FreeCharge announced the winners of its pan India ‘Digital Republic Blog Challenge’ on the 68th Republic Day, 26th of January, 2017. The challenge invited blog entries from students and young professionals in the age group of 18-25 about their views onIndia’s transition to cashless economy.
The entries came from young Indians of all backgrounds - students, engineers, lawyers, accountants, budding journalists and policy wonks from across the country. Students from more than 500 educational institutions participated in this challenge with around 40% entries coming from participants in the age group of 18-21 years. The top 3 winners were Swati Sudhakaran, a public policy student at Mount Carmel College Bangalore, JashDholani- an undergraduate student at Ashoka University, Sonipat and Ankush Gupta, a young professional from Noida.
A recurring theme in a number of blogs was the need to increase digital literacy and cyber security to ensure an inclusive digital economy. While some blogs took explored the various payment platforms and made a case for removing merchant charges, others took a more creative approach. Mobiles were compared to Voldemart’s horcruxes and the national currency for the farmers was reimagined as ‘RuPay’. Young bloggers had myriad thoughts and a lot to say!
Some even imagined history textbooks of future which will refer to the cash economy as the stone age of economics, while others dreamt of a future where payments devices will be wearables, consumers will just pass through to pay!
‘The digital economy had been co-existing with the cash economy for some time now but post-demonetization, it has become a serious contender to be the main lead in the market play. This has left many confused and panicky and many forced to jump aboard the bandwagon. The “mobile-moolah” era is here to stay, it’s just up-to us how fast and how well we adapt to it’, observed Swati Sudhakaran in her blog, which won her the first prize of Rs 1 Lakhs.
Speaking about the blog challenge, GovindRajan, CEO, FreeCharge, said, “We are thrilled to see the spirit with which young Indians took this opportunity to voice their opinions about India’s transition to a cashless economy. At FreeCharge, we feel that the millennials are the most important stakeholders in this process and we are heartened to see their enthusiasm towards this transformation. Through this challenge, we have also gathered valuable insights into their vision and hopes for the future and we will actively work with our partners in building the ecosystem they have envisioned in their articles.”
The entries were judged by Nash David- Technology editor, First Post, Sunny Sen- Sr. Business Journalist, HT & Author of Mantras for Success and Tony Navin, Senior Vice President, Partnerships and Strategic Initiatives, Snapdeal.
