The Confederation of All India Traders (CAT) has just launched the National Digital Citizen Forum, an online platform aimed at advancing the rights of merchants, consumers, and other sections of society in India. With the goal of shaping the policy discourse around the digital economy, this platform seeks to maintain an open, secure, reliable, and accountable internet system that aligns with the government’