My sobering encounters with Modi's Digital India

[prasad1]

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A week ago, I decided not to spend money in the wake of demonetisation. Some of my Modi bhakt friends suggested I spend money to keep the economy going. Heeding their advice, I got my weekly rations last week. Not foodgrains, silly, but cash. Rs 24,000, the government dictated weekly cash quota for all Indians.

I felt great when the bank teller handed me 11 notes of Rs 2,000 and another 20 notes of Rs 100. Before I could tell him I needed change he had summoned the next person in the queue. Armed with the Rs 2,000 notes, I stumbled on the dawn of Digital India.
With a Rs 2,000 note in hand, I sought to buy three tickets for the Alia Bhatt-Shah Rukh Khan starrer Dear Zindagi at Paradise, the single screen theatre near my home.

The man at the ticket counter told me firmly that he would not accept the Rs 2,000 note and if I wanted my family to watch Dear Zindagi I would have to bring change. Unfazed, I smiled and showed him my credit card, saying, "Now please accept this. India is going digital. Don't you know that?" The ticket seller laughed and said, "Are you serious? Who is going digital? Which India are you talking about?"
"Modiji's India," I replied.

"We don't accept credit or debit cards," he told me sternly, "If you want to watch the film, bring Rs 480 in change for three tickets. Or go to bookmyshow and book the tickets." 'Eureka!' I thought almost with Archimedean fervour, 'Modiji's Digital India works!'

I logged onto bookmyshow and tried to book three tickets using my credit card. I was startled to discover that the site would bill me Rs 58.20 extra as Internet charges for the three tickets. The extra charge, I guess, is the price one needs to pay for life in Modiji's Digital India, but I was unwilling to do so.

"You are a fool," a bhakt friend told me. "Download the Paytm app and then buy the movie tickets. They have many discounts."
'Eureka!' I thought again. 'Problem solved.' I tried to download the app on my phone and felt I was entering the Alibaba's cave of digital riches which Modiji talks about all the time.

In two minutes that illusion too was shattered.
My outdated smartphone responded, saying I didn't have enough space to download the app. "Ouch! Now what to do?" I asked my all-knowing bhakt friend.

There is a way out, he said, asking me to move my phone's memory data to an external memory card, and then install the app.
I would have to buy a 16 GB external memory card for Rs 528 to do that, he added. "No way am I going to pay Rs 528 extra for a memory card just to watch Dear Zindagi," I said.

The bhakt was determined that I jump onto the digital bandwagon. "If you don't change," he asked, "how will the rest of India change?"
He helpfully offered to book the movie tickets from his Paytm account. His fingers moved like the bullet train which Modiji wants us so badly to have on his phone's display and within seconds he was on Paytm to book my tickets.

Alas!
The Paradise theatre was not listed on Paytm and my friend finally gave up. There were only two options to watch Dear Zindagi.
Pay Rs 58.20 extra on bookmy show or fork up the exact change, which I didn't have. I opted for the time tested Indian solution, jugaad.
I asked my friend to loan me Rs 480.

And thus ended, for now at least, my 'Digital India' dream.
http://www.rediff.com/news/column/my-sobering-encounters-with-modis-digital-india/20161129.htm

 

[Vaagmi]

A fat middle aged man who had just returned from the bank proudly flashing the quota of amount he could draw from his account came home and sat before his lap top and started furiously hitting the keys and he had this blog opening up and he found a likeminded soul speaking the language he understands only very well.

A housewife after returning from the bank with the quota of currencies wiped her sweat and sat before the laptop to see what mails she had received in her inbox and before doing that opened the blog and read the story and she too found a kindred soul speaking her language.

The common denominator between our fat middle aged man, the housewife and our friend here who is making fun of Modi's digital India initiative is that all the three belong to the upper middle class. And all those who were standing in the queue before the ATMs invariably are all well dressed and well fed (apparently) middle class men and women only.

