Last Modified: Sun, May 22 2016. 08 16 PM IST
Narendra Modi says Jan Dhan, Aadhaar and mobile (JAM) together can help the nation move towards a cashless economy
Preetika Khanna
PM Narendra Modi said that the government had started various measures including RuPay card and online transactions to make the transition easier. Photo: Bloomberg
New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his monthly radio address Mann ki Baat emphasised on the need to move towards a cashless economy.
“We need to make India modern, transparent and have to implement procedures across the country. There was a time when transactions happened through barter system. Then notes and coins came. But now the world is moving towards a cashless economy. The start will be difficult but once you get used to it, will be simple,” Modi said in his address.
He added, “Jan Dhan, Aadhaar and mobile (JAM) together can help us move towards a cashless economy. If we use the measures (made available by the government) we will able to bring transparency and reduce black money.”
He said that the government had started various measures including RuPay card and online transactions to make the transition easier.
Modi also asked people to store water effectively in the coming monsoon season. “We need to think about water storage as well. We should not become careless and then suffer shortage. With the rainy season coming we should strive to store water. We should conserve it and not waste the coming season.”
Modi, who in the last month has met heads of 11 states which have declared drought, said that some innovative steps to tackle this issue had come up.
“I have asked Niti Aayog to look into how the best practices can be implemented in other states as well,” he said.
Large parts of the country are facing drought after two successive years of below-average rainfall. The 2015 southwest monsoon, which waters over half of India’s crop area, was 14% short of normal last year, after a 12% deficit in 2014. According to the India Meteorological Department, monsoon is expected to arrive in Kerala on 7 June, six days later than normal.