VITTIYA SAKSHARTA ABHIYAN - VISAKA

A National Convention of Student Volunteers under Digital Financial Literacy Campaign (Vittiya Saksharta Abhiyan - VISAKA) by Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India was organised at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi on 8th March 2017. It was attended by around 2000 VISAKA Volunteer from all over the country. Faculty members Dr. Sahab Singh of MBA Department and Mr. Jitendra Kumar Chauhan of CSE Department along with 10 students from Dronacharya Group of Institutions, Greater Noida participated in the convention.

Speaking on the occasion Union Human Resource Development Minister Shri Prakash Javadekar called upon Student Volunteers under Digital Financial Literacy Campaign by his Ministry to work whole heartedly for the wide spread dissemination of the Ideas of Prime Minister on Digital Economy so that the resources of the nation could be  utilized  in a transparent manner.

The Minister congratulated the volunteers for their laudable efforts and said going digital is the need of the hour as in comparison to Developed countries where GDP’s 4% Component is in currency, we have 12% component of currency in our GDP and hence we need to change to Digital mode. He said going digital will help boost our economic stability with definite availability of funds for the welfare of masses at large, especially the poor and needy population.  It will also result in net tax collection and resources. Today there are 77 crore Debit Cards available for digital transactions.  He said wide spread awareness should be generated across the country, Shri Javadekar added.  He said till now nearly 4.30 lakh volunteers have been registered who have started educating masses across the country and so far under this campaign we have covered 20 lakh households. The Minister asked the volunteers to work during the post examination holidays for publicity of this scheme. He said The Prime Minister has set a target of 2500 crore digital transaction, in the year 2017 and this is 100% achievable. He said this campaign is dedicated to you.

In his address Shri Ravi Shankar Prasad, Union Minister for Electronics & Information Technology and Law & Justice said that if anyone desires of getting connected with the rest of the world, he will have to get attached with Facebook and Twitter. Shri Prasad said, now in our population of 125 crore we are having  105 crore + Mobile Phones, 112+ crore Aadhaar Cards,  35 crore + Smart Phones and  50+ crore Internet Connections. He said Digital literacy campaign is intended to make India honest, digitally empowered and digitally united. He said this campaign is meant to change India. He said we have trained nearly 02 crore persons in digital transactions during three months and in 2017 we are expecting over 05 crore persons trained in digital transactions.

The Minister also informed of the scheme of Lucky draws for common masses and the shop keepers as well as the business community. He said digital India is for empowering the country. He said the rest of the world is now amazed of India’s Digital Power.  Shri Prasad said 72 Mobile Manufacturing Companies have ventured in India.  He said Govt. schemes need money and as much as we go digital, we will require more money in a transparent way because then there will be fair collections. He cited Finance Ministers Union Budget Address in which he had said that out of 125 crore persons only 3.5 crores file income tax returns. He also said that of the 10 lakhs companies registered only 13 thousand companies show their income above Rs. 10 lakh and hence paying of tax honestly is necessary. He said the country can be awakened provided their someone who can call upon the nation to do so. On this occasion two short films on Digital Literacy were also screened and a brochure on Digital literacy efforts was also released. Awards were also given to volunteers and Institutions engaged in this task.

Dr. A. D. Sahasrabudhe, Chairman - AICTE expressed his satisfaction over the progress achieved by AICTE approved Colleges in the VISAKA Mission of MHRD. He hoped that in 2017 - 18 volunteers will achieves even higher goals.

The convention ended with a vote of thanks delivered by Dr. Manpreet Singh Manna, Director - AICTE, who expressed his heart-felt gratitude to all participants and their contribution in making the event a grand success.