The majority of this country are poor lower class made up of workers and self employed individuals whose daily wages are less than Rs. 500 and if you take into account the jobless days in a month and factor it in, the daily average wages earned is still less. These people just do not bother what is happening to the babus standing in the queue. They have nothing to do with these demonetised Rs. 1000 and Rs. 500 notes. It is as if it is happening in a far away land certainly not theirs. My house maid said she stood in the queue and exchanged a 1000 Rs note given to her by a local Dada and got a hundred bucks as commission. When someone advised her it is dangerous, she stopped doing that. In all her innocence she asked me whether the Rs. 2000 note will be bigger in size than the withdrawn Rs. 1000 note. I showed her the new Rs. 2000 note and she was confused as to why it should be smaller than the old !000 note.

So, friends, the masses of India just do not care. That is despite some brilliant but irresponsible legal brains of the country expected people to riot and disrupt the peace in the country to oppose demonetisation. The cue was not taken and ignored because of the reason explained above. People do not indulge in riot for 1000 note which in any case they never possessed for a long time.

Yes for people who want to read blogs after their dinner in the night it may be making interesting reading but these middle class babus do not make the population of this country-fortunately.

 

[prasad1]

Bhakt of all shade, have no rational bone in their body. A Bhakt can not see the fallacy in his devotion. A faith is not a reality.

 

[Vaagmi]

Bhakt of all shade, have no rational bone in their body. A Bhakt can not see the fallacy in his devotion. A faith is not a reality.

A nastik is also a bhakt only but of another kind. His bhakti is just negative. A nastic can not see the fallacy in his denial. He lives in his make believe world of Denial of every thing. He just chants no no no, no good no good no good.

 

[prasad1]

A nastik is also a bhakt only but of another kind. His bhakti is just negative. A nastic can not see the fallacy in his denial. He lives in his make believe world of Denial of every thing. He just chants no no no, no good no good no good.

In Hinduism, and in particular Jnana Yoga and Advaita Vedanta, neti neti is a Sanskrit expression which means "not this, not this", or "neither this, nor that" (neti is sandhi from na iti "not so"). It is found in the Upanishads and the Avadhuta Gita and constitutes an analytical meditation helping a person to understand the nature of Brahman by first understanding what is not Brahman. It corresponds to the western via negativa, a mystical approach that forms a part of the tradition of apophatic theology. One of the key elements of Jnana Yoga practice is often a "neti neti search." The purpose of the exercise is to negate rationalizations and other distractions from the non-conceptual meditative awareness of reality.

Of course a Blind follower Bhakt (not a leader) can not understand that. Oh I forgot Vaisnava Cult followers would not know Jnana Yoga.
By the way Advaita Vedanta follower is not a nastic. I think somebody is confused about Sanskrit words.

When you have to pay a premium to use digital methods, it will fail.
Unless there is an incentive to use digital payment method, cash is the king.

Vaagmiji,
In your haste to spew venom at personal level you forgot to read my post, or understand it.

There were only two options to watch Dear Zindagi.
Pay Rs 58.20 extra on bookmy show or fork up the exact change, which I didn't have.

 

[prasad1]

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[TD="colspan: 2"][h=1]Just 22% of India's transactions Are Non-Cash[/h][/TD]
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[TD]On This Day - 14 November 2016[/TD]
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[TD="colspan: 2"]Over last few years, India has seen rising penetration and adoption of digital payments. Apart from cards, net banking and mobile banking transactions are on rise. However, if one compares India's position vs global peers, it lags far behind.
According to study conducted by Boston Consulting Group (BCG) in July 2016, the non-cash payments, through modes such as cheques, demand drafts, net-banking and cards, currently account for 22% of all consumer payments in India. However, by 2025 the group projected the number to increase to 59%, as India moves towards digital transactions.
The government's clampdown on black money, and sustained efforts to push digital and electronic payment systems could persuade more people to move to non-cash options. Over and above, the entry of several non-banking institutions offering payment services and solutions too has been gaining grounds. With these developments we may see change in the ratio of cash to non-cash transactions over the next few years.
While the dream of a cashless society seems far, we certainly have taken a long leap in realizing that goal. This will massively change the way people spend. Most importantly, it will lead to a cleaner GDP and financial inclusion of the Indian masses, both great for the economy in the long term.
Data Source: Economic Times, BCG


