Palnar is a village located in Kuakonda Tehsil of Dakshin Bastar Dantewada district in Chhattisgarh. It is well connected with a decent all weather road to the block head quarter Kuwakonda (15 km) and to National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC) township. Prior to this initiative Palnar had no banks/ATMs and there was no internet accessibility. Residents of Palnar village as well as security personnel posted in the area had to travel more than 10 km in order to withdraw money from ATM and about 34 km to Dantewada for opening a bank account. With the onset of demonetization, relevance of Digital Financial Literacy (DFL) increased many folds and district administration chose Palnar as a model for promoting cashless transactions. Approach Adopted Under this initiative multiple efforts were taken by district administration. An order was issued by Chief Executive Officer — Zilla Parishad (CEO-ZP), Dantewada for implementation of cashless payment mode for MNREGS and all social security schemes... Read More