The committee of Chief Ministers conceived by the central government to look into the effects of demonetisation on the nation will officially meet in New Delhi on December 7 & 8. They will suggest ways to ease the transformation of the nation into a digital economy. Ahead of the meeting, the committee will meet bankers and state officials to discuss and identify the challenges being faced.
The Committee doesn’t just consist of Chief Ministers from Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Puducherry, Odisha and Sikkim, it also consists of members of NITI Aayog and experts, making a total of 13 members. The committee’s Convener is CM Chandrababu Naidu. The formation of the committee and the selection of the members is in line with the government’s thinking to ‘promote transparency, financial inclusion and a healthy financial ecosystem nationwide and to give a boost to the adoption of digital payments systems by people at the grass root levels and small businesses’ according a press note released by the Government of India.
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It further states, ‘Economic growth with financial inclusion and equity is a key priority of the Government. By enabling broader access and participation in the financial system, the Government aims to reduce income inequality, boost job creation, accelerate consumption, increase investments in human capital and help the poor families to manage risk and absorb financial shocks. Digitization of payments would significantly enhance financial inclusion by overcoming physical barriers and would thus enhance access to financial services rapidly. In addition, it would also enable formalization of all financial transactions thus increasing transparency and plugging leakages from the system.’
The terms of reference for the Committee are that they identify a global practice for implementing an economy primarily based on digital transactions. They will examine the possibility of such in an Indian context. The Committee shall identify measures for adaption of a digital payment system and try to reach their goal within a year. They shall reach out to the public and do their best to create awareness. But their most important role is to identify bottlenecks, predict problems people will face and do their best to find solutions to dispel them.
The members of the Committee are as follows:
Convener
N Chandrababu Naidu, Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh
Members
Naveen Patnaik, Chief Minister of Odisha
Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh
Pawan Kumar Chamling, Chief Minister of Sikkim
V Narayanasamy, Chief Minister of Puducherry
Devendra Fadnavis, Chief Minister of Maharashtra
Arvind Panagariya, Vice- Chairman, NITI Aayog
Member Secretary
Amitabh Kant, CEO, NITI Aayog
Special Invitees
Nandan Nilekani, former Chairman, UIDAI
Janmejaya Sinha, Chairman, Boston Consulting Group
Rajesh Jain, Managing Director, netCORE
Sharad Sharma, Co-founder, iSPIRIT
Jayant Varma, Professor (Finance), IIM (Ahmedabad)
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