Do you know, that some parts of Bihar they still do not have even electricity? Forget about mobile or internet.
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[prasad1]

[h=2]Cash Usage Still High[/h] The ratio of cash in circulation to GDP increased across major markets, although there were some exceptions such as Nordic countries including Sweden. Based on current usage patterns, cash is expected to remain a significant payment instrument in the near future, even in markets that offer advanced digital payments. Cash continues to be attractive because it provides multiple benefits to the payer, including anonymity and being free of charge.




[h=3]Cash-in-Circulation As a Percentage of GDP in the U.S., U.K., Sweden, and Eurozone (%), 2010–2014[/h]

https://www.worldpaymentsreport.com/Cash-Usage-Still-High

 

[Vaagmi]

In Hinduism, and in particular Jnana Yoga and Advaita Vedanta, neti neti is a Sanskrit expression which means "not this, not this", or "neither this, nor that" (neti is sandhi from na iti "not so"). It is found in the Upanishads and the Avadhuta Gita and constitutes an analytical meditation helping a person to understand the nature of Brahman by first understanding what is not Brahman. It corresponds to the western via negativa, a mystical approach that forms a part of the tradition of apophatic theology. One of the key elements of Jnana Yoga practice is often a "neti neti search." The purpose of the exercise is to negate rationalizations and other distractions from the non-conceptual meditative awareness of reality.

Of course a Blind follower Bhakt (not a leader) can not understand that. Oh I forgot Vaisnava Cult followers would not know Jnana Yoga.
By the way Advaita Vedanta follower is not a nastic. I think somebody is confused about Sanskrit words.

When you have to pay a premium to use digital methods, it will fail.
Unless there is an incentive to use digital payment method, cash is the king.

Vaagmiji,
In your haste to spew venom at personal level you forgot to read my post, or understand it.

Prasadji,

I can understand the consternation in you when you find some one countering your pilgrimage into the irrelevant. But that is a hazard you have to put up with because your pilgrimage is in the public domain in a forum in the net. I will continue to counter your such wasteful, irrelevant copy pasting adventures here.

Coming to your post,

As usual you have copy pasted from somewhere the famous neti neti of upanishad. I would just say that you have not brought to my notice anything new and leave it at that. And I do not want to react to your obnoxious "Vaishnava 'cult' followers would not know Jnana Yoga" because I do not want to oblige your burning desire to provoke me. LOL. Whenever meanness raises its head, a vaishnavite keeps away from the discussion. Period.

"When you have to pay a premium to use digital methods, it will fail.
Unless there is an incentive to use digital payment method, cash is the king".

My understanding: Digital methods when adopted save money by way of interest earned on the balances in the Account and in course of time in the vallet too. Cash drawn and kept in a purse does a)not earn anything. It is just a non performing asset.LOL b)carry the risk of being stolen and can even cause loss of life of the carrier.

So sacrifices do not go waste.

It requires a little deeper knowledge of finances to understand these things. LOL.

I will continue to draw you into a debate and will avoid answering a point only when it reflects your meanness in attitude towards Sri Vaishnavism. LOL.

and before I forget, this is not venom. Ask anyone here.

 

[zebra16]

A week ago, I decided not to spend money in the wake of demonetisation. Some of my Modi bhakt friends suggested I spend money to keep the economy going. Heeding their advice, I got my weekly rations last week. Not foodgrains, silly, but cash. Rs 24,000, the government dictated weekly cash quota for all Indians.

