Demonetization and GST implementation are two path-breaking events happened in India recently. Though we can keep on discussing the usefulness or irrelevance of both decisions, there is one positive thing happened due to it.
There has been a tremendous increase in the digital awareness in India. After demonetization, cashless became the buzzword.Since there was a huge cash crunch, people didnt have any option than using smart cards for financial transactions.
However, the penetration and popularity of digital money transfer predominantly happened in the urban market.Experts feel that the large chunk of the population still needs to be made digitally aware. The government is also aware of it. Hence, focused and targeted efforts are planned to achieve a grand success in the niche.
Common Service Center (CSC) plans to reach up to the grass-root levels
CSC which falls under the Ministry of Electronics and IT launches a special drive to bring digital financial literacy in the rural areas. It targets specific population where the digital literacy rate and overall awareness is quite low.
By making these people educated and bringing them to the mainstream, a substantial increase is expected. It is part of the DISHA (Digital Saksharta Abhiyan) program which encompasses the overall digital literacy.
The plan is to take the awareness up to the last person in the queue. Each person should be able to understand the fundamentals of the digital transaction and all the available options should be accessible.
The more people know about it, the higher is the digital usage. When users are comfortable with technicalities such as Unified Payment Interface or UPI, it becomes very easy to do financial transactions online.
With the help of the widespread network of CSC and the active participation of Gram Panchayats, the digital literacy mission anticipates a huge success.
If it happened on all practical grounds, then it will be a major breakthrough. Certainly, it will boost the governments policies.
As the target group includes all organized and unorganized businesses in the rural and urban areas, there will be a direct impact on the economy.
Why do we need more digital awareness?
As mentioned earlier, it becomes inevitable to use digital mode of payment with the changing business scenario in India.Since the magnitude of cash transactions will see a gradual dip, everyone has to be prepared for the digital era.
By making the rural people aware of it, the government wants to cover the larger chunk of the population. The urban sector is fairly well aware.