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Kaushik Bose, Dinajpur
Young Bangla, the youth platform of Centre for Research and Information (CRI), organized a programme titled “Let’s Talk” on the theme “Cashless Economy” at Hajee Mohammad Danesh Science and Technology University (HSTU) on Sunday.
Zunaid Ahmed Palak, MP, state minister for ICT Division, Bangladesh; Kazi Nabil Ahmed MP, member of Parliamentary Standing Committee on the Ministry Finance and Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Sadequa Hassan Sejuti, co-founder of Amar Desh, Amar Gram; and Tanjiba Rahman, chairperson of Bangladesh Freelancer Development Society, were present at the event as distinguished panelists.
Sahosh Mostafiz, a young development communication professional, moderated the event.
More than 250 youths and students of HSTU participated in this interdisciplinary and interactive event with the policy makers, entrepreneurs and young leaders.
The event began with the welcome remark of the HSTU Vice-Chancellor Prof. Dr. M. Kamruzzaman. Later, the panel discussion began with the opening remarks of the distinguished panelists.
In his opening remark, Zunaid Ahmed Palak, MP, said that the Digital Bangladesh vision is being translated into action. Now Bangladesh is eyeing to become a Smart Bangladesh. Cashless Economy is the tool to materialize that vision.
“With the direction of the ICT Advisor of Prime Minister of Bangladesh Sajeeb Wazed, we are developing an interoperable digital transaction platform ‘Binimoy’, and it is hoped to accelerate cashless economy all over the country,” said the ICT State Minister.
Kazi Nabil Ahmed, MP, said, “Bangladesh is enjoying the demographic dividend and is optimally realizing the potential of this dividend and harnessing the potential. Youths can play instrumental role in this. People are the instrumental tools of cashless economy and inclusive growth.”
Kazi Nabil Ahmed, MP, shared his aspiring view on manpower of Bangladesh and said, “The people of Bangladesh are instrumental in the country’s transition to a cashless economy and inclusive growth. We are on the verge of a new frontier and we have to embrace it.”
Sadequa Sejuti, an entrepreneur and the panelist of the event said, “Back in 2008-09, Bangladesh did not have any payment gateway and e-commerce did not exist. With the materialization of Digital Bangladesh, now the country has national payment gateway system which has catalyzed flourishing mobile financial services.”
She shared her insight on working with the rural and marginalized people, especially the farmers. She said, “With a view to becoming a cashless economy, we have to integrate the rural farmers into cashless transaction where a farmer will be able to earn, spend and save in a cashless manner.”
Tanjiba Rahman, a freelancer and one of the panelists emphasized on the importance of freelancing in a cashless society because it is the biggest example of participating in the global economy and it has created an opportunity of infrastructural development for this sector. With the Freelancer National ID, the freelancers are now able to pay taxes and contribute to the GDP of Bangladesh.
She also put her thoughts on the adaptation of behavioral shift to a cashless society by increasing digital to digital transaction and by reducing the usage of cash out system in MFS.
Tanjiba said, “We can save a lot of time and hassle through digital transaction. In exchange of that time, we can pay a very little amount of service charge. However, if we still don’t want to pay the charges, we need to adopt using digital transaction so that we don’t have to pay the cash out charges in MFS.”
The ICT State Minister promised to make HSTU the first cashless campus of Bangladesh and to take necessary policy initiatives that came from the insights of the students at the discussion round.