Parliament

Other than fighting corruption, black money and terror funding, demonetisation was also described as a move to push for digital payments and a step towards a cashless economy.

Of the four canteens, one is exclusively for the members of Parliament. The other three are used by parliament staff, journalists and visitors.

Around 4,500 people eat in the canteens every day when Parliament is in session, according to an estimate provided by the food committee of the Lok Sabha in 2015, the latest year for which data is available.

The Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha together have 790 members and the combined staff strength is around 2,900.

According to the 2015 estimate, 42% of the food is consumed by staff and security personnel when Parliament is in recess.

Card payments never crossed more than ~50,000 a month, which amounted to less than five per cent of the total transactions, sources said. A few months after they were introduced, POS machines were unavailable.

“Normally, MPs consume snacks and tea and coffee in Parliament’s Central Hall. For such small amounts they prefer to pay in cash. Also the sim card attached POS machines don’t work in Central Hall due to jammers. MPs perhaps find it cumbersome to get up and go to the POS machine in one corner of the Central to enter the pin,” explained BJD MP Tathagata Sathpathy.

The digital push might have been a non-starter in the cafes but Parliament successfully introduced e-payments for all members, staff and vendors from April 2017.

Replacing the system of drawing cheques, the Lok Sabha secretariat now transfers salaries directly to members’ bank accounts. “Their allowances and reimbursements are also remitted electronically,” an official said on condition of anonymity as he is not authorised to speak to the media.

The Rajya Sabha has its own e-payment system.

In October, the LS secretariat disbursed ~35.86 crore through e-payments and in November the amount increased to ~40 crore.