India launches upgraded rural-work attendance app with offline option
India has launched an enhanced version of the National Mobile Monitoring System app for recording attendance in its VB-G RAM G rural employment programme, adding stronger device checks, face verification and a route for recording attendance when a worksite has no mobile network.
The government said the update is intended to strengthen accountability while avoiding the exclusion of workers who face poor connectivity or technical problems. It said the system is not designed to make an attendance record the sole basis for a wage payment.
Security features added to attendance process
Shivraj Singh Chouhan, the Union Minister for Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare and Rural Development, launched the upgraded app at a press conference in New Delhi. The government said it had been developed with technical support from the Indian Institute of Technology Madras and other technical agencies.
The revised app includes device-level security checks, secure data transmission and safeguards intended to prevent cloning or tampering. It also uses refined AI-based face verification and liveness detection. Liveness detection is intended to establish that the person in front of the camera is present, rather than that an image or old photograph is being used.
The minister said the additional measures follow complaints about false attendance and wages being claimed in the names of other people. Those complaints are the stated reason for tighter checks; the launch does not amount to a finding about any named worker, worksite or area.
Face authentication was introduced in the app in March 2026, according to the government. The latest version follows a security update released in the final week of September. The ministry said the new face-verification system had been refined to take account of variation across states and geographical regions.
Offline recording and an exception route
Workers at a site without network coverage can record attendance offline under the prescribed process. The data can then be uploaded after the muster roll has closed, once the device reaches an area with connectivity. This is intended to address a practical difficulty for work carried out in places where a reliable signal is unavailable.
An authorised exception mechanism is also available if face authentication fails for an older worker, a person with a disability or someone affected by a technical problem with a mobile device. In such cases, a mate or field worker can submit a request through the prescribed process. The government said no genuine worker should lose employment or wages solely because of connectivity or technical difficulties.
Attendance is not the final wage decision
The government said the app’s attendance record is one part of a wider verification process. An AI-based photo de-duplication module identifies suspicious or repeated photographs. If it does so, the wage list and Fund Transfer Order can be held while checks are completed.
The electronic Measurement Book records work carried out at a site after physical measurement by technical engineers. The government said wage amounts are determined from that measurement before payment is transferred to a worker’s bank account through the Direct Benefit Transfer process. It also said district spot-inspection teams, social audits and public disclosure arrangements form part of the wider oversight system.
At the launch, the minister said the programme had operated across rural India from 1 July and had generated nearly 46 crore person-days of employment. He said more than 3.65 crore workers in 2.89 crore rural households had received work across 31.23 lakh worksites in more than 2.41 lakh gram panchayats. The changes now place offline access and exception handling alongside the programme’s more stringent digital checks.
