Forget e-wallet. What is your UPI ID?

It's quite a few years since e-wallets became popular. Most banks and e-commerce players have one. Then there are those like Paytm and MobiKwik.

These e-wallets are like the physical wallets that we carry with us. Transfer online money from your bank to the e-wallet app, and when you have to make a payment, transfer money from the e-wallet. 

But frankly, I never understood, why one should put money in the e-wallet from the bank, and then spend it, when we can make payment directly from the bank? Why move money twice? I rarely used e-wallets; for many years I have been using either debit card or credit card.

Unified Payments Interface

Now we are hearing more and more about UPI. What's that?

It's the abbreviation for Unified Payments Interface. It's a system that connects your bank/banks to a UPI mobile app. When you use an UPI app to make a payment, money gets deducted from your bank and gets credited to the receiver's bank account. 

In short, a bank account to bank account transfer via a UPI app. The best part is you don't need to know the recipient's bank account details. 

PhonePe, a Bengaluru-based company was one among the first to take the lead in this. The app was launched in December 2015.

In December 2016, the National Payments Corporation of India, launched a UPI app, under the name Bhim.

And day before yesterday, Google launched Tez.

Why I prefer UPI to e-wallets

The biggest takeaway is the ease of transaction. You can connect more than one bank to the UPI app; and payments go directly from your bank account. 

Another reason is, in e-wallets, sender and receiver should have same app. I can't transfer money from my Paytm to a MobiKwik user. But in the case of UPI, two people who have any UPI can transfer money to each other irrespective of the app they use. So transfer from PhonePe user to a user of Bhim or Tez is possible if the sender knows the recipient's UPI ID.

My gut feeling is that UPI is way forward for now. Only that the apps need to have more features on them.

Most importantly, retail stores, pharmacies, utility services, and any other places where people need to make payment, have to publicize their UPI ID, so that payments can be made easily.

What is your UPI ID?

It's very easy to get one. It's like an email ID, which I need if I need to send you a mail.

Download PhonePe, or Bhim, or Google Tez.

Your phone number is verified. Then you need to link your bank account to the UPI app. 

Then, you get a UPI ID. If it's PhonePe, it's usually your phone number@ybl; it is if Bhim it's phone number@upi; if it's Google's Tez, it's your Gmail ID@ok(name of the bank which you have linked).

If someone has to pay you money, just provide them your UPI ID, just as you provide anyone your email ID if they have to send you an email.

Money transfer can't get easier than this. It's all transparent, logged and accounted for. No need to worry about getting small change when shopping.

Why you can't begin a sentence with "Due to"

One of the tasks of journalists is to get facts and the language right.

We need to get the facts right, for obvious reasons. We need to get the language right, because a wrong preposition or a phrase or a punctuation or a word can even alter the meaning of a sentence.

If there is a mistake in language, it might essentially amount to getting the fact wrong.

Even after so many years in the profession of journalism, I keep looking up the dictionary and renowned publications every day with doubts regarding a word or a phrase. It's always a learning experience, and I thought I must make it a practice to put out here in the blog what I learn. The last time I blogged on "Language" was in 2007.

There is this endless debate on the difference between "due to" and "owing to". Though many believe that the two are synonymous, many puritans aren't amused if one is used in the place of the other.

Here's what I have learnt:

Due to:

• It means "caused by"
• Never begin a sentence with "due to". Actually you can't.
• The right place where it's used is after variations of the verb "to be", like "is", "was", "are", "were".

For example:

• His absence was due to illness
• His success was due to hardwork
• The cancellation of the concert was due to rain

Notice here:

• You cannot rephrase these sentences by starting them with "Due to".
• The sentences are incomplete if you cut off the portion from 'due to'. 

Owing to

• It means "because of"
• You can begin a sentence with "owing to".
• Before 'owing to' you don't have "is", "was", "are", or "were", instead you have a noun, or something that describes the noun.
  
  For example:
  
• He was absent owing to illness
• He was successful owing to sheer hardwork
• The concert was cancelled owing to the rain

Notice here:

• You can rephrase these sentences by starting them with "Owing to".
• The sentences are complete if you cut off the portion from 'owing to'. 

This is the reason you can't begin a sentence with "Due to".

7 reasons for cheer and 7 reasons for worry as India turns 70

Time for course correction

Today, it's 70 years since India won Independence. It has been a creditable journey for a nation like India, unique in many ways. There have been many defining personalities, events and issues in the seven decades. If one were to look at the world around us, the fact that we have survived this long, without any major and long-lasting bruises is itself a singular achievement.

As I introspect, I am proud of: 

Democracy: While it has not been a success in many nations, in India it has worked reasonably well; there is no foreseeable threat. May be we should be careful not to take our democracy for granted.

Technocrats: Our researchers in a variety of fields from agriculture to space and computer science have found indigenous solutions to our problems.

Diversity: India is a continent, in a sense. North, East, West and South have very few things in common - be it local traditions or weather. The vibrancy of variety is truly refreshing.

Tolerance: Our nation has gone through hell during these seven decades. The social fabric has been stretched a great deal. We have withstood it all.

Equal opportunity: In the eyes of the law, fully; and on the ground, to a reasonable extent, all people, irrespective of any differences, are equal. The strides some of the disadvantaged have made is truly remarkable.

Inclusivity: The vastness and diversity of India has meant that there is space for all. Like any society elsewhere, in India too there is social stratification. But this is one country where you have the luxurious and the spartan, or modernity and tradition, or science and faith coexisting side by side.

Indianness: Diversity has not taken away the Indianness from all of us. When the need arises, as it has on many occasion, all Indians have rallied together as one.

However, I am not too proud of: 

Casteism: There was a time when it mattered. We are done with it. There is no place for it in today's society, and we need to move on.

Insensitivity: Big issues bring us all together, but not the trials and tribulations of our daily lives. There is a certain amount of selfishness, and lack of concern for the person beside. This lack of social etiquette is reflected in our daily interactions everywhere.

Indiscipline: I get a feeling that we love creating problems and then taking pride in solving them. There is so much chaos and disorder. While the law of the land has generally prevailed, there are numerous instances of that being breached. The State machinery is weak, because it's the same undisciplined lot who get the power to rule the State.

Lack of accountability: Any society will have its share of disrupters. But here they seem to get away because they is no one holding them to account. That in turn becomes an incentive for that tribe to breed.

Lack of professionalism: Be it any profession, there is a lack of willingness to conform to standards. Rules are bent at will in total disregard to the severe damage our society suffers.

Pollution: Sound, air, water and the general environment around all of us is constantly getting polluted in every way.

Symbolism: We love slogans and labels. We like grand stages and large displays. We make a big show, even if on the ground, there isn't much happening. Cosmetic changes give us the false satisfaction of a mammoth achievement.

The fact that we have reached this far should not make us complacent. The future is more challenging than ever before. Unless we correct ourselves, each of us individually, in our daily lives, we will be saddled with more problems than we can solve.

(National flag image credit: All India Roundup)