Manipur’s Karang is India’s first cashless island

Karang, a small lake island in Manipur, has become the country’s first cashless island.

The Union ministry of electronics and information technology under its Digital India programme announced Karang as the first cashless island in India. Confirming it, deputy commissioner M Harekrishna of Bishnupur district said the island fulfilled the Centre’s necessary criteria.

The Karang island is located in the middle of Loktak, the largest freshwater lake in Northeast India.

The campaign was held from January 9 to 12. Karang Island Boat Association and Panthoibi Khoyol Standard Association extended help in holding campaigns on cashless transactions.

“People here took pledge to contribute to the government’s vision of creating a cashless gram panchayat as no banking service available in the Island,” said district manager Prasant Oinam of common service centre in Bishnupur who initiated the programme.

“Now, most of the Karang families opt for cashless transactions. So far, 400 beneficiaries, 16 merchants, including six motor boat service providers, have registered themselves. We will be providing a card swipe machine within this month so that the island families can become 100% cashless society,” Prasant added.

Akodara, a village in Gujarat, had attained the unique status to be India’s first digital village in 2015.