I felt great when the bank teller handed me 11 notes of Rs 2,000 and another 20 notes of Rs 100. Before I could tell him I needed change he had summoned the next person in the queue. Armed with the Rs 2,000 notes, I stumbled on the dawn of Digital India.
With a Rs 2,000 note in hand, I sought to buy three tickets for the Alia Bhatt-Shah Rukh Khan starrer Dear Zindagi at Paradise, the single screen theatre near my home.

The man at the ticket counter told me firmly that he would not accept the Rs 2,000 note and if I wanted my family to watch Dear Zindagi I would have to bring change. Unfazed, I smiled and showed him my credit card, saying, "Now please accept this. India is going digital. Don't you know that?" The ticket seller laughed and said, "Are you serious? Who is going digital? Which India are you talking about?"
"Modiji's India," I replied.

"We don't accept credit or debit cards," he told me sternly, "If you want to watch the film, bring Rs 480 in change for three tickets. Or go to bookmyshow and book the tickets." 'Eureka!' I thought almost with Archimedean fervour, 'Modiji's Digital India works!'

I logged onto bookmyshow and tried to book three tickets using my credit card. I was startled to discover that the site would bill me Rs 58.20 extra as Internet charges for the three tickets. The extra charge, I guess, is the price one needs to pay for life in Modiji's Digital India, but I was unwilling to do so.

"You are a fool," a bhakt friend told me. "Download the Paytm app and then buy the movie tickets. They have many discounts."
'Eureka!' I thought again. 'Problem solved.' I tried to download the app on my phone and felt I was entering the Alibaba's cave of digital riches which Modiji talks about all the time.

In two minutes that illusion too was shattered.
My outdated smartphone responded, saying I didn't have enough space to download the app. "Ouch! Now what to do?" I asked my all-knowing bhakt friend.

There is a way out, he said, asking me to move my phone's memory data to an external memory card, and then install the app.
I would have to buy a 16 GB external memory card for Rs 528 to do that, he added. "No way am I going to pay Rs 528 extra for a memory card just to watch Dear Zindagi," I said.

The bhakt was determined that I jump onto the digital bandwagon. "If you don't change," he asked, "how will the rest of India change?"
He helpfully offered to book the movie tickets from his Paytm account. His fingers moved like the bullet train which Modiji wants us so badly to have on his phone's display and within seconds he was on Paytm to book my tickets.

Alas!
The Paradise theatre was not listed on Paytm and my friend finally gave up. There were only two options to watch Dear Zindagi.
Pay Rs 58.20 extra on bookmy show or fork up the exact change, which I didn't have. I opted for the time tested Indian solution, jugaad.
I asked my friend to loan me Rs 480.

And thus ended, for now at least, my 'Digital India' dream.
http://www.rediff.com/news/column/my-sobering-encounters-with-modis-digital-india/20161129.htm

So this blogger stood in the queue for Bank notes and then stood in the queue for "Dear Zindagi" film and you are impressed with it?

Did the blogger has something to write about the queue at the movie theatre for the film, because the passage clearly states that the ticket vendor called the next person in queue? Was the queue at the theatre because of Modi's demonetization drive too?

 

[Raji Ram]

.......... My house maid said she stood in the queue and exchanged a 1000 Rs note given to her by a local Dada and got a hundred bucks as commission. When someone advised her it is dangerous, she stopped doing that. In all her innocence she asked me whether the Rs. 2000 note will be bigger in size than the withdrawn Rs. 1000 note. I showed her the new Rs. 2000 note and she was confused as to why it should be smaller than the old !000 note. .......

I am really surprised, Vaagmi Sir! House maid not knowing the new pink note?

My maid has taken her salary, which is one pink note + a few hundreds on 2nd of December.

 

[V.Balasubramani]

Other side of the coin.

letter to PM Narendra Modi will silence detractors - Read viral post

Kashmir: The demonetisation drive announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on November 8 to counter black money and fake currency has been criticised by the Opposition.

