The Digi Dhan mela, a Government of India initiative aimed at incentivizing digitally enabled transformation in the country following the recent demonetization and spreading digital financial literacy among the public, was held at State Central Library in Shillong today. The one-day Digi Dhan Mela in Shillong was organized by the Information Technology and Communication Department, Government of Meghalaya in collaboration with NITI Aayog and Ministry of Electronics & IT, Government of India with an aim to promote digital and cashless transactions. Union Minister of State for Railways Shri Rajen Gohain attended the programme as the Chief Guest and Minister of Information Technology & Communication Department, Government of Meghalaya Dr M Ampareen Lyngdoh as the Guest of Honour.
Speaking on the occasion, Shri Rajen Gohain hailed Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s decision on demonetisation and said, “This dynamic and momentous step has been among other reasons primarily aimed at curbing the flow of black money, fighting corruption and weeding put fake currency”. Enumerating the innumerable benefits of Digital transactions he said that it leads to curbing of tax avoidance, mitigate generation of black money, keeps check on inflation and enables huge savings to RBI on account of steep fall in procurement and printing of paper currency including its management. He also said that a Digital Economy will enable improvement in delivery of government welfare programme by checking leakages, increasing transparency and efficiency in services delivery; and enabling better targeting as money is transferred directly into the accounts of the beneficiaries.
Hinting on the enormous positive impact of a cashless economy on tax generation Shri Gohain said, “Prior to demonetisation only 1 per cent of India’s population was paying taxes. Now more and more people are becoming part of our tax system which has prompted the government to lower the income tax for the benefit of small income groups in this budget”. “Ultimately, the beneficiary of all this exercise is the common man as more and more development works will be undertaken to develop the far flung areas of our country like the North East”, he said.
Acknowledging the initial challenges for migrating to a cashless economy the minister said, “there are certain challenges and barriers in universalization of digital transactions and migration to digital economy in remote corners of the North East where infrastructure and internet connectivity is poor and where awareness on digital transactions is poor”, but he assured that the Central Government will undertake all possible steps to address these challenges and concerns. He was hopeful that this Digi Dhan Mela in Shillong will be able to spread awareness and disseminate information regarding various modes of digital payments among masses.
State IT & C Minister Dr M Ampareen Lyngdoh in her speech expressed the hope that the Mela will help in establishing a digital payment eco-system in the State which will lead to a less cash society. The Mela will provide an opportunity for the general public and make them aware on the digital payment process and its benefits which would remove any fears from doing money transaction through mobile phones, she said. She also expressed the need for organising more such fairs in the remote areas of the state so that the people in the rural areas also inculcate the habit of a digital economy. She called upon the people of the state to make this people oriented movement a huge success. Expressing her concern on poor network connectivity in the State, Dr Lyngdoh stressed on having more telecom towers and equipment to increase coverage and also urged the BSNL and private sector players to come forward to address this concern.
Other highlights of the day included exhibitions by banks, mobile wallets providers, government departments and entrepreneurs, opening of bank accounts on spot and link it to aadhar number, besides various competitions on cash less transaction on poster, jingle, slogan etc and performances by artists.
The Union Minister launched the BSNL Mobicash, an e-wallet application and distributed prizes to the winners of various competition held as part of the celebration. The State IT & C Minister also handed over the awards to four local taxi drivers, Shri Bankular Kharkongor, Shri Imran Khan, Shri Subash Thapa and Bablu Kumar with Digital Taxi Award and Shri Manosh Kumar Rai, a cobbler by profession with the Digital Vendor Award for successfully carrying out digital transactions in their day to day business.
At the event huge public participation was seen thronging different stalls put up by various banks, telecom companies and different departments of the State Government to gather first hand information about various Digital Schemes of the Government of India.
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