University Grants Commission (UGC) wants universities to switch to digital mode for monetary transactions
Students in university campuses across the country may soon not be able to pay their fee by cash or cheque.
Pushing campuses across the country to switch to digital payments mode, the NDA government has decided that higher educational institutions should carry out all monetary transactions using digital modes of payment.
The directive by the Union Human Resource Development Ministry is in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi stress on the youth leading the transition from a cash economy to cashless after he made a sudden announcement last November to outlaw 500-and 1,000-rupee notes at just a few hours' notice. The thrust on cashless modes of payment started soon after.
As the first step, higher education regulator University Grants Commission this week told vice chancellors of the country's universities that "all receipts and payments" related to functioning of the institutions including student fees, exam fees, salaries and vendor payments "shall be made only through online or digital modes".
Similarly, it ordered that digital mode should be used for all transactions relating to students' service in hostels too.
The UGC has made it optional for canteens and business establishments on the campus to move to digital mode but said they too should be "encouraged" to make the switch. And to ensure that universities do not take its directions lightly, the UGC wants universities and colleges to draw up an action plan to implement the central directive and set a target of digital transactions for themselves. The UGC wants to keep track of the implementation on a monthly basis.
"All the administrators and students in higher educational institutions and the agencies... and other business establishments on the campuses may be trained in using the BHIM app by linking their bank accounts with the mobile number/Aadhaar number," the letter from UGC secretary Jaspal S Sandhu said.