Malappuram tops digital literacy

MALAPPURAM: A decade after the Malappuram’s formidable achievement as India’s first e-literate district, another digital revolution is taking place here. The district has leapfrogged in the digital financial literacy drive as the economy slowly turns cashless. According to the latest available data on rural enrollment for digital transactions under Union government’s Digi Dhan Abhiyan, Malappuram district is far ahead of others amassing around 74 percent of the total enrollments in the state so far.

Under the Digi Dhan Abhiyan, which is meant to impart digital financial literacy to the rural population, 9,426 small-scale merchants and the common public have been newly enrolled from the district as on Tuesday. There are only 1,153 enrollments in Idukki which comes second. The number may go up soon as the campaign is catching up throughout the district. The Ernakulam district, which hosts the IT hub of the state, is at the bottom of the list with just 19 enrollments. The figure excludes the traders and public who were already using electronic financial transactions.

“The campaign to promote cashless transactions is being organised with the help of Akshaya entrepreneurs," said Dr J.O. Arun, the deputy collector and the nodal officer of the district administration’s My Malappuram, Digital Malappuram campaign. “We have also roped in several other agencies like Kudumbasree, Jan Shikshan Sansthan and Nehru Yuva Kendra to take the digital financial literacy to the rural masses and we are well above set target.”

District lead bank manager K. Abdul Jabbar said Malappuram would be declared first cashless district in the state on January 1. “Besides new enrollments, the district has gone much ahead in digital transactions. Most of the shops in towns like Malappuram, Perinthalmanna, Kottakkal, Edappal and Ponnani have POS terminals,” he said. The Akshaya centres have been working as the digital financial education hubs enabling the newly enrolled beneficiaries using e-wallet and UPI apps and other digital modes of transactions through training sessions.