Manipur’s Karang became India’s first cashless island

Karang, a small lake island in Manipur, in January 2017 became India’s first cashless island.

The island was declared as the country’s first cashless island by the Union Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology under its Digital India programme.

M Harekrishna, Deputy Commissioner of Bishnupur district, confirmed that the island fulfilled the Union Government’s necessary criteria to be declared as cashless island.

The campaign to make the island cashless was held from 9 January to 12 January 2017. Karang Island Boat Association and Panthoibi Khoyol Standard Association extended help in holding campaigns on cashless transactions.

At present, most of the families residing in Karang go for cashless transactions. As of now, 400 beneficiaries, 16 merchants, including six motor boat service providers, have registered themselves.

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

About Karang Island

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

• It is located in Moirang of Bishnupur district, Manipur.

• As per the Population Census 2011, Karang has population of 1859 of which 940 are males while 919 are females.

• Average sex ratio of Karang is 978, which is lower than Manipur’s average of 985.

• It has a lower literacy rate compared to Manipur. In 2011, literacy rate of Karang was 53.40 per cent compared to 76.94 per cent of the state.