New Delhi: Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Shri Kiren Rijiju has called upon the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) personnel to adopt cashless transactions and utilize their vast reach across all corners of the country to spread the message of digital payments. Addressing a Workshop on Cashless Transaction organised by the NDRF here today, Shri Rijiju said the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) & State Police Forces personnel must take the lead as our nation is poised to join the leading economies of the world. Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi aims to take India from being the world’s fifth largest economy at present to among the world’s top three economies in the next ten years, he added.
Shri Rijiju said that though it is difficult to move to Digital Payments initially but once you start you can easily adapt to the cashless mode of payments. He said that the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has encouraged the citizens to switch over to the ‘less cash’ transactions.
Addressing the gathering, Chief Executive Officer, NITI Aayog, Shri Amitabh Kant said that India cannot afford as high as 95 percent of its economy making cash transactions if we are to take our economy from $2 trillion to $10 trillion by the year 2030. Besides, only 1% of the more than 1.25 billion population pays Income Tax, he said.
Shri Kant said that there are more than a billion mobile phone subscribers in India and more than one billion Aadhaar biometrics have been created so far. With an aim to push India among the top economies of the world the Government has enrolled nearly 26 crore people under the Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) and more than 20 crore RuPay cards issued, he said. The time is here to make a transition to cashless transactions, he added.
Speaking on the occasion, Director General, NDRF Shri RK Pachnanda said that cashless transactions not only make everyday life easier but is also gainful as the Government has introduced several incentives to make the cashless transactions popular. He asked the NDRF personnel to also imbibe the principle, “Each One, Teach One” to spread the message across a wider cross section of people.
Manager, NITI Aayog, Shri Mudit Narain later made presentation on ‘Digital Payments’. He said a number of convenient modes of electronic payments are available such as the United Payments Interface, e-Wallet, Prepaid Cash, Credit & Debit Cards, Unstructered Supplementary Service Data (USSD) and Aadhaar Enabled Payment System for their needs. One need not even have a Smart Phone to make transactions over USSD, any mobile phone number linked to the individual’s bank account can be used for transferring money.
