Biometrics and Governance

CCTVs to monitor DC (Deputy Commissioner's) office employees: (The Times of India)

HUBLI: The ‘I don't care' attitude of the government employees who are accustomed to coming late, taking multiple breaks for tea, cigarettes and chatting during office hours will be a thing of past, at least in Dharwad.

The CCTV cameras and biometric machines which hitherto were only seen in corporate and other private offices have found its way into the deputy commissioner's office in Dharwad, making it probably the first DC office in the state to install it in a bid to discipline the government servants, who normally are blamed for taking their work lightly.

Many see the implementation of biometric identity management systems as enhancing government power over the people. As this article shows, they can also be implemented to increase the people's power over their government.