With just 5% going digital, Sultal Batheri declared first cashless Taluk in Kerala!

With just 5% of the population going digital, Sultan Batheri, a backward town in Kerala was declared the first cashless taluk in the state! The declaration triggered an interesting debate questioning the criteria of going cashless. 

Sultan Batheri, a taluk in Wayanad with a sizeable tribal population, was declared the first 'cashless' taluk in Kerala the other day. As per norms laid down by the central government, a village can be declared 'cashless' if ten shop owners and forty customers start currency free transactions. As a number of villages going for digital transactions, the taluk was declared cashless, Asianet News reported. A few commercial establishments and auto drivers joined the digital drive, but a majority of the population remains out of bounds. 

Detractors questioned the logic behind the declaration and stated that it was a farce. "It is just an eyewash. Some bureaucrats are trying to grab media attention through such gimmicks," K E Vinayan of the Congress said. 

Majority of the population that includes a sizeable number of tribespeople in the taluk live below poverty line. The local self-government bodies have initiated no measures so far to bring them under the cashless scheme. The underdeveloped taluk goes cashless by leaving a majority of the cash-strapped population behind. 

The officials, however, hoped that more people would go cashless in a year.

• Cashless
• Digital transaction
• Demonetization
• Sultan Batheri
• Wayanad
• First cashless Taluk