




Back in Gurrampeta, Kris and his colleagues, found a 6-volt car battery and kicked off their experiment which promised to usher in radical changes at the grass root level ‘’where villagers working in agricultural fields, construction sites or factories were always being exploited by greedy, corrupt middlemen.’’ Their village initiative had been possible only after several rounds of counselling and explanations. It was quite understandable, as the villagers had only recently been taken for a big ride.
‘‘When a villager signs in for work, he registers on he biometric device. He does the same when he finishes work. So, there is an official record of the man days he puts in which cannot be tampered with and he has to be paid for work done on those days. We have work records (muster-rolls) in villages showing how supervisors have tampered with number of working days of villagers so that they could pocket the extra cash,’’ said Kris. ‘‘A biometric-based smart card where the citizen uses the information of what he has, what he knows and what he is, ensures a high level of security,’’ he added.
... contd.


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