Union Min inaugurates DigiDhan Mela
SHILLONG: Union Minister of State for Railways Rajen Gohain has claimed the country has wholeheartedly supported the demonetisation move of the Centre and said it would check leakages in the economy.
Inaugurating the DigiDhan mela here on Tuesday, Gohain hailed Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s demonetisation call.
Enumerating the innumerable benefits of digital transactions, Gohain said such transactions lead to curbing of tax avoidance, mitigate generation of black money, keep a tab on inflation and enable huge savings to RBI on account of steep fall in procurement and printing of paper currency and its management.
He also said a digital economy will enable improvement in delivery of government welfare programmes by checking leakages, increasing transparency and efficiency in service delivery and enabling better targeting as money is transferred directly into the accounts of the beneficiaries.
According to Gohain, migrating to cashless economy is a challenge but it is not impossible. “The Centre’s move to promote cashless economy will check leakages and bring transparency in the system,” he said.
“Earlier only 1 per cent of the population was paying taxes but now many people have been brought under the system which enabled the Government to lower tax rates,” he said.
State Information Technology and Communications Minister Ampareen Lyngdoh while addressing the gathering rued that connectivity is a major challenge in Meghalaya and urged telecom companies to expand their network coverage in the State.
Stating that Shillong is tech-savvy, the Minister stressed on the need to extend the benefits of digitalisation to even rural areas.
She also informed that Mawkynroh will be the first digital village of the State in 2017 and added that many villages will be made Wi-Fi enabled by State Bank of India even as machines and equipment will be set up in such hamlets.
Other highlights of the day included exhibitions by banks, mobile wallet providers, government departments and entrepreneurs, opening of bank accounts on the spot and linking it to Aadhaar, besides various competitions on cashless transaction. The Union Minister also launched the BSNL Mobicash, an e-wallet application and distributed prizes to the winners of various competitions held as part of the celebration.
Lyngdoh handed over the awards to four local taxi drivers, Bankular Kharkongor, Imran Khan, Subash Thapa and Bablu Kumar with Digital Taxi Award and Manosh Kumar Rai, a cobbler by profession with the Digital Vendor Award for successfully carrying out digital transactions in their day to day business.
It may be mentioned that the DigiDhan mela, a Government of India initiative, was aimed at incentivising digitally enabled transformation in the country following the recent demonetisation and spreading digital financial literacy among the public.