Rajasthan’s Ajmer district basks in the glory of its newfound success. Recently, Prime Minister Modi awarded the prestigious ‘Scroll of Honour’ to Ajmer district collector Mr. Gaurav Goyal. The reason? Because Ajmer is the first completely cashless district in Rajasthan. Some were inspired by this accomplishment while the rest were envious of this progress. Very few were aware of the intense efforts and hard work put in by local banks, responsible citizens and the government authorities that resulted in this drastic change.
It was easy to introduce digital transactions in urban regions, where people were acquainted with smartphones, online banking, PoS machines and PayTM. The village however, was a different story. It took great time and efforts to prepare villagers for digitisation.
Naya Gav is one such example of collective efforts, mutual understanding and patience. Despite illiteracy and the ‘adamant, orthodox’ nature of villagers, especially that of the elderly population, but local authorities and banks didn’t give up. They were finally able to introduce cashless transactions in the village within 50 days.
Here’s what happened.
Naya Gav in Ajmer Adds a Glorious Chapter to Demonetisation Success Stories in India
The government selected Naya Gav for Rajasthan’s cashless village campaign because it is sparsely populated and there are just five shops in this area. Local authorities, banks and school groups joined hands for the post-demonetisation drive.
While educating the villagers, they learnt that lack of education and poor exposure of the village was slowing down the pace of digitalisation in this village. Besides, poor internet connectivity was a major issue hampering the progress of the state. It was necessary to eliminate these obstructions from the society.
Taking little, but concrete steps in this direction, students of Naya Gav schools bought stationary for the villagers. They demonstrated the online banking procedures to the villagers on paper.
Likewise, BoB (Bank of Baroda) put in relentless efforts in last two months to make Naya Gav cashless. BoB’s branch manager Devi Lal Dhaka ensured that every villager possessed a bank account with debit cards. Moreover, they also trained villagers how to use mobile banking app and internet banking so that they can carry out online transactions.
According to Dhaka, team Jaipur arrived in the village to train people on using PoS machines and micro ATMs. According to the locales, around four out of five machines operational. The fifth one is pending since the shop owner hasn’t provided his PAN number yet.
In the coming months, the banks are braced up to install an ATM near the regional BoB branch. Thus, the villagers will be able to conduct transactions using thumb impressions. With this, the natives of Naya Gav have set an example for other cities and villages to follow.
