children, the teachers, attenders, pregnant women and lactating women needs to register their presence into the biometric system to avail the benefits for better healthcare and nutritional nourishment.

 

The district administration is also planning to integrate all the records of Anganwadi centres with the software and make it more transparent and accountable, the Collector informed.

 

Ref : http://www.thehansindia.com/posts/index/Hans/2017-08-19/Biometric-attendance-system-in-Anganwadi-centres-soon/320108

NMC caught on wrong foot: Biometric attendance system puts babus on edge but spares truant teachers

Nagpur: The Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) has been caught on the wrong foot again as far as biometric attendance system is concerned. At a time when the Municipal Commissioner is found making all out efforts to ensure discipline and transparency in administrative work, there is a clan of employees who are leaving no stone unturned to see the system in disarray.
The biometric attendance system has been installed at NMC’s at all zone offices, headquarters and at five dispensaries to curb absenteeism and ensure punctuality as well. An employee entering or leaving the premises presses his thumb in the slot provided. The system identifies the person and records the timing of arrival and departure.
However, surprisingly, the teachers have been excluded from this exercise as the civic body had 201 schools located in different parts of the city. It would be difficult to install the system at each school.
In a diktat issued on August 1, 2017, the Additional Municipal Commissioner Dr R Z Siddiqui has directed all the heads of departments and Assistant Commissioners of 10 zones to prepare salaries of all employees based on the “punching” report of biometric attendance system only. Any lethargy on this count would invite strict action, the order said. The salaries of August paid in September have to be made on the basis of “punching” record. All the machines have been connected with a centralized payroll system and the salary will be calculated as per the attendance reflected in the system.
Surprisingly, the Municipal Commissioner was not updated before issuing the directive as almost all schools of the civic body are bereft of the biometric attendance system. In this situation, the directive to make salaries on the basis of report of biometric attendance system could prove to be a futile exercise.
The diktat is likely to put the heads of departments and Assistant Commissioners of 10 zones in a fix. At some of the departments the biometric attendance system is non-functional. While the attendance registers were found in disarray, the biometric system installed to keep a tab on the movement of the staff was found to be non-functional. On the other hand, the teachers in the NMC schools are mocking at the directive of the Municipal Commissioner and “enjoying” the non-installation of biometric attendance system in schools. These are the teachers who play truant when it comes to attending schools regularly. These teachers would be spared of their whimsical attendance as their salaries would be made in accordance with the vague attendance registers.
But the directive has forced other employees of the civic body to spend sleepless nights. Many of the employees were found attending their duties as “picnic.” Come at their wish and go at their wish. For the record sake, the office timings at NMC’s most departments are from 10 am to 5 pm. But the habits die hard. Many employees were “determined” to show their faces not before 11-12. Then lunch for 1 or 2 hours, seat on chairs till 4 and then start deserting office one by one. But now it is going to be changed. Salary on the basis of ‘punching’ record in the biometric attendance system only. Late coming on three days in a month would mean absent for a day. No salary for that day.
The Municipal Commissioner Ashwin Mudgal is striving hard to reform the working of the civic body. He made it a point that the employees receive their salaries in the first week of every month, positively. Earlier, salary was a guessing game. Delay of over month was routine in the past.

Ref : http://www.nagpurtoday.in/nmc-caught-on-wrong-foot-biometric-attendance-system-puts-babus-on-edge-but-spares-truant-teachers/08031200

Opposition to biometric system in schools, Govt. to take action

Summary: has instructed its officials to take action against the teachers or union leaders who are opposing the introduction of biometric system in schools for recording their attendance. Read also: Biometric system to be implemented in 6000 schools from next yearIt may be noted that in Hyderabad and other districts, in the next few months, the machines of biometric systems would be installed. of Telangana has decided to introduce bio metric system for recording attendance of the teachers and also to install CCTV cameras. Hyderabad: Education Dept. It is reported that some teacher organizations are making an attempt to oppose this system whereas Govt.
Hyderabad: Education Dept. has instructed its officials to take action against the teachers or union leaders who are opposing the introduction of biometric system in schools for recording their attendance. It is reported that some teacher organizations are making an attempt to oppose this system whereas Govt. of Telangana has decided to introduce bio metric system for recording attendance of the teachers and also to install CCTV cameras. It is expected that the attendance of the teachers in the schools would improve and students would be benefited .
According to the Newspaper,The official of the Dept. of Education mentioned that this system will not be withdrawn under any circumstances. They say that the organizations which are opposing this move are trying to save those who are indulging in private affairs neglecting their official duties and also those who are not in the country but their attendance is being recorded. A higher official of the Dept.

Ref : https://www.nyoooz.com/news/hyderabad/900077/opposition-to-biometric-system-in-schools-govt-to-take-action/

Faculty fudging: MCI biometric systems to be operational from Aug

AGRA :  In a bid to check the rampant fudging of faculty records in medical colleges, the Medical Council of India (MCI) has decided to start biometric attendance, linked to Adhaar Cards, in all medical colleges across the nation. The systems would be in place by mid of August in all government and private colleges.

Confirming the move, Dr Ajay Kumar, incharge of Digital Mission Mode Project (DMMP) said that 234 out of about 500 medical colleges have already installed the machines and completed the survey and the remaining are under process. He said, few states have created problem in installing the system but finally we have achieved the goal.

Talking to TOI, Director Medical Education (DME) in UP, Dr KK Gupta said that 35 institutes including 12 state medical colleges, three institutes and 20 private medical colleges will probably start using biometric system from August. The Medical Council of India will be able to monitor faculty and resident doctors’ attendance under the digital mission mode project.

“The malpractice of fudging faculty records to get approvals from MCI would end when the Aadhaar card details of faculty members are linked to biometric attendance devices,” he said.

Dr Renu Agarwal, Associate Professor in SN Medical College, Agra said that MCI teams are linking Aadhaar of around 570 doctors and the data would be online soon. She said the new system also envisage “one country one registration” under which doctors will be issued electronic Radio Frequency Identification enabled identity card to help monitor the attendance, salary and work status of the faculty.

She said, MCI would be able to locate the the doctor through this card during their duty hours so no one can skip their lectures or leave the institute after marking attendance.

A senior doctor told TOI that generally at the time of MCI inspection, many institutes fudged their faculty records to seek the medical education regulator’s approval to run their colleges.

MCI, in November last, had asked all the faculty members of government and private medical colleges to register their Aadhaar Card details so that it could be linked with the

biometric attendance system. The proposal to install biometric attendance system was conceptualised in 2009 and was stuck in red tape before being cleared recently.   

Ref : http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/agra/faculty-fudging-mci-biometric-systems-to-be-operational-from-aug/articleshow/59653736.cms