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Journalism of Courage
While Union Labour Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao remains ensconced in Andhra Pradesh chasing his elusive dream of a Telangana state, his ministry has broken a promise it made to the
Cabinet Secretary a few months ago.
The ministry had committed that it would kick off the implementation of the country8217;s largest e-governance and reforms project, the modernisation of the jurassic Employees8217; Provident Fund Organisation, on August 15.
In his first address to the nation on June 24, 2004, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had declared: 8216;8216;The reform of administration and of public institutions to improve efficiency and the quality of delivery of services will be our immediate priority.8217;8217; At the time, the 8216;Reinventing EPF India8217; project, launched in 2001, was poised to become the first organisation to fulfill Singh8217;s promise within six months.
But instead of championing the project, the UPA government fired its spearhead, former Central PF Commissioner Ajai Singh, in August 2004. Two years on, the project is in complete disarray. Having already derailed it 40 months from its scheduled implementation, the Labour Ministry today has no roadmap for the project to be implemented on a national basis.
Though it reduced the number of pilot sites for the project8217;s roll-out from 6 to two and now down to one small pilot site 8211; Kota , the ministry has still missed the deadline for the roll-out. Central
PF Commissioner A Vishwanathan acknowledged that the 8216;EPFO had estimated it can go live on August 15 in Kota and Mangalore.8217; But 8216;it could not be done due to several technical and operational reasons,8217; he admits and adds that the project would be 8216;implemented at the earliest time.8217;
The 8216;technical and operational reasons8217; the CPFC is alluding to are largely tasks that the ministry has been aware of, ever since the project began in 2001. Several tasks are also pending at the EPFO8217;s end. For instance, though the software for the project that would enable workers to access their accounts, make claims and deposits electronically, was submitted to EPFO on June 8, EPFO hasn8217;t yet finished 8216;testing8217; it.
In response to a questionnaire, the ministry denies that there are any major tasks pending for the project to go live, but documents in IE8217;s possession disprove the ministry8217;s claims.
8226; Approval from the CAG for switching to a double-entry accounting system. The ministry claims that 8216;no specific permission is required8217; from the CAG.
Fact: The new accounting format needs to be approved by the CAG.
8226; Legislative changes required for re-structuring the EPFO8217;s business processes. The ministry claims that the project 8216;can be implemented within the legal framework available today8217;.
Fact: Though the EPF Act, 1952, doesn8217;t need any amendments, the ministry is yet to notify the legal changes required in each of the EPFO8217;s three schemes.
8226; Collecting, cleaning and migrating employers8217; and members8217; data from pilot sites. The ministry claims that 8216;as far as legacy data is concerned, it is kept ready for migration8217;.
Fact: Details missing from the legacy data are to be collected afresh from the field. This hasn8217;t begun yet.
