As the country was moving towards cashless economy, the NSS wing of the Alagappa University has trained about 900 students under the Vittiya Saksharta Abhiyan (VISAKA) to encourage the student community and rural populace to adopt cashless and digital transaction.
As instructed by the Ministry of Human Resource Development, NSS Coordinator S. Rajaram has trained 900 students to impart training to students in the affiliated colleges and general public in rural areas on cashless and digital transactions, Professor S. Subbiah, Vice Chancellor of the university said on Thursday.
Talking to reporters here, he said the 900 students would visit the 40 affiliated colleges and share their knowledge with the students on digital transaction.
The university has also decided to adopt seven villages and train people on cashless and digital transactions, he added.
To set the trend, the university would become a ‘cashless campus,’ he said adding all the payments - whether payment of tuition free, examination fee or payments made in library and canteen would become cashless.
Smart cards would be issued to all the students after which, they need not visit banks and wait for long hours to make their payments, he said. The more than 90,000 students in the distance education stream could also make their payments online without visiting the study centres, he added.
Professor Subbiah said the university became the only university in the country to get the ‘utilisation certificate’ after fully spending Rs. 5.36 crore sanctioned under the UGC 12th plan period fund, last year.
This year, the varsity has got the approval of the finance committee for the construction of a yoga centre, department extension buildings, percolation tank to harvest rainwater and storage hall for controller of examinations section at a total cost of Rs. 2.30 crore, he said.
The committee has also approved proposals, including those for constructing a museum for Tamil culture, quarters for teaching and non-teaching staff and ladies’ hostels at a cost of Rs. 3.13 crore, he added.
The examination automation introduced with barcode, replacing the dummy number system has not only helped cut down the cost by 40 per cent but has also helped to speed up result publications, he also said.
