This Gujarat Village Can Teach India How To Go Cashless

A Gujarat village is the only place in India that remains unaffected by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's demonetisation move that turned existing currency noted of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 worthless. How so? This village went cashless in the year of 2015.

Akodara, a village that is about an hour's drive from Ahmedabad, falls in the Sabarkantha district. From buying groceries and milk to paying bills and drawing salaries, the villagers in Akora use mobile phones for making payments. If you want to buy a packet of say, salt, here, all you have to do is make a mobile payment. The village is wi-fi-enabled, too.

This village can not only inspire villages across the country but can be a great example for cities to follow, too. Shopkeepers in major Indian cities have been struggling to cope with the impact of demonetisation.

Helped by the local administration, the village which has a population of 1,100 people is adopted by private lender ICICI Bank. The private lender aims to showcase the village as an example of vision for future digital India. 

Every households –there are 215 of them—has at least one mobile phone and every adult has a bank account. For every transaction, they use mobile banking which made them less liable to corruption and fraud. Also, their bank accounts are linked to their Aadhaar cards. Some of the famous e-commerce brand also deliver their products to Akodara on a highway that connects the village to all the urban centres around it. 

It is worth mentioning here that the village has a high literacy rate, too. And, by going digital, people of this village now have access to better education facilities also.

For instance, the village introduced with digital aid, where an audio-visual device can integrate a projector and a computer. Students use electronic tablets to learn various educational learnings. The anganwadis of Akodara village have CCTVs, too. This working model of a digital India can't really be replicated at other places also. 

If the socio-economic conditions are good and the basic needs of the village are already met, all the 6 lakh villages of India can aim high for a digital future.