NGOs and activists working for the rights of the NREGA workers have come together to oppose biometric project under PPP in NREGA.

A statement signed by the likes of Aruna Roy, Nikhil Dey, Jean Dreze and several other civil society members, and issued on Monday, termed the rural development ministry’s initiative "dangerous with potential to cause havoc" in NREGA’s fragile structure.

The rural development ministry had floated a tender in October seeking bidders for the mammoth Rs 2,162 cr NREGA biometric project that would enable real time data capture of crucial processes such as attendance and measurement for muster roll preparation.

According to the activists, with the introduction of the project, the entire administrative machinery was likely to be diverted into capturing of biometrics or supervising "service providers".

“The scale of NREGA works is bound to suffer. This would be a gross injustice to NREGA workers, who are already deprived of their basic entitlements,” the statement said.

The activists also have objection to the linking of the project to UID.

“Job cards issued in 2006 are due to expire in 2011. Job cards are required to claim employment under the MGNREGA. If the issue of new job cards is linked to UID enrolment, there is a danger of creating a jam that would disrupt the programme. The process of job cards renewal, in any case a slow process, will be further slowed down. Many people are likely to be denied their entitlement to 100 days of work as they will be without a job card,” the statement reads.

They called the proposal of "biometric attendance at the worksite with GPS coordinates" impractical as many MGNREGA worksites are in remote areas with poor or no connectivity.

"Does that mean those worksites will close down,?" they have asked in the letter.

Issues like non-payment of minimum wages, delays in wage payments, insufficient scale of MGNREGA works, discrimination against Dalits and women, they said, needed ministry’s attention, and not the biometric project

“We therefore demand that neither MGNREGA employment nor wage payments be linked to UID enrolment. Employment of 100 days under MGNREGA is the only universal entitlement that the rural poor enjoy. It should not be jeopardized by the introduction of disruptive technology under pressure from corporate and security lobbies,” the statement read.