UGC issues directives to educational institutions to promote digital economy

The Union Grant Commission (UGC) in privy with the government’s ambition to make India a digital economy has urged all universities and colleges to adopt cashless transaction and spread awareness about the same.

Union Minister for HRD Prakash Javadekar, in recent times, issued a direction to educational institutions to adopt and promote cashless transactions and conduct of business.

In a meeting chaired by the union minister on November 28 this year with the top ministry, he urged the officials and heads of boards and councils to review steps to promote cashless transaction.

Directives to promote digital economy:

• The UGC, in a letter to educational institutes and universities across the country, advised a month-long campaign starting from December 12, 2016 to educate and train students the various procedures and methods of digital payment

• “Participation in the campaign by the youth in the higher educational institutions is highly relevant because they would be the main beneficiaries of a digital economy – free of corruption, black money, completely transparent and just,” said the letter

• “It is therefore essential that the heads of all institutions educate and train their students in the various modes of digital payments and encourage them to join as volunteers in large numbers for this campaign,” it added

• “The NSS and NCC units in your institution may be asked to meet immediately and identify one nearby market or mandi to transform it into a digital market place, where all shops, establishments etc are enabled with digital payment system,” the letter said, as reported in The Indian Express

Primary motive: Digital transactions in educational institutes

The primary objective of UGC behind promoting cashless transaction is to ensure every educational institute across the country develops a digital payment system in all business conducts and transactions.

“An important component of this campaign is to ensure that every campus becomes completely cashless by adopting digital payment systems in all its receipts, payments and transactions within the campus,” the commission said.