RAYAGADA: THE Centre’s Digital India programme that aims at creating a digitally empowered society has fallen flat in Rayagada district, which faces poor internet connectivity.
Lack of proper Internet access has become a roadblock for implementation of several government schemes that require digital linking of bank accounts of beneficiaries. Due to poor internet network and connectivity in rural pockets of the district, people are deprived of online financial transactions as well as digital payments.
Government schemes like Jan Dhan Yojana, Suraksha Yojana, Mudra, Atal Pension Yojana and Jeevan Jyoti Yojana require beneficiaries to link their bank accounts besides, salary payments, loan disbursal and single window clearances are done online these days. However, bank transactions do not often succeed due to lack of or slow internet connections. Many private banks too are not willing to open their branches in rural areas due to poor internet connection.
According to reports, as many as 68 gram panchayats out of 182 in the district do not have any banking facility. The district has 96 branches of nationalised banks of which State Bank of India (SBI) has 28, Indian Overseas Bank has eight and ICICI has three branches. Utkal Gramya Bank (UGB) has 26 branches. Apart from UGB, the other banks only have their branches in urban and semi-urban areas like Rayagada, Gunupur, Muniguda and Tikiri. Sources said hundreds of customer service points have also been opened by the SBI in rural areas but due to lack of internet, Government’s drive to promote digital transactions has failed.
Sources said differently-abled people in rural areas are deprived of Differential Rate of Interest (DRI) loans in the absence of nationalised banks. Although there are 26 UGBs in the district, people are not able to take loans under Pradhan Mantri Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP), Mudra besides, the DRI loans.
This apart, payments of MGNREGA scheme are directly deposited into the accounts of beneficiaries, who face difficulty in drawing the cash through ATMs due to frequent ‘link failure’. In the absence of bank branches in rural areas, beneficiaries from villages have to travel to block or district headquarters to draw cash from banks.
Even as the Central Government has declared Rayagada as one of the ‘Aspirational Districts’ and appointed a nodal officer for the district who is aware of the situation, no steps have been taken for good internet coverage.