Govt launches DigiShala channel to promote digital payments

Law and information technology (IT) minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Friday launched DigiShala, a free Doordarshan DTH channel to educate and inform the people about the various modes of digital payments. The channel will help people understand the use of unified payments interface (UPI), USSD, aadhaar-enabled payments system, electronic wallets, debit and credit cards. The minister also launched a website (www.cashlessindia.gov.in) which will serve as a repository of knowledge regarding digital payments. Both the channel and website were launched as a part of the ‘Digi Dhan Abhiyan’, a campaign conceptualized by the IT ministry to enable every citizen, small trader and merchant to adopt digital payments in their every day financial transactions. “All modes of digital payments are showing enormous rise at an average growth of 400-1000% since the last one month. These figures are without any formal digital education. With DigiShala being introduced we can only imagine the growth figures in the coming days,” said Prasad during the event.

DigiShala will be available through GSAT15 (DD Direct DTH), 93.5 degree East, Receive frequency: 11590 Mhz, the government said. The channel, with a potential viewership of more than two crore across the country, will be available initially in English and Hindi and subsequently in regional languages. “DigiShala will enable and empower every citizen of the country, especially farmers, students, Dalits and women in rural areas to learn the usefulness and benefits of digital payment in our everyday life to adopt the same on a mass scale,” Prasad said. The idea is to educate the people through talk shows and panel discussions on the adoption of digital modes of payments, he added. The website has been designed to provide all official information at one source regarding digital payment methods and different schemes undertaken by the government. It also targets educating people about safeguarding their accounts from cyber crimes and phishing. On Thursday finance minister Arun Jaitley announced that two point-of-sale machines will be provided to villages with a population of up to 10,000 and 100,000 villages will be selected for this purpose. The provision of digital literacy to semi-urban and rural sector of the economy has become the major focus area for the government since Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the recall of Rs500 and Rs1,000 notes on 8 November.

“The government has adopted a comprehensive education approach to make people understand the importance and ease of digital payments. Most of the people residing in the villages do not know that their debit cards can be used for purposes other than as an ATM card. Here comes the necessity of awareness and education, and making these people able to enjoy the benefits of digital literacy,”said Sanjay Swamy, managing partner, Prime Venture Partners.