india

Updated: Aug 02, 2019 00:53 IST

Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Thursday urged lawmakers and journalists to use digital payment options while making transactions in the Parliament Complex.

“Members of Parliament and media persons in the Central Hall must as far as possible make cashless payment,” he said in the House, underlining that the government has been pushing for digital payment in order to reduce dependence on cash.

He also added that the Leader of the House, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has made “strenuous efforts towards realizing this goal” and that Parliament has to send the wider message that it has been able to implement cashless and digital payment system in the various canteens in its complex.

Since the demonetisation of the high-value currency notes in November 2016, the Modi government has been making various efforts to promote cashless transactions. But Indian Parliament had remained an area where electronic transactions hardly took place. According to an internal estimate, around 3,000 people eat in Parliament canteens when the House is in session. During the previous Lok Sabha, point-of-sale (POS) machines were briefly used.

There were also talks about introducing pre-paid food cards but the same couldn’t be rolled out because of bureaucratic hassles. Many also argued that since the food bills generally remain below Rs 100, people tend to use cash.

Lok Sabha secretariat officials are hopeful that this time, the Speaker would be able to roll out a process for cashless transaction. According to officials, the card swiping machines are already in place and infrastructure is expected to be improved in the coming days.

“This time, the efforts would not be half-baked. We will tell people about the need to do cashless transactions as India has to get rid of its high dependence of cash, which is unhealthy for the economy,” said a senior MP who asked not to be named.