Delhi welcomes its first fully digital village
Surakhpur village in south-west Delhi was today declared the first fully digital payment-enabled village of the national capital.
According to the district administration, all 113 households have at least one Aadhaar seeded bank account linked with mobile phones, making it a 100 percent digital payment-enabled village. At a function in Delhi, Sub Divisional Magistrate (Najafgarh) Anjali Sehrawat formally made this declaration.
An official said.
People were informed that Aadhaar seeding and mobile linking of their bank accounts will enable them to easily switch to less-cash transactions. In view of this, all bank accounts have been linked to their Aadhaar and mobile to cater to the needs of villagers, the official added.
According to The Hindu reports, the district officials erected LED screens at chaupals and played videos of NITI Aayog on the cashless mode of payment to educate the residents of the village. Sehrawat in an official statement said,
PoS machines were installed in two kirana shops for payments by debit/credit card for local purchases. Door-to-door survey was carried out by a devoted team of civil defence volunteers to assess the extent of banked population and Aadhaar enrolment. People were informed of mobile wallets, USSD, bank-specific applications, and the upcoming BHIM app as user-friendly ways of digital financial transactions. People were informed that Aadhaar seeding and mobile linking of their bank accounts will enable them to easily switch to fewer cash transactions.
Surakhpur is not the first village in the country to go digital. Akodara, India's first 'digital village' is located in Gujarat's Sabarkantha district. Situated 90 km from Ahmedabad, the village has been functioning normally despite the chaos demonetisation has brought to the rest of the country, as neither shops nor citizens of the village deal in cash. Residents of Akodara have been using e-banking for everything. From buying milk and groceries to paying bills and drawing salaries, everyone here uses mobile phones for their payments.
