BENGALURU: In a major boost to financial inclusion for customers of 1.39 lakh rural post offices across the country, the Centre for Excellence in Postal Technology under India Post rolled out Darpan 2.0 on Tuesday. In Karnataka, 7,960 rural post offices have been covered under the project.
The newer version of the digital advancement of Rural Post Office for a New India (DARPAN) has been completely developed in-house. Chief Postmaster General, Karnataka Circle, Rajendra S Kumar said, “Devices with Android application have been handed over to officials at rural post offices. They are generally manned by a single person. A total of 4 lakh bank transactions have already been recorded on them.”
Customers stand to benefit as transactions will be much faster. “The earlier system which expired on September 30 this year used the Linux software with numerous vendors, including TCS and Infosys, providing us services. All the services have been clubbed together and completely developed in-house here,” the CPMG said. Multiple works can be done if the account is linked to Aadhaar.
To ensure no disruption in services in rural areas after the previous system expired, postal employees worked during the weekend and on Gandhi Jayanti to ensure the new software would carry out all the required operations without any glitches, he said. It had begun at different places across the country over the last couple of days, but on Tuesday, it became operational across Karnataka, he said.
“Users took to the new application easily since it was developed as a mobile application which is easy to use. The workflow is intuitive,” he added.