Digital Dakshina seems to be a new trend emerging during this festive season of Dashain and Tihar amongst the netizens and rightfully so. With all the fun and enjoyment we have during festivals, we also have an ever-present culture of receiving Dakshina during festivals in Nepal. It’s embedded in our psyche. Be it by receiving it from our elders during Dashain or sisters receiving it from brothers during Tihar.
Companies such as Esewa, NIC Asia, IME Pay, connect-IPS, etc. all have started promoting this idea. Of course, these are digital services and this trend benefits their respective organizations directly or indirectly but let’s look at some reasons why that’s actually good.
It’s costly to print paper money.
It takes a lot of money to print money. Think about paper required, transportation, and logistics. Crores of rupees gets spent in just that. The money also gets printed outside of Nepal so it results in an outflow of cash which isn’t that great for an economy like that of Nepal. Think about how much we could save on that cost if we simply went digital.
Digital Dakshina is more convenient than cash.
Cash is really inconvenient, right? You might need to wait for hours in a bank just to withdraw it. All the hurdles you need to cross just to get it. For digital Dakshina, all you need is your mobile phone and an internet connection.
Digital cash is less risky to carry, more secure.
Digital wallets and banking apps use secure gateways and security mechanisms that are really hard to be tampered with. It’s always risky to carry cash. If you lose it, you lost it.
Digital Dakshina is a smarter choice during Covid-19 situation.
This one is a no-brainer. The covid-19 virus can get transmitted through paper money. It’s observed that the virus can persist on the paper surface for 4-5 days. Also, a constant visit to the bank or any outdoor activity during this time is not a very smart choice. It’s smarter to limit outdoors this time of the year.
Digital Dakshina can be a way to promote Digital Nepal.
Digital Nepal has been a trendy concept in recent years. The idea of digitization of all the products and services along with government services is frequently talked about. And, Digital Dakshina could be a step in a positive direction. It all needs to start from somewhere, right?