However, Modi has vehemently defended the demonetisation, saying it was done for the benefit of the people.
A Kashmiri Muslim has written a letter to the PM, expressing his support to the move.

Afzal Rehman’s letter has gone viral and a must read for those who are bad-mouthing Modi's decision.
Read the letter, which was initially published in theindianvoice.com, here:

Dear PM Narendra Modi

The life of a Kashmiri is unimaginable for the rest part of India. How a Normal Kashmiri, who works hard everyday to feed his family, lives his life amidst the constant tussle between separatists and Security forces, though it is really a sorry state but we have to live with it.

I am a Normal Kashmiri– Afzal Rahman- and I am not from the 2% separatists in Kashmir. I am a husband, a father of 4 and a son of aged parents- And yes I am a proud Indian and a Kashmiri who runs a “Garments Shop” in Srinagar.

Only thing that I think over and over again is to give a good future to my children. Thus, even after so many threats, I asked my elder son to go for the “Police admission Exams” this year. One of my daughter is studying in class 12th, and I am aware how big this year means in her life, Career and Growth.

But last 4 months have been very unsettling. With almost No Business for 4 months and Curfew almost every day. How can a lower middle class man survive without work? Somehow, I managed to feed my family with past savings- but that was not the only problem.

My daughter lost so many days of her schooling, in such an important time of her life. My son was very demoralized with the situation he saw. The youngsters of his age, who were unemployed, were throwing stones on the security forces. They were given money by separatists. But then what an unemployed man can do?- He will do anything to get some money which could feed the aged parents and crying children.

My own so, who was an aspiring police man, joined the gang of stone pelters, without my knowledge. I got to know about it when he was shot on his arm, by pallet gun.

When the tussle slowed down a bit, they started burning the schools in the valley. My daughter’s school was also there in the list of those 29 torched schools.

Our life was totally down and out, neither we could sleep, nor we could eat, and we were not even allowed to die.
But then on 8th November we heard a news on Radio-Kashmir. You took a decision on banning currency notes of 500/1000. The decision scared us further. We had a little money left with us and that too was in the currency notes of 500. And the option of exchange was never with the Kashmiris, due to unrest.

The whole India thinks about Black Money but Kashmiris think about survival. We never thought this decision of yours would give us our lives back, but it certainly did.

There wasn’t any stone pelting on streets, though the forces were there but pelters were not. With in one or two days traffic started moving in the valley. We opened our shops, there were people in the market. We could certainly see some happy faces.

At other part of India, they must be feeling pain standing in lines, but we Kashmiris are enjoying standing in the bank queues, and socialize.

We were worried about my daughter’s exam, but now she went there to take her board exams. And it was not my daughter who took the exam. There were so many other happy faces came to take the exams. It was the highest attendance of students in examination hall this year- almost 95%.

With all this positive happened- We all sat together and started talking about what went well? We came to the conclusion that -These separatists have had only 500/1000 rupee notes which no one is taking now.

I don’t know what rest of India thinks but we in the valley are very happy with the decision.

Yours
Afzal Rahman
First Published: Tuesday, November 22, 2016 - 13:59

Read more at: http://zeenews.india.com/news/india...lence-detractors-read-viral-post_1952235.html

 

[prasad1]

I guess the official position is not Cashless India. Yes there is more visibility for electronic transaction, but cash is still the king.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will issue new Rs 50 and Rs 20 notes, announced the apex bank on its website on Sunday. The new notes for both the denominations will bear the signature of the new governor Urjit Patel along with the year, '2016' printed on the reverse side of the note. However, the new Rs 20 note will have an inset letter 'L' in both the number panels while the Rs 50 note shall not have an inset letter in both the number panels.
The RBI also stated that all the old notes issued by the bank in the past will continue to be legal tender.

