Digital Dakshina During Dashain or any festivities is now a top trend, most noticeable among smartphone users. The ease of access and availability of the internet make it a convenient mode of offering Dakshina this Dashain. We believe many smartphone users during the Tika ceremony would love to integrate the idea of digital transactions for all the right reasons.
Covid-19 brought some cultural changes in our lives. From remote (work from home) to wearing masks, spraying sanitizers, virtual meetings, to contactless payment, we became used to things that we practiced little or never. But perhaps, the silver lining was the digital transformation it brought. Mobile payment and electronic transactions have become the favorite things for many. There is one thing we Nepalese can add to it during our festivities, and that is digital Dakshina, one of the much-talked-about and promoted acts for the Tika rite.
The idea is celebrated by prominent bankers too. Last year, the Vice President of the Nepal Bankers Association and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of NMB Bank Sunil KC said he has resorted to cashless transactions ever since digital banking started. Safe to say, he may not be offering physical cash for Dakshina. He loves going digital. “We are promoting digital Dakshina; it is also our plan at home. We ourselves need to take the initiative,” he declared.
![](https://www.nepalitelecom.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Digital-Daskshina-online-Dashain-768x1024.jpg)
With the 10th day of Dashain tomorrow (Tuesday, Kartik 07) and Tihar approaching, Dakshina will form one of the key factors for the celebrators. Traditionally, we offer Dakshina, (a form of monetary payment out of love, joy, and respect) hand-to-hand or in an envelope. But with the non-negligible COVID-19, Dengue, and other health sensitivities, and more so, the established desire not to carry cash, we can resort to the benefits of electronic offerings that could be more than convenient for all smartphone users.
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Virtual Tika Is Now Real
In the last few years during Dashain and Tihar, social media witnessed something unique, and logical. Some Nepalese posted videos and pictures of them receiving a virtual tika on their smartphones and laptops. Check out: How to celebrate the Dashain festival online?
Relatives, however distant, found a most immediate hack in turning to technology. On Zoom, Messenger, or other video calling platforms, people observed the auspicious Tika ceremony with ultimate joy. Obviously, the experiment does work for all. On the surface, the idea of a virtual Tika sounds like a trend in pop culture but it works as a great alternative. The idea is to keep ourselves connected during the festivities; be it physical or virtual. And Digital Dakshina completes it.
![eSewa digital dakshina](https://www.nepalitelecom.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/digital-dakshina-eSewa-1-471x1024.jpg)
Besides, not everyone is with cash these days. You can attribute it to our habits of digital payment. Nepal Rastra Bank says that it has enough liquidity now, but many have changed their spending habits already. They prefer digital transactions. This is why the idea of the electronic transfer of Dakshina can be a necessity and a new cultural experiment.
On the other hand, there is a whole set of merits to not using paper bills. Let’s rephrase, digital money has many advantages over physical paper money. Let’s enumerate some reasons to establish why digital Dakshina will have the upper hand over their real-life counterparts.
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Reasons you should prefer Digital Dakshina this Dashain 2080
Here are the advantages of Digital Dakshina over the cash Dakshina in the Dashain festival.
- Safety measures:
Most of us became habituated to digital payment during the adverse times wrought by COVID-19. The pandemic instilled in us good reasons to go for cashless transactions. Digital transactions help us avoid contact with contagious viruses and bacteria. Paper bills incur touches from many hands and from many surroundings. Therefore, not using the physical bills would be a rational thought for the health conscious. - Convenience:
The biggest advantage with the digital Dakshina is the convenience. No need to carry cash in your pockets! You don’t have to worry about keeping cash in your pockets, dropping them, or having it stolen. Just wire the amount wirelessly and you are good. If you have a smartphone, an internet connection, and a digital wallet app or a mobile banking app such as eSewa, Khalti, Hamro Pay, etc., which is very likely these days, you can do it in a few clicks. Similarly, you can transfer money via scanning QR codes, which is not that easy!! - Sparing the blushes:
Although Dakshina is merely a blessing, it is a thing for many, especially the younger siblings. So, it can be awkward at times in regard to how much one is offering. Transferring the blessed money over the air would spare the blushes of both the giver and the recipient. It also helps avoid awkward stares everyone gives while you open start counting the paper bills or draw it out of your pockets. - Sustain paper bills’ life:
Paper bills also have a life span because they are made of materials. The cool thing is by not using them, you will be helping expand their life span. Time and again, Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) issues requests to people to be careful with paper bills and not cover them in red tika and puja materials. To no avail, those poor notes get drowned in tika during the celebratory days. This deteriorates the physical condition of those notes and their longevity gets shorter.
If you don’t use physical paper bills during the Tika ceremony, it will help them stay from those “adverse situations” and help prolong their sustainability, saving the federal bank huge sums of money. Just watch the video released by NRB raising awareness of saving paper notes here, and you get the idea. Our little effort gives more life to the dear paper notes and the federal bank saves some amount spent otherwise on printing them. - A new experiment:
Going digital is fun and cool too. Digital payment is mainstream these days and having some loads in our mobile apps does help. Some of the best digital payment platforms are helping many of us pay online. Receiving Dakshina over such mediums will add some value via digital cash we could redeem while shopping, top-up, or for other purposes. Let’s just say that we could do it just to break away from the convention and bring noble fun to it.
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These are some of the reasons we believe digital Dakshina should be your favorite mode of transaction for the Dashain and Tihar Tika ceremonies. Of course, there could be more, and depending upon your choice of transaction, you could adopt any form.
To top it off, some banks financial institutions and digital wallets are also heavily promoting digital Dakshina. Global IME Bank is offering 10% cashback on transferring digital Dakshina via the Global Smart Plus app. Users need to send the money using a promo code and in return, the bank returns the 10% cashback in its Dakshina offer to its customers. This offer is valid from 11 AM to 2 PM on the Tika Day. Digital wallets like eSewa, Khalti, and IME Pay are also promoting the electronic Dakshina for Dashain 2080.
![Dashain icons IME Pay](https://www.nepalitelecom.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Dashain-theme-icons-on-IME-Pay.jpg)
Dashain Tika Time in Nepal 2080
As per Nepal Panchanga Nirnayak Samiti, the most auspicious Dashain Tika Time, or what we say the Subha Sait is at 11:02 AM on Tuesday (Kartik 07). Through this post, we at Nepalitelecom.com wish all our readers a wonderful Happy Vijayadashami, sound health, and peace of mind.
![Dashain Tika Time 2080](https://www.nepalitelecom.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Dashain-subha-sait-tika-time-678x1024.jpg)
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