National Mobile Monitoring System: Several months after the Union government issued an order making it mandatory to record attendance of MGNREGA workers through the National Mobile Monitoring System (NMMS), some States; including Tamil Nadu, Odisha and Assam are asking to make it universal.

Key Points:

• As per the data for September put out by the Union Ministry for Rural Development, there are only eight States, including the above three, which have recorded 90% and above usage of the app.

They are: -

• Assam (93.42%)
• Odisha (92%)
• Tamil Nadu (93%)
• Karnataka (92%)
• Kerala (91.5%)
• Tripura (91%)
• Uttarakhand (91%)
• Puducherry (99%).

• In Puducherry, though the usage of the NMMS app is high, the quantum of worksites in September was just 774.
• The app can record the attendance even if there is no Internet connectivity and it will get uploaded whenever they reach a place which has the necessary signal strength.

About NMMS App:

• The National Mobile Monitoring Software (NMMS) App was launched on May, 21 2021 by the Union Minister of Rural Development, Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare, Panchayati Raj and Food Processing Industries, Shri Narendra Singh Tomar.
• The National Mobile Monitoring App is applicable for the Mahatma Gandhi NREGA workers for all the States/ Union Territories.
• This app is aimed at bringing more transparency and ensure proper monitoring of the schemes.
• The NMMS App permits taking real time attendance of workers at Mahatma Gandhi NREGA worksites along with geo-tagged photograph.
• The app helps in increasing citizen oversight of the programme.