 

[prasad1]

BR Ambedkar issued a warning to all Indians, when, invoking John Stuart Mill, he asked them not ‘to lay their liberties at the feet of even a great man, or to trust him with powers which enable him to subvert their institutions’. There was ‘nothing wrong’, said Ambedkar, ‘in being grateful to great men who have rendered life-long services to the country. But there are limits to gratefulness.’ He worried that in India, ‘Bhakti or what may be called the path of devotion or hero-worship, plays a part in its politics unequalled in magnitude by the part it plays in the politics of any other country in the world. Bhakti in religion may be a road to the salvation of the soul. But in politics, Bhakti or hero-worship is a sure road to degradation and to eventual dictatorship.’

 

[prasad1]

[video=youtube_share;M9JIH7df3cM]https://youtu.be/M9JIH7df3cM[/video]

 

[prasad1]

As I read what members of the present Bhakti movement are writing with respect to present conditions in India and what the wise gurus of corporate fame speak from their elevated platforms, I pinch myself to remember that the laws that run the world are not made by them and that the One who made those laws hasn’t changed them yet.
Nandan Nilekanni at the TiE Convention for example, takes his constitutional on stage and while he exercises walking back and forth forcing you to do some neck yoga, he tells you how the volume of electronic monetary transactions has gone up from the time people used to send money orders and how in the last three years more people transferred money electronically than they did via money orders for the past one hundred years. That, he declares to a rapt TiE audience, is a sign of development. Audience claps. Behold, anesthetized anarchy in action.
What he forgets to say and those feverishly forwarding the video of this wonderful speech forget to ask, is what percentage of population that volume of monetary transaction represents. What is the reality? The reality is that the total percentage that does electronic banking is 2% of the population of India. So, whatever you want to say about how monetary volumes have increased, they are still all within that 2%. What therefore, is the real meaning of the numbers?
The problem of geeky thinking is nicely mentioned in this article as the ’empathy vacuum’; the bane of life of those who are used to binary thinking and playing with imaginary numbers until they begin to believe in their own creations. What is starkly visible in our country today is a total absence of empathy for those whose lives have been wrecked by the demonetization drive.


Secondly, comparing historical data about the health of an economy using monetary transactional volume alone doesn’t take into account the value of money itself. A person in 1900 sent Rs. 10 by money order. The same person, if he lived that long, in 2000 would have to send Rs. 100,000 by electronic transfer to cover the same expense. So, how does the higher number indicate greater prosperity? But it seems that we have pickled our brains.Statistics can be made to say whatever you want them to say. And that is the game being played. The reason that game succeeds is because we don’t think and don’t ask questions.
Behold, anesthetized anarchy in action.
I call it anesthetized because we are the only country in the world where dozens of people can simply die standing in a line to withdraw money from the bank because of the liquidity crunch that the government imposed but nothing happens.
https://www.countercurrents.org/2016/12/01/demonetisation-an-anesthetized-anarchy/

 

[V.Balasubramani]

The Centre will give out awards to 15 Indian districts for being 'digital payment champions'

The NITI Aayog said it will provide Rs 10 to collectors for every citizen who performs at least two cashless transactions.

The Narendra Modi government on Sunday announced that it will give out “digital payment champion” awards to 15 Indian districts, as part of its efforts to promote a “cashless economy”. The awards will go to the “best performing districts in India”, the NITI Aayog said as part of a series of tweets. Additionally, it claimed that the first 50 panchayats to go cashless will receive a “digital payment award of honour”.

Among other measures to boost its “cashless” drive, the agency said it will provide Rs 10 to district collectors for every citizen who performs at least two cashless transactions, and upto Rs 5 lakh for every district in India to promote digital transactions.

“Incentives will be used for creating awareness, organising camps and imparting training to ensure that all citizens use digital payments,” the NITI Aayog said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been vigorously promoting a “cashless economy” since the government on demonetised Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes on November 8. On Friday, Modi had said, “Today we live in an era of mobile banking and mobile wallets. Ordering food, buying and selling furniture, ordering a taxi...all of this and lot more is possible through your mobiles. Technology has brought speed and convenience in our lives.”

