Why it is In news?

• The Ministry of Human Resource Development aims to make financial transactions completely digital in all higher education institutions.
• The higher education regulators — University Grants Commission (UGC) and All-India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) — are also being taken on board to help facilitate the transition  

About Initiative

• The move will bring within the digital ambit all such institutions — public and private — including Central and State universities, IITs, NITs, business schools, etc
• Centre aims to fully digitise all campus processes — including admissions, assistance, assessments, result declaration, admission, etc. — with all these processes going on an integrated IT platform.
• HRD Minister advocated that payments through digital mode be made mandatory in all institutions of higher education. In addition, he said, all in-house transactions, including in-campus canteens, would be made through the BHIM app.
• The Centre had launched the VittiyaSaksharta Abhiyan (VISAKA), meaning financial literacy campaign, for digital financial literacy early in 2017, enrolling lakhs of volunteers from among students to train families in their neighbourhood to conduct financial transactions digitally through the BHIM app.
• They were also asked to go to major markets, talk to shopkeepers, vendors and merchants' associations to help shift to digital transactions.
• As many as 2000 higher education institutions were also made digital as part of this initiative.