MGNREGA Full ABP conversion

The MoRD is trying heart and soul for converting all MGNREGA workers into ABP (AADHAAR Based Payment) mode for oayment of wages under DBT scheme. Its under active consideration that for the districts which has larger number of beneficiary AADHAAR seeded into the MIS database, may be selected for pilot district for full DBT/ABP districts. That means for those districts payment of MGNREGA wages to the beneficiaries accont will only be processed by the AEPS (AADHAAR Enabled Payment System) of NPCI (National Payment Corporation of India). So, it that perspective the bank account may play second role for getting the wage credited to the account. Instead the AADHAAR plays the vital role. But is it really possible to achieve MGNREGA full ABP conversion in the present circumstances? To get an overview lets explore how ABP works and what are the limitations of the MGNREGA software and the banks.

How ABP works?

Here I am explaining it with the simpliest step-by-step approach.

1. Government relaeses payment towards X.
2. The Sponsor Bank (the bank which releases the payment) sends the request to NPCI to credit the amount towards AADHAAR No 0000 0000 0000 (Not Account Number).
3. NPCI searches this AADHAAR number in NPCI Mapper and finds corresponding account details.
4. Based on the account details retrieved NPCI forward the request to the Bank Switch, which is handled by RBI.
5. Based on the IFSC code and account number, the bank switch then forwards the credit request to the concerned bank’s CBS.
6. The beneficiary bank’s system credit the amout to the beneficiary account.

The main process may contain more complex steps which is beyond discussion here. But the basic functioning is described here.

So, the 6 six steps mentioned above there is little scope for account number and no scope for beneficiary name to make any importance in the process.

Role of NPCI Mapper

As the name suggest, it works as a indexing service for the banks. It maps a customer id with corresponding AADHAAR. When banks seed any customers AADHAAR into their database, it goes to NPCI Mapper with relevant information. When an AADHAAR seeded by bank is confirmed, that means one entry has been made in NPCI Mapper regarding this customer id and the AADHAAR.

Now, you can have accounts in more than one banks. So, if bank A seeds your AADHAAR into the NPCI. It gets confirmed. Then after some day, bank B seeds the AADHAAR into NPCI. What will happen now? NPCI will delete the previous entry and keep the latest entry.

If you ask your bank to seed the aadhaar of another operator of this account, the NPCI Mapper will be updated with the latest AADHAAR number.

No Scope for Joint Accounts

While designing AADHAAR based payment systems the designers somehow skipped the topic of Joint Accounts. May be there were some bigger thoughts which is beyond our thought. Whatever may be the reason, the fact is here is no provision for Joint Account still now.

Firstly let us know how bank maintain our accounts?

When you open an account at any banks’ branch you are assigned a unique Customer ID. Most of the accounts are Savings Bank Account. We all have one such account in any bank. Now if you create a Fixed Deposit Account in the same branch, they will keep the same Customer ID but a new account number will be generated. Now you need a loan, the bank gives it. Again you have the same Customer ID, but different account number. The basic rule as defined by RBI is, individual should not have more than one Savings Bank Account. But when need occures the bank creates different customer ID for the same person.

There is also need when one account is to be shared by two or more individuals. So, the concept of Joint Accouts exists. The other beneficiaries are like add-on to the account. If you approach your bank to make your own savings bank account enable for operation by someone other than you, they will do it for a charge. That person will be able to operate the account as you can. But check with your bank, THERE IS NO SEPARATE CUSTOMER ID FOR THAT PERSON. Both of you are sharing the same customer id.

Here comes the tricky part. The banks system has been updated to take AADHAAR number in respect of Customer ID. NEITHER ACCOUNT NUMBER, NOR OPERATOR NAME. And of course only a single AADHAAR can be seeded to a customer id.

So, for those accounts which has more than one operator (i.e. joint accounts) only the AADHAAR number of the Primary account holder (i.e. the 1st account operator) will be seeded into the banks database.

It is also found that some banks seeding the AADHAAR number of ANY ONE of the account holders into their database. In that case also, among 2/3 persons only one’s AADHAAR is getting to the NPCI mapper.

Ground Reality for MGNREGA Full ABP conversion

MGNREGA database accepts single account number for all the applicants of a Job Card. Here is no limitation. Suppose in a Job Card there are 10 applicants, NREGASoft will accept a single account number for all those applicants. But it accepts AADHAAR number only once. Applicant 1’s AADHAAR cannot be used for Applicant 2.

NREGASoft has its own algorithm to convert NEFT beneficiaries to ABP beneficiaries. It follows the following steps :

1. Beneficiary AADHAAR is entered into MIS by Gram Panchayat.
2. NREGASoft carries out basic verification of the AADHAAR with the help of UIDAI data. This process is called Demographic verification.
3. If the entered AADHAAR passed demographic verification, NREGASoft then marks the AADHAAR as “Confirmed” and proceed to verify it with NPCI Mapper.
4. If it found the AADHAAR in NPCI Mapper then the beneficiary is converted to ABP beneficiary. If this AADHAAR is not found in the NPCI Mapper, then the beneficiary is listed under MIS report “R19.4 List of confirmed Aadhaar number yet to be Mapped on NPCI Mapper“
5. If the demographic verification in stage 3 is failed, then it goes to the PO for manual verification. There the PO can accept or reject the entered AADHAAR. If its accepted then the AADHAAR become “Confirmed” and goes to NPCI Mapper as described in stage 4.

Now, if all the names appearing in the R 19.4 report is all joint accounts and their first operators AADHAAR is already seeded into NPCI, then they will never be converted into ABP mode.

It is also a matter of concern for MoRD since the inception of AADHAAR Based Payment (ABP). As it will pose a bottleneck for implementation of 100% direct benefit transfer in MGNREGA wage payment. They are getting their best to sort the things out with all the agencies involved.

So, the conclusion is at present it is beyond any employee or agency or department to make all MGNREGA worker into ABP beneficiary.

Source : 

1. NPCI
2. UIDAI
3. MGNREGA
4. News Papers
5. Google
6. Personal Connections.