Shri Ravi Shankar Prasad, Honorable Union Minister for Information Technology, Law and Justice awarded the appreciation certificate and memento to Sh. Rakesh Kumar, District Informatics Officer, Bilaspur, NIC Himachal Pradesh, during the National Grassroot Informatics meet, on 19th January 2017 in New Delhi for his exemplary services towards Digial Payment initiatives. Sh. P.P. Chaudhary, Union Minister of State for IT, Law and Justice, Ms. Aruna Sundarajan, Secretary, MeitY, Dr. Ajay Kumar, Additional Secretary, MeitY, Dr. Neeta Verma, Director General, NIC, SIO/ASIOs of State Centres and DIOs/ADIOs from all over the country were present during the three-day National meet held from 19-21 January 2017.

After the Demonetization of 1000 and 500 Rupee notes, there was need to educate people and create awareness among the masses. Previously, all the payments were made in cash and people were not in the habit of using other modes of payment i.e. e-Wallet, UPI App, Debit/Credit Card, Internet Banking and other online modes of payments. There was lot of hesitation and lack of knowledge to use the online mode of payments.

To take this initiative further to the grass root level, the responsibility was vested on NIC State and District Centres in the Country. The NIC District Centre Bilaspur (H.P.) with other Stake holders in the District started the campaign in mission mode to educate and create awareness among the general public including Government Officials at various levels, merchants, School/ College students etc. Sh. Rakesh Kumar, DIO Bilaspur took the initiative and organised a number of sensitization workshops/seminars in a phased manner, at District Level in Coordination with District Administration. In the first phase, the Stake Holders from various Departments, NGO’s and Self Helping Groups were trained along with Bank Officials to adopt this new technological shift and were further advised to sensitize general public in their respective areas.

In the second phase, multiple sessions were organized by NIC District Centre Bilaspur, to sensitize the School / College level Students by giving them live demonstrations on how to use USSD Code to Send and Receive Payments through simple as well as Smart Phones usage. They were given demos using UPI App, AEPS (Aadhaar Enabled Payment System), Mobile Wallets like SBI Buddy, Paytm etc. by installing the Apps on the mobile of the Students. They were advised to spread this knowledge at their homes and educate the general public more and more about it.

In the third phase, various VLEs (LMK/CSC) were trained on how to do the Cash Less Business and how they can further motivate and remove hesitation from the minds of villagers at grass root level so that they start using these applications and can save their valuable time and money by making India cashless.

In the fourth phase of sensitization programme, the users of SUGAM Kendras/e-Governance Centres/Tehsil Office Complex of the District were made aware on how to use the above mentioned online mode of payments. They were also informed how they can use Paytm and other mobile apps to receive or make payments.

The awareness programs in NIC Himachal Pradesh are being coordinated by Sh. Shailender Kaushal, Group Head in consultation with all NIC HP Officers at State and District level. The District NIC Units are actively doing the job and Districts of Sirmaur, Hamirpur, Chamba, Kinnaur, Lahaul and Spiti have done appreciable work.