NEW DELHI: The government has got more than 5 lakh textile workers weavers and artisans to open bank accounts in the past 10 days to reduce impact of demonetisation . These include regular workers, migrant labourers and those working on contract.Most accounts have been opened in Surat, Tirupur and Bhiwandi. Of these, 2.2 lakh are weavers and 2.75 lakh are employed in the jute industry.Referring to power loom units, Kavita Gupta, textile commissioner, said, "We have opened bank accounts of 2 lakh workers in the last six days. We are scaling up our efforts many fold to open accounts of almost all workers in three months and enable almost all of them to download digital payment transfer apps als0 in next three months."In 2015-16, textile and apparel sector employed 51 million people directly and 68 million indirectly. Power loom sector employs almost 65 lakh people of which almost 40 per cent have bank accounts.ET reported last week that the government has asked textile units to facilitate, on a "priority basis", opening of bank accounts for their employees and make cashless payments through unified payments interface (UPI).cashless payments through unified payments interface (UPI).Since many are migrant workers without permanent address, the government is seeking employers’ certification to open bank accounts subject to verification. Textiles ministry has held nearly 900 camps to help open bank accounts and encourage UPI adoption."We’ve requested all textile associations and councils to ensure that all members undertake efforts on a war footing to make their organisations and workers cashless," Gupta said.This is a welcome development. The government needs to make similar efforts in other sectors as well, and encourage companies and businesses to get all their workers, including contract workers, to open bank accounts.The involvement of government and businesses will ensure that banks do not turn away those wanting to open a bank account . This will help bring larger sections of the population within the ambit of financial systems and reduce the volume of unaccounted cash in the economy.