Chidambaram's punctuality drive at Home

If you're working, then prove it - that seems to be the message of Home Minister P Chidambaram who has introduced a fool proof attendance system in his Ministry. The message is clear, work means actually working for eight hours, no less.

The days of walking in leisurely to work at the Home Ministry are over. There is a new fool-proof biometric attendance register at its gates. It will monitor the number of hours each of the 1,700 employees put in every day.

"This is a message all across the country to put in the basic eight hours. We understand flexi time and also that people could be late by 10 to 15 minutes due to traffic and congestion. But we expect them to put in extra hours," said Chidambaram.

It has cost about Rs 20 lakh for machines, but ministry officials say it will be made up soon by saving on overtime. The machine doesn't accept lame excuses.

"It a total work flow automation. No one is needed. You basically select department and ask for the report," said M K Bhandari, CEO, Fortuna.

This is one of the many steps Chidambaram has introduced to make the work culture at the Home Ministry smarter. For instance, he doesn't accept any files after 5:30 pm. Home Ministry departments like the Intelligence Bureau and Narcotics Control Bureau have to reply to all queries within 72 hours.

Like all new systems, the ministry will now have to closely monitor who's coming in when and for how many hours. Prevent this from becoming one of the many good ideas that the ministry couldn't implement.