Karnataka has launched an initiative for using artificial intelligence to streamline attendance among government employees. After taking note of some public servants fudging their attendance data while using biometric systems, the state is now set to introduce the Karnataka Advanced Attendance Management System (KAAMS) in all 70 government departments, where over 5 lakh employees work. It’s an app developed by the Centre for e-Governance at the department for personnel and administrative reforms (DPAR). The system employs AI tools with geographic information system, GPS and geo-fencing to ensure that employees are punctual and disciplined. The app was tested at some health department offices.
For the AI tool to be enabled, the KAAMS app needs to be saved on employees’ mobile phones. The registration requires Aadhaar and a photo to enable the attendance to be logged against a unique employee. Data is then procured from the government’s human resource management service. The employee’s selfie taken during registration is compared with the Aadhaar data using the AI tool while marking attendance. Only the mobile phone is needed to mark attendance, which is recorded only after an employee enters the office—an assurance facilitated by geo-fencing, a technology that creates a virtual geographical boundary within which some app functions can be enabled. However, officials from DPAR’s e-governance centre have clarified that the employees’ movements will not be tracked, considering privacy issues.
The new tech may appear foolproof, but it still leaves scope for truant employees to hoodwink the system. An employee can always leave behind the mobile phone used to mark the AI-based attendance in the office and exit the premises without disturbing the geo-fence, nor alerting anyone. Government offices are known for absenteeism, a practice of using loopholes that recently saw a daring case where a son filled in at work for his mother, an employee in a civic administration office in Bengaluru—only to be found out by the lokayukta.
Government employees cannot afford to forget that their work affects a large number of innocent citizens. In a state whose premier political edifice—the Vidhana Soudha—screams from its ramparts ‘Government work is god’s work’, conscience should be the prime ‘technology’ at work to keep truancy at bay—for the citizen’s benefit.