Minutes of the Training of Trainer (ToT) held on 22nd& 23rd April in VikashBhawan, Civil Lines, Raipur and subsequent support training programmesconducted for District/Block level officials to roll-out the eFMS.

ToT of District Level MGNREGA officials (APO, Programmer & Training Coordinator) was held on 22nd& 23rd April, 2013 at VikashBhawan meeting hall, Civil Line, Raipur. The objective was to share procedures in operationalising the eFMSsystem in entire State and other issues like DSC enrollment and its management, etc.

The training session with District level officers for eFMS was held under the chairmanship of Additional Commissioner (MGNREGA). The attendance sheet of participants is enclosed (Annexure – 1).

  1. Mr. Ramesh Sharma (Additional Commissioner)
  2. Mr. A. R. Baghel (Joint Commissioner)
  3. Mr. KalyanBasu (Fin. Inclusion Officer, GoI-UNDP supported MGNREGA Programme)
  4. Mr. P. Ramarao, Technical Director, NIC Raipur
  5. Mr. Upendra Chanel, DIO, NIC Dhamtari
  6. Mr. Mazhar Khan (State MIS Nodal Officer)
  7. District level officers and other representatives from Districts and Blocks.
  1. Issuesrelated to eFMS were discussed in details and following operational areas has been shared with the District officials during the training session:
  2. AbouteFMS
  3. Importance and benefit of eFMS
  4. Key stakeholders of eFMS
  5. Pre-requisites for eFMS
  6. Functions of eFMS
  7. eFMS through Banks, Post Offices
  8. Generation of FTO
  9. eFMS for wage payments, material procurements & admin. Bill payment
  10. Process involve in Digital Signature Certificate (DSC) installation, enrollment and its management.
  11. Commonqueries (FAQs) on eFMS.
  1. A detailed presentation was given on the benefits ofeFMShighlighting the steps involved in FTO generation process.The main focused of the presentation was to describe the eFMS process in the course of banks and post offices. Entire training session was conducted in 6 sessions (presentation slides are enclosed at annexure – 2) and the expected outcomes were –
  1. Capacity building of all concern officials up to blocks level.
  2. A clear understanding about the eFMS system and its benefits.
  3. Confidence buildingonwage list preparation and FTO generationprocess.
  4. To familiar about the DSC based authorization process and its security issues.
  5. To work out a strategic operational plan for fully operationalising the eFMS in entire State.
  1. On pre-requisites for eFMS, State MGNREGA Cell advisedthe district officials to take proactive measures to create necessary infrastructuresat block level on priority basis:
  2. Positioning adequate technical manpower at district level for handholding & troubleshooting support.
  3. Internet connectivity should be available at payment approval level (Block Level).
  4. Possess at least two operational PCs/Laptops at every Block with USB connectivity.
  5. Issuance ofDSC to approving authorities (PO, CEO-JP & Officers of other implementing agencies/line departments).
  6. Generation of e-Muster Roll through NREGASoft.
  7. Updation, verification & freezing of bank accounts information of beneficiaries in NREGASoft.
  8. The beneficiaries who do not have any Bank/Post Office account will have to be facilitated to get the same opened.
  1. A comprehensive presentation was given on the steps involved in e-FMS process and the key activities to be under taken by the Districtsfor its successful implementation:
  2. Verificationupdation of worker Accounts.
  3. Freezing of Worker Bank Account details.
  4. Opened a central e-FMS bank account in commercial bank (by State MGNREGA Cell).
  5. State DBA has to enter the details of accounts to be debited through eFMS.
  6. Enter e-Muster Rolls in NREGASoft.
  7. Generation of Wage List.
  8. Issuance, installation and enrollment of Digital Signature Certificates (DSC).
  9. Verification & approval of FTO by the authorized signatory.
  1. During the discussion Additional Commissioner emphasized on the speedy implementation of the eFMS across the districts and instructed for quick updation of information into the NREGASoft. Additional Commissioner (MGNREGA) further directed that all Districts should start using only eFMS as mode of payments for beneficiaries of commercial banks and RRBs and avoid the use of any cheque payment under MGNREGA. Other key points of the training were as follows:
  1. A live demonstration was given on wage list preparation and FTO generation process.
  2. Master Trainers has advised to organise training for approving authorities on the use of digital signature for approving payments and also instructed to elucidate the steps involved in generation of Fund Transfer Order (FTO).
  3. Apart from pilot Districts (Dhamtari); other districts have also shown their interests to implement eFMS on pilot basis at least in one block where beneficiaries accounts mostly in the commercial banks or RRBs.
  4. Based on discussion, it was felt that Kanker (from Baster division), Durg (from Raipur division), Bilaspur(from Bilaspur division) and Sarguja (from Sarguja division) must take a lead in opting for eFMS system.
  5. To monitor the progress, pilot districts were requested to maintain a log for alerts and limits at different of FTO generation and share the status with the State MGNREGA Cell through email, so that itcan be shared with other Districts.
  6. Districts were instructed to ensure requisite number of DSC for identified Block level functionaries (including Line Departments) for handling payments through eFMS.
  7. Districts Programmers (MGNREGA) have to coordinate with the blocks regarding updation, verification and freezing of information related to Bank/Post Office accounts of the beneficiaries in NREGASoftto be aligned with the JobCard on priority basis.
  8. The District would complete the freezing of all beneficiary accounts (initially in Regional Rural Banks and Commercial Banks) and obtain DSC of all the authorized JanpadPanchayat signatories by 31st May, 2013 to facilitate eFMS.
  9. State MGNREGA Cell has advised to all Districts to engage one officer from District MGNREGA Cell who will be dedicated to eFMS related activities (including DSC management)/handholding support and troubleshooting on daily basis. The best option is the District Programmer (MGNREGA).
  10. If any District requests further support from State Officers to organize training for their Block level officials on eFMS implementation procedure, a written request should be sent to the State MGNREGA Cell with implementation & rollout plan with timelines.
  11. At the end of the training, hard & soft copies the above presentation and a copy of the e-FMS user manual has been provided to every District and were directed to share these documents with the District Collector/ CEO ZilaPanchayat/CEO JanpadPanchayats/Line Department Officials.
  12. Districts are, therefore, required to give top priorities to progressively update all information into the NREGASoft. District representatives are also advised to bring this to the notice of all concerned immediately for completing the groundwork latest by May 31, 2013. In case if there are any issues districts may raise these and get it resolved immediately.
  1. The training session was concluded with following strategic operational plan and a vote of thanks:
  1. Replication of eFMS training to all concern officials upto blocks level by 10th June 2013.
  1. Updation,verification and freezing of beneficiaries accounts by 15th June 2013.
  2. Freezing of RRB and commercial bank accounts by 15th June 2013
  3. Freezing of Post office accounts by 30th Sept 2013
  4. Freezing of cooperatives banks by30th Nov 2013
  1. Issuance of DSC to all concern by 20th June 2013
  1. Generation of FTO in all districts from 1st July 2013(for RRB & Commercial Bank accounts)
  1. Fully operationalisingthe payment process througheFMS by October 2013

In addition to this, a support training programmeoneFMShas also been conducted under the chairmanship of district Collectors/CEO ZilaPanchayatsforentire 146 JanpadPanchayat officials of 27 districts (mainly CEO-JPs, POs, Astt. Programmers and officers from Line departments).The main objectives of these training programmeswereto buildup confidence among the block level officials about the DSC enrollment and FTO generation process.During these training sessions State level officials described the whole eFMSprocess(along with its report generation and monitoring systems) with aprocess activity flow chart and also give a live demonstrationonthe FTO generation process. An open session was also scheduled at the end of the training programmes to share the common FAQs with the concerned officials and also resolve theirspecific queries. The training dates were as follows -

  1. May 10, 2013 – Kanker district
  2. May 11, 2013 –Jagdalpur (covered rest 06 districts of Baster division)
  3. May 28, 2013 – Bilaspur (covered all districts of Bilaspur division)
  4. June 1, 2013 – Durg (covered all districts of Raipur division)
  5. June 10, 2013 – Ambikapur (covered all districts of Surguja division)
  6. June 17, 2013 – Raipur (for JanpadPanchayat officials of Raipur districts)

Finally, it was decided to have a testing onDSC enrollment/FTO generationprocedures immediately after the trainingprogrammeto examine thisprocess for the block level officialson the basis of actual performancesof different authorities involved.