What is (Aebas) Aadhar enabled biometric attendance system? And how it works?

 Are you worried about the lingering status of Aadhaar?  

Has it been used for the purpose it was intended for

Aadhaar Enabled Biometric Attendance System (AEBAS) is making use of Aadhaar to monitor employee attendance across various government organizations in the country. More and more government organizations are being brought under the umbrella of AEBAS thanks to the wonderful infrastructure built while implementing Aadhaar.

Aadhaar Enabled Biometric Attendance System known in short as AEBAS is a time and attendance marking system based on biometric technology linked with the verification of Aadhaar. The system is particularly aimed at recording employee attendance in various government offices and agencies.

This initiative of the Indian government forms part of the “Digital India” drive. AEBAS is a real- time monitoring system that makes use of Aadhaar generated by the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI). This biometric system makes use of either fingerprint or iris.

Aadhaar number from the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) is useful in recording employee attendance. This cloud-based system otherwise known as Biometric Attendance System (BAS) takes care of employee attendance in real-time.

Need for AEBAS

Thousands of employees are working across various departments for the Government of India. Tracking the attendance of these employees is an arduous task. However, the presence of employees on time is critical for the success of various activities of the government.

During yesteryears the attendance of this workforce was recorded manually. But monitoring and maintaining the entire database was proving to be difficult. There was also the question of reliability as records were vulnerable to tampering or there could be an entry of faulty data.

Therefore biometric-enabled attendance system was introduced to overcome the above-mentioned shortcomings. This has been proved to be the best real-time solution for marking reliable and accurate information.

Though various government offices have replaced manual entries with electronic attendance recording carried out through smartcards or biometric systems, there was a need for monitoring the attendance through a centralized system. As sharing of attendance data through various levels was cumbersome, the government has come up with an idea to make use of the existing Aadhaar infrastructure which enables to reduce cost while improving overall efficiency.

Aadhaar Enabled Biometric Attendance System or AEBAS formulated by the Government of India is a real-time monitoring system that helps in improving the punctuality and productivity of government employees at large. The Aadhaar number generated by UIDAI ( Unique Identification Authority of India) is utilized in the process of authentication carried out by AEBAS. Cloud-based BAS helps in monitoring the attendance of the employees in real-time.

Best form of authentication

Authentication of employees can be done in two ways. One is an android based (tablet device) while the other is embedded Linux based (biometric device). In the case of tablet-based authentication, the durability of the product is under question. It is not as good as biometric products. Generally built for a single application, in this particular case being attendance, biometric devices serve for a longer period of time.

Some of the other advantages of AEBAS are:

• Supports various platforms
• Supports centralized functions
• Helps in real-time tracking of employee attendance
• Time taken for marking the attendance is less
• Ease of sending real-time notifications
• Helps in accurately track both login and logout to know the exact working time

How it works

The system envisaged enables employees to mark their attendance by presenting his/her biometric credentials in the form of fingerprint/Iris. This will then be authenticated after matching with the biometric attributes that are stored in the database of UIDAI corresponding to the employee’s Aadhaar number.

The entire authentication process as it happens is given below sequentially:

• Attendance request originates from the system aimed at the centralized attendance server with fingerprint or iris.
• Aadhaar number mapped against the fingerprint is sent to the Aadhaar authentication server.
• The authentication response is then received on the centralized attendance server. Following valid authentication, the attendance record is stored on the server.
• Client response as to whether the transaction is a success or failure is then obtained from the attendance server.

Sectors influenced by the introduction of AEBAS

AEBAS also has a great impact on various sectors improving overall productivity. The following information provides the impact of AEBAS on critical sectors helping improve the quality of life.

• Education

  AEBAS has an important role to play to streamline the education system. As we know, without monitoring, the staff (including teachers) behave in a tardy manner. Attendance can be very lean without proper surveillance. It is here that AEBAS comes to our rescue in ensuring proper attendance and maintaining the relevant database. This will not only improve the attendance, but the end result is better education for the children.

• Healthcare

  Even in hospitals, biometric attendance system (BAS) will help resolve the problem of poor attendance. This will have a great impact on the health care sector. Patients will also have better service with no unwarranted absenteeism of the hospital staff.

• Government

  Various government sectors such as manufacturing, defense, law and order, and power can make good use of the Aadhaar Enabled Biometric Attendance System (AEBAS) in order to improve the overall productivity.

Some of the major developments with regards to AEBAS 

• Aadhar based biometric attendance is being made mandatory for employees of aided colleges in the state of Haryana from April 1, 2020.
• Biometric attendance system (BAS) to become compulsory at all government offices of Jammu &Kashmir by March 31, 2020, in order to guarantee punctuality and accountability.
• The union government calls for punctuality in government offices while chiding habitual latecomers.
• Centre to implement a biometric system based on Aadhaar, for attendance in all state-owned departments and government organizations in Delhi.
• Introduction of biometric attendance at Nirman Bhawan which houses the ministries of (Urban Development and Housing) and (Urban Poverty Alleviation).
• The Director of School Education has issued a circular for the implementation of Aadhaar Enabled Biometric Attendance System (AEBAS) for teachers in government and government-aided schools in Chennai.
• All government primary and middle schools in the state of Himachal Pradesh will now have Aadhaar-enabled bio-metric attendance (AEBAS) system for teachers as well as staff. The new system will help keep track of the attendance while ensuring punctuality and regularity.
• Amidst the outbreak of coronavirus, all central government employees have been exempted from biometric attendance as a precautionary measure till March 31,2020.

Conclusion:

With the central government having decided to put in place Aadhaar Enabled Biometric Attendance System (AEBAS) in various government organizations across the country, it becomes mandatory for the employees of these organizations to rise to the occasion. They must all give up their lackadaisical approach with the “Chaltha hai “ attitude. They should all pull up their socks in making the Digital India drive of the government, a grand success. All of this behooves well in being a citizen of emerging India.