Bhatinda, Nov 25 (KNN) Prime Minister Narendra Modi has asked the youth of the country to come forward and create awareness amongst people around them on mobile banking system.

PM Modi attended a rally today and laid the foundation of an AIIMS hospital.

Modi said the youth of the country, university & college students, politicians etc can reach out to the people around them to teach them on making payments using mobile apps and mobile wallets.

"The world is changing. We must move towards cashless economy," PM Modi said.

“Your mobile phone can be turned into your bank and wallet; today’s tech can help you use it for purchasing things, making payments,” PM Modi suggested, as a solution to the cash crunch.

Strongly backing his demonetization move which is widely being criticized by the opposition, Modi said the country is fighting a big battle against corruption and black money and the ordinary citizen is the soldier in the fight.

The small traders and micro entrepreneurs have been raising the issue of lack of knowledge, especially amongst the rural population and people above 50 years of age, on usage of plastic money and on online transactions.

Some experts even pointed that the small traders, MSEs and farmers to some extend are used to dealing just in cash. The reasons for this are many such as mind-set, lack of knowledge, illiteracy, lack of financial literacy, no bank accounts and lack of technology know-how.

But now the question is that when the government is firm to stick to its move, there is a serious need to inject knowledge on financial system and digital payment system not only amongst the young population but also amongst the ageing population of the country.

Here the simple formula of “You educate a student; you educate the whole family” can be applied.

Dinesh Singhal, Director, Kanohar Lal Trust Society, said, “Government should come up with programmes at University and College levels to make the youth financially literate. They in turn would educate the entire family.”

After a meeting of the members of the Partapur Industries Association held in Meerut yesterday, Singhal, who is also the Past President of industry body FISME, had said that the members discussed the various problems being faced by them in doing business without cash and difficulties coming their way in accepting plastic money.

“Most of the members were of the view that the rural economy was not mentally ready or rather literate enough to accept demonetization. For them business means cash money as they are absolutely not used to plastic money,” he said adding that educated people from different sectors lack financial literacy for which some measures can be taken by the government.

The government can educate the students in the colleges and universities who in turn can teach their family members, friends etc about the financial system and bank procedures.

Citing successful example about this, Singhal pointed that a counter of Banking System was set up in at the annual education fare ‘Saarthak’ organized by the Kanohar Lal Trust.

The students gave live presentations to the visitors and parents about the basics of banking system. This particular project not only helped the students gain knowledge about the entire payment ecosystem but also imparted knowledge to hundreds of visitors who walked away with clarity on how this e-banking and mobile banking system can add convenience to everyone life.

Similar views were shared by Rishipal Ambawata, President, Bhartiya Kissan Union. Talking to KNN, Ambawata said that in remote locations 80 per cent of the farmers don’t have bank accounts. They solely deal in cash.

He said that before making any such announcements, the government should have first made the rural population or even some sections of the urban population literate to help them switch to e-banking or mobile banking.

Arvind Singh, President, National Association of Street Vendors of India, told KNN, “Only in some places, which is very rare, two to four vendors are using mobile wallets for payments. Switching to electronic payment mode is not as easy as it seems for the vendors.”

He said it is just mere assumption that every vendor must be having a mobile or an account. The street vendors are not equipped with mobiles nor have the knowledge of mobile banking or electronic payments or plastic money usage. (KNN Bureau)