Making Nagaland a leader in digital payment

[caption id="attachment_155638" align="alignnone" width="550"] Parliamentary secretary Dr. Longrineken, commissioner and secretary KD Vizo and others seen at the e-Naga Summit 2017 in Kohima on December 18.[/caption] Kohima Bureau Kohima, Dec. 18 (EMN): While ‘Digital economy’ is changing the way people are doing business across the world, it is observed that the people of the state are still using outdated method of buying and selling. And unless this old culture is changed with modern digital payment culture, our economy will not improve and our businessmen will not progress beyond the State of Nagaland. This observation was made by KD Vizo, Commissioner and Secretary of IT&C, at the third edition of the e-Naga Summit 2017 on the theme ‘Making the state of Nagaland a leader in digital payment’ at Capital Convention Centre, Kohima, on December 18. The programme was organised by the department of Information Technology & Communication (IT&C) in collaboration with National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI). Digital economy, Vizo said, is a term that refers to an economy that is based on digital payment technologies elsewhere in the world. Apart from making transactions and payments easier, Vizo said digital methods of payment are expected to create even new market growth opportunities and jobs. However noting that digital payment mode in the entire North eastern region by and large is still in its initial stage, he emphasised on urgent need to promote digital payments if any state wants to emerge as a modern state. He has highlighted on the various methods of digital payment such as use of Digital Point of Sale (Digital POS), Unified Payments Interface (UPI), mobile wallets, Aadhar Enabled Payment system(AEPS), Mobile Point of Sale (mPOS), Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD), RuPay card etc which are now becoming popular as it has become very ‘convenient and transparent.’ While digital payment is also known to play an important role in removal of black money, generation of revenues, empowerment of citizen, creation of new jobs etc, Vizo maintained that there is a need to follow simple things in the state as there is a need to reduce cash-based transactions and promote digital payments to efficiently expel the black economy. He strongly felt that if digital payment is encouraged in a big way, Nagaland can easily emerge as a ‘leader in digital payment, becomes a modern State, and also a model for other States to follow.’ Speaking at the inaugural programme, Dr. Longrineken, parliamentary secretary, asserted that the emergence of new information technologies call for ‘fundamental rethinking and transformational shifts in the way we live and go about our daily activities.’ He called upon all to collaborate and take on the challenge – ‘to collaborate with the public, private and people sectors to create new solutions, new businesses, and new wealth.’ He was optimistic that such initiative would create great interest among the general public on the methods of digital payment and help in the acceleration of e-Governance adoption in the State. The participants were also urged upon to adapt an attitude and mindset that is receptive to ICT based administration and ICT based delivery of services. Various officials from the financial institutions also observed that though the world around is going digital, the state is still lagging behind as people still prefer ‘hard cash’ – the outdated way of banking. They also emphasised on the need of creating awareness in all the corners of the state to make people understand the benefits and advantages of digital payment and services. The event saw the participation of financial institutions from in and around Kohima, students and others. The six-day Digi Dhan Mela organised by the department on the theme ‘Go cashless, go digital’ on December 13 culminated on December 18 with the e-Naga Summit.