The Department of Panchayats has issued a set of directives to ensure the data security in its various offices and grama panchayats.
The Director of the department has issued strict instructions that the employees/technical assistant should take steps to avoid autosaved passwords from individual systems in local bodies, as there are chances of misuse.
The employees should be made aware of the need to change the default passwords in the software. The technical team should aid the employees in setting strong passwords as well as provide training in using the software without technical help.
In case employees retire or are transferred, their login ID has to be deactivated and the information marked in the relieving order. This change, it seems, has been brought in owing to a recent allegation of fund embezzlement in the treasury department using the login ID and password of a retired employee.
For new employees, fresh login ID has to be generated and the practise of editing the existing ID should not continue. It will be seen as a serious dereliction of duty if grama panchayat secretaries or employees in the supervisory cadre hand over their digital signatures or dongles to other employees. The Director said that disciplinary action would be taken against those who act irresponsibly regarding such issues.