Source: http://scroll.in/latest/823283/the-...districts-for-being-digital-payment-champions

 

[prasad1]

The numbers paint a stark portrait. As of last week, there were 256 million no-frills ‘Jan Dhan’ accounts, roughly one for every household, under the Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojana (PMJDY). The scheme also promised to provide every new account holder with RuPay debit cards, with 195 million cards being issued so far. While the finance ministry must be given due credit, the Modi administration appears to have conflated outputs with outcomes.
Just as building more schools does not improve literacy rates, opening accounts does not empower citizens to make digital financial transactions. Key demand and supply-side gaps remain: 23% of PMJDY accounts lie empty. A recent investigation from September found that 10 million accounts held only Re. 1, as bank officials took matters into their own hands to reduce their branch’s share of zero-balance accounts. A survey of PMJDY customers conducted by a financial inclusion consultancy found that only 33% of all beneficiaries were ready to use their Rupay cards. The others were bewildered by the complicated PIN and activation procedures. Inconsistent electricity and sporadic internet access further eroded customers’ trust in ATMs and POS machines, with one failed transaction enough to make an entire village swear off formal financial institutions.


This is as much a structural constraint as it is logistical. Card acceptance infrastructure struggles to keep pace with India’s growing population: in 2014, there were 18 ATMs and 13 commercial bank branches per 100,000 adults – in comparison, the number in Brazil was 129 and 47 respectively. Between 2013 and 2015, debit cards grew twice as fast as the number of POS machines and one-and-a-half times the number of ATMs, with the majority of new infrastructure taking root in urban centres. India’s modern banking system maps neatly onto social and spatial inequalities. Only 18% of all ATMs are deployed in rural India. The RBI’s own research finds that states with a higher female population and a more rural populace show lower levels of financial inclusion.
The impact of mobile wallets in hastening the transition to a cashless economy is overstated. Merely 26% of India has internet access, and there are only 200 million users of digital payment services. The World Bank’s Global Findex shows that Indians are significantly less familiar with digital banking – the use of credit or debit cards, making transactions using mobile phones, and using the internet to pay bills – than their peers in middle-income nations.
The path forward is clear: A nationwide financial literacy campaign accompanied by a medium-term strategy to improve access to, and awareness of, electronic payments. Targeted financial education programmes can improve financial skills and credit management, and increase account ownership.
http://www.hindustantimes.com/analy...-here-s-why/story-ybFui5M53JPFyD1MGvHigJ.html

 

[prasad1]

 

[prasad1]

 

[V.Balasubramani]

And thus ended, for now at least, my 'Digital India' dream.

There are people with different dreams.......!!

Despite note ban, Kerala liquor baron hosts lavish wedding for daughter

Dr Biju Ramesh hosted his daughter Megha’s wedding at the Rajdhani Gardens where a replica of Mysore Palace was created to greet around 20,000 guests at the venue

On Sunday, Thiruvananthapuram played host to one of the most lavish weddings the state has ever seen. People compared it to the recent Rs 500 crore wedding of Karnataka Minister Gali Janardhan Reddy’s daughter, and not just for the amount of expenditure involved.

Prominent Kerala liquor baron and politician, Dr Biju Ramesh, hosted his daughter Megha’s wedding. Her groom was none other than Ajaykrishnan, the son of Congress MLA Konni and former State Revenue Minister Adoor Prakash. The reason the wedding turned so many heads however, is thanks to early reports that the reception would feature replicas of the Mysore Palace and Akshardham temple at the venue.

In an interview to The News Minute, Ramesh explained that the extravagant idea was actually a friend’s. “A replica of the Mysore palace will greet around 20,000 guests as they enter the wedding venue. Walking in through its gates, they enter the lobby area where they would be greeted, and then they move towards the stage which has been set up on the lines of the Akshardham temple,” he said.

Read more at: http://www.dnaindia.com/india/repor...hrows-lavish-wedding-despite-note-ban-2279661