The software, being developed by the National Informatics Centre, will allow the ministry to keep a tab on the deployment of forces, staff strength, vacancies, etc of the forces on a real-time basis. However, it won't register attendance.
Work on the software started immediately after the Narendra Modi government took charge and it is p art of a larger programme of modernisation of the armed forces.
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At present, the paramilitary forces maintain own data resources of personnel, deployment of battalions and vacancies. However, there is no centralised system of tracking, which sometimes hampers quick decision making.
Officials said once the new system is in place, quick movement of forces from one part of the country to another in times of crisis, their smooth deployment, and filling of vacancies can be handled efficiently.
"This will help both the home ministry and paramilitary forces in many ways. The initiative is part of modernisation of police forces," said a high-ranking official in one of the paramilitary forces.
He said the online monitoring system will be placed in the Union home ministry in the Police 2 Division.
He explained that with each of seven paramilitary forces having hundreds of battalions and each battalion comprising thousands of soldiers, it sometimes becomes difficult to know their exact station of operation.
The new platform will address this problem.
India has one of the largest paramilitary forces in the world with a total personnel strength of 620,000 as on March 31, 2014.
According to officials, in some forces such as Sashastra Seema Bal, the total sanctioned staff strength as on March 31, 2014 is 85,755, while the actual number of personnel employed is 74,686.
All the paramilitary forces are under the operational and administrative command of the Union home ministry except the Assam Rifles, whose operational command is with the Indian Army.
A few months ago, the Centre had put in place an online attendance system based on the Aadhaar platform for tracking attendance of babus in central government offices.
The system enables any official to register his attendance from anywhere, irrespective of being present in his place of work. The entire attendance is being tracked online through a transparent website called attendance.gov.in.