· DigiDhan Mela witnessed footfall of over 10,000 visitors · 34 participants from Banks, Mobile Wallet Companies, Telecom Operators and Govt. entities took part in the Mela
The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) today organised the 32nd DigiDhanMela – an awareness camp for promoting and publicizing various methods of digital payments – at Town Hall, Mangalore. The Mela is aimed at educating citizens and merchants on various digital payments.
Shri Ravi Shankar Prasad, Hon’ble Union Minister of Electronics and Information Technology, GoI graced the event with his august presence. Other dignitaries present at the mela were – Hon’ble Minister of State, Drinking Water and Sanitation Shri. Ramesh Jigajinagi, Hon’ble Member of Parliament – Shri. Nalin Kumar Kateel (Dakshin Kannada), Shri. K Abhyachandra MLA Moodabiri, Shri. B.A. Mohiuddin Bava MLA, Mangaluru City North, Dr. Yogesh Suri, Advisor, NITI Ayog, Shri. M.R. Ravi, CEO Zilla Panchayat, Dakshina Kannada, Smt. Meenakshi Shanthigodu, President, D.K. Zila Panchayat, Smt. Sumithra Karia Deputy Mayor, Mangaluru City Corporation, Captian Ganesh Karnik MLC, Dr Jagdish, Deputy Commissioner, Mangalore and Shri Sri Kumara, ADC.
Shri Ravi Shankar Prasad inaugurated the Digidhan Mela and also flagged off a Digital Rath. He interacted with the citizens and merchants present at the mela and also announced the Weekly winners of Lucky Grahak Yojana.
He also distributed laptops to top 5 Village Level Entrepreneurs (Uma Farookh of Hassan; Ravi Shankar of Bidar; Kailash of Davangiri; Shivu of Dharwad and Garima of Bengaluru Urban) for their contributions in implementing Digi Dhan Abhiyan.
Shri. Ramesh Jigajinagi and Shri. Nalin Kumar Kateel inaugurated the stalls.
Speaking at the event, Shri. Ravi Shankar Prasad, Hon’ble Minister for Electronics & Information Technology said “Mangalore to Muzzafarpur; Karnataka to Kashmir, India is adding Mobile phones equivalent to the population of France and Italy. India is home to 50 crore internet users, 110 crore UIDAI card holders and we are largest users of Google and Facebook after US. We are transforming India in a big way as there are 25 crore JanDhan accounts which receive direct benefit transfer and in the process Government of India already saved Rs 36000 crore so far.”
Hon’ble Minister also said “Terrorism, Maoism and hawala transactions have reduced due to demonetization. To enlarge tax base from 3 crore people to more we require honest and accounted transactions. To create infrastructure, funds for the army, building roads we require money. We have changed laws for Benami transactions, set up SIT to investigate about black money. Today I also made digital payment at Shri Krishna temple at Udupi and at Mukambika temple.”
The participants of DigiDhan Mela in Mangalore explained various options available for digital payments to the visitors; they also assisted visitors in downloading and installing various mobile apps for digital payments and helped them in successfully completing one digital transaction. During the event, help was also being extended to citizens for opening their bank accounts, to enroll them for Aadhaar. People could also purchase items of daily needs at the DigiBazar. Hon’ble Minister Shri Ravi Shankar Prasad visited various stalls at the mela, interacted with the students from schools and colleges, participants and also made a cashless transaction at one of the stalls.
“Digital India is bringing about a revolutionary transformation in India, making inclusive development a possibility. Around 20 million citizens and over 6 lakh merchants have been trained by the Ministry in digital payment methods since the launch of the DigiDhan campaign. The rapid rate of adoption of digital payments by youth, men and women across all walks of life is an indication of the emergent digital economy.” said Ms. Aruna Sundararajan, Secretary, Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology (MeitY)
Digital India outreach campaign started in Karnataka from 8th June 2016 and has covered 9 districts including Bangalore, Bangalore Rural, Kolar, Chikkaballapur, Tumkur, Mandya, Mysore Chamarajanagar and Coorg. Now Digidhan campaign will start from Mangalore and cover Hassan. The campaign will conclude by mid February.
The Digidhan campaign one of its kind will travel across districts at pan India level to educate citizens for adopting digital payment modes.
The DigiDhan Melas being held across India aims to handhold users in downloading, installing and using various digital payment systems for carrying out digital transactions. The initiative plans to enable citizens and merchants to undertake real time digital transactions through the DigiDhan Bazaar.
DigiDhanMela will be followed up by camps organised at state level and at bank branch levels. This Mela is primarily targeted at urban populace and looks to supplement the rural effort of promoting digital payments being led by the Common Services Centres. The Mela is providing free WiFi to enable citizens to download and install mobile apps for aiding on the spot digital payments.
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