The main purpose of Prime Minister’s Cashless Bharat Mission is to enable digital payments in Government-citizen transactions and ensuring coordination between all the agencies. The idea is to put a check on black money coming into circulation and thus spreading the culture of corruption. The scheme was something of a pyramidal nature with an Apex Committee headed by the CEO of National Institution for Transforming India (NITI) that framed the outline for the States of how to go ahead with the programme of promoting Cashless Bharat Mission. Obviously, various digital payment systems appropriate to different sectors of economy had to be identified at the level of the Central Committee. Even directions were issued to States for take similar initiatives at their level..
In March last, the GAD constituted committees at various levels for effective implementation of the scheme in the State. It was decided that these committees will primarily focus on enabling digital payments in Government-citizen transactions in rural development and some other sectors including Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs. Put in simple words, the purpose was that Government-civilian payments under various heads of expenditure were to be made through digital platform.. However, the disturbing truth is that so far no committee either at the level of Divisional Commissioners or District Commissioners have been constituted for the purpose. For the State Level Coordination Committee, Administrative Secretary of Department of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj was made Chairman with Administrative Secretaries of nearly half a dozen departments as its members. This Committee was mandated to frame roll-out plan and training calendar, coordinate with all involved agencies, issue advisories, monitor the roll-out and trainings with timelines and assign targets to the Divisional Level Coordination Committee for enabling digital payments. The concerned committees would meet once a month to act on the terms of reference. Despite the fact that two months have passed and still not a single meeting has been held. The State level Committee was supposed to issue roll out plan and targets for the guidance of Divisional Committees and beyond. The Divisional Committee meeting becomes aimless in absence of the guidelines, roll out plan and targets to set forth clearly.
All that we find is that the State administration is not taking the initiative very seriously. If the Government is determined to eradicate corruption and corrupt practices, it is important that the initiative taken by the Prime Minister is responded with equal earnestness. We are aware that there are vested interests playing their role subtly because they have interest in cash payments and cashless transactions deprive them of ill -gotten benefits. Not to speak of Division level Committees, even District Level and Block Level Committees are finding it difficult to initiate any step towards enabling digital payments in the absence of instructions from the State Level Committee. From this ground situation one can presume that the State does not want the Cashless Bharat Mission of the Prime Minister to succeed in the State. It is a matter of grave disappointment.
We would suggest the State Government not to try to trivialize the big effort of the Prime Minister towards eradicating corruption in the administrative structure and to bring India in line with the international system of cashless transactions. The State has to cooperate and sooner it does the better. A directive from the Government has to be sent to the State Level Committee to immediately attend the task of framing the guidelines and fixing targets for digital payments at various committees within the shortest possible time.
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