NEW DELHI: Soon, people staying in villages adopted by MPs will be aware of the digital banking system. Concerned over the fact that the demonetisation process has affected villagers most as they are unaware of the modern banking system, the Modi government wants parliamentarians to focus on villages they have adopted under the Saansad Adarsh Gram Yojana (SAGY).
The government wants villages to become cashless in the coming days to make mission demonetisation a success. However, lack of awareness about e-banking and mobile banking system is proving to be a major hurdle. Sources said, the PMO believes that the process should start with villages adopted by MPs under the SAGY scheme so that other villages can replicate it.
“Camps and workshops will be organised in these villages to make the villagers aware of the digital banking system. Banks have also been told to cooperate with the people who are not aware of the modern banking system. MPs have been asked to participate actively in bringing more and more people under the banking system and to educate them to use plastic money and mobile banking,” a senior official said.
Plans of making the villages adopted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi cashless has already been chalked out and the process would start soon. The PM has adopted village Jayapur in the first phase and village Nagepur in second phase of SAGY scheme. Both villages are part of Varanasi constituency. “Wi-Fi and hotspots are in place in these villages,” the official added.
About 2,200 villages have to be developed in the first three phases of SAGY by 2019. The government has decided to tap corporate resources for the scheme and panchayats have been told to tap the resources of the private sector to deal with fund chrunch in carrying out developmental work.
“Each gram panchayat should actively tap the resources and strengths of the private, voluntary and cooperative sectors which could help in making available relevant technologies for local adoptions as well as making investments for local economic development,” an official of the rural development ministry said.
Amid the government’s push for cashless economy, many banks and NGOs have come forward to take such initiatives. Recently, Maharashtra declared Dhasai village in Thane district the first cashless village and the initiative was taken by Bank of Baroda in collaboration with an NGO. ICICI bank has also announced that it will transform 100 villages into ‘ICICI Digital Villages’ enabling villagers to use digital channels for banking and payments transactions.