CPM Which Opposes Aadhaar In Parliament, Makes It Mandatory For Government Employees’ Attendance, Salary In Kerala

Contradicting the stand of Left parties countrywide on the biometric identification project Aadhaar, Kerala’s Left Democratic Front (LDF) government led by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has made Aadhaar-based attendance system mandatory for all government offices in the state, reports LiveMint.

According to the report, Left parties leaders, especially those from Kerala, have made some of the most fervent speeches against Aadhaar in public meetings and in Parliament.

All state government offices are required to install Aadhaar-based biometric attendance systems within six months, according to an order dated 6 May. As a result, 5,60,000 officials from higher echelons of the state governance to government school staff will need an Aadhaar number to draw their salaries.

“The Aadhaar-based biometric punching system should be set up in SPARK (Service and Payroll Administrative Repository for Kerala) linked disbursal of salaries in all government offices, education centres," reads the order, as reported by LiveMint.

However, some have raised doubts over the feasibility of the project as it would result in a financial burden on the state.

“Financially, it is a burden for the state. UIDAI (Unique Identification Authority Of India) will charge Rs 20 for each e-KYC authentication and 50 paise for every simple Yes or No authentication," said Anivar Aravind, a digital rights activist and executive director of Indic Project, an online resource development tool for Indian languages.

Without e-KYC, Kerala will have to spend Rs 5.6 lakh everyday as the government employees will be required to punch twice a day.