Digitisation City housewives’ new worry

With digital payment platforms such as PayTm, Mobikwik, FreeCharge, Oxygen, etc, life 

is somehow getting easy but unsafe. People have reported several cases of fraud and harassment in reference to digitisation.

Building a cashless economy in a country where the number of people who are uneducated and also the number of places where there is no internet connection is high, the idea is a bit utopian.

Among the worst hit are housewives who are trying to cope up with the crisis by going digital. 

“I had never shopped online but after demonetisation, the cash crisis forced me to place orders online even for basic daily needs. My husband works with a multinational company in Gurugram and there is no one to stand in the never-ending queues to withdraw cash. 

“My husband taught me how to place orders on e-commerce websites and use internet banking. Life has become tedious for me,” said Shweta Sehgal, a housewife and a resident of Tagore Park. 

Dealing with the new notes, especially the Rs 2,000 ones is again a pain to deal with for housewives. It has become very difficult to pay money to vegetable vendors, maids and other people who help in household works on a daily basis,” said Monika Khandelwal, a housewife living in Roop Nagar.

Aarti Sapra, a teacher and housewife in Model Town, said: “Buying products online that are of daily use is very annoying. Placing an order for vegetables and other grocery items online and then waiting for hours for it to get delivered is a mere wastage of time.”

“I have a very bad experience using PayTm with a shop in Karol Bagh. As PayTm involves sharing of mobile numbers, I was harassed by the staff of that shop for more than two days. From that day onwards I feel very unsafe when it comes to digital transactions,” said Suman Narula a housewife and resident of Karol Bagh.