Niti Aayog is providing financial support to incentivise the district administration to reach out to the general public and small traders in villages and talukas, and encourage them to shift to cashless payments.
It has also asked district magistrates to ensure that financial transactions in the district and subordinate organisations are cashless and on e-platforms.
As per the plan, an incentive of Rs 10 will be given to the district administration for every individual who has shifted to digital payment mode and has made at least two digital transactions for day-to-day activities, like selling and buying goods or services.
The Aayog has already given up to Rs 5 lakh to every district to kick-start the process, right from the panchayat level. An incentive of Rs 100 will be provided to common services centre operators for every merchant transacting digitally and Rs 5 for every citizen shifting to digital payments.
The government thinktank wants the district administration to ensure that money transfers, whether to beneficiaries of welfare schemes or payments to labourers engaged by contractors, are through digital mode.
To speeden the transition from cash transactions to digital platform at the grassroots level, the Aayog asked DMs to collect all types of user charges, fees and penalties through digital payment modes.
Invoking Mahatma Gandhi, Niti Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant said, “As Mahatma Gandhi has said, ‘you must be the change you wish to see in the world’. I urge you as district heads to start making all transactions on digital payment mode and encourage others to do the same.”
The first 50 panchayats to go cashless will be given the ‘digital payment award of honour’ by Niti Aayog. Also, the top 10 best performing districts will be given the ‘digital payment champions award’ by the government thinktank.
The Centre has realised that district magistrates are key to reaching out to the masses to accelerate the Modi government’s push towards less use of cash in transactions post-demonetisation.
Earlier, Kant had written to chief secretaries and finance secretaries of states, asking them to take the campaign on various user-friendly options available for digital payments to the grassroots level.
Source: Times of India
