India Human Efficiency Tracking System
India Human Efficiency Tracking System
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The Human Efficiency Tracking System (HETS) is used to monitor sanitation workers in the city of Chandigarh and six other municipalities in India.
Officials at the Command and Control Center of the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation (CMC) say watches equipped with GPS trackers, a microphone, a SIM embedded for calling workers, and a camera, enable them to validate proof of attendance, weed out fake, duplicate and false workers, and improve operational efficiencies.
Workers are forced to wear the watches equipped with the system so that their movements can be monitored in real-time and pay deducted if they depart from algorithmically pre-determined set work schedules or routes.
Workplace impact of artificial intelligence
The impact of artificial intelligence on workers includes both applications to improve worker safety and health, and potential hazards that must be controlled.
Source: Wikipedia 🔗
Operator: Chandigarh Municipal Corporation; Panchkula Municipal Corporation
Developer: S&T Investment Holding/Imtac India
Country: India
Sector: Govt - municipal
Purpose: Increase productivity
Technology: Smartwatch; GPS
Issue:Accountability; Accuracy/reliability; Bias/discrimination; Employment; Privacy; Surveillance; Transparency
Transparency and accountability 🙈
Transparency and accountability 🙈
Ssanitation workers complain they are never provided with information clarifying what the watches do, how they work, or how their data is stored. Neither are they asked to give their consent.
Risks and harms 🛑
Risks and harms 🛑
India's Human Efficiency Tracking System (HETS) has been criticised for unnecessary and disproportionate surveillance and the misuse of personal data, resulting in the loss of privacy, the erosion of individual autonomy and social discrimination.
Incidents and issues 🔥
Incidents and issues 🔥
The CMC has been criticised for normalising the intrusive surveillance of individuals, undermining worker agency, and restricting channels of negotiation and grievance redress. It also seen to have forced predominantly contract lower caste Dalit street sweepers to wear GPS-enabled efficiency trackers.
Some sweepers complain the watches are inaccurate, locating them in other cities and resulting in lost wages, and say they must be worn outside work, raising privacy concerns. They must also be charged overnight on their own account. Others report feeling giddy after wearing the watches.
According to Krishan Kumar Chadha, the former president of the Chandigarh Sanitation Workers’ Union, taking a tracker off incurs a fine of USD 3 to USD 4, or half a day’s salary, though this is denied by the municipality. Losing a tracker costs a worker USD 107 to USD 134, almost a month’s salary, according to the Chandigarh Sanitation Workers’ Union.
Research, advocacy 🧮
Research, advocacy 🧮
Digital Empowerment Foundation (2022). Advancing Data Justice (pdf)
News, commentary, analysis 🗞️
News, commentary, analysis 🗞️
https://undark.org/2022/05/02/in-india-digital-snooping-on-sanitation-workers/
https://www.dailydot.com/debug/india-sanitation-workers-gps-watches-surveillance-segregation/
https://thewire.in/labour/how-digital-snooping-on-sanitation-workers-is-worsening-their-struggles
https://thelogicalindian.com/humanrights/chandigarh-sanitation-workers-gps-watch-25197
Page info
Type: System
Published: December 2022
Last updated: November 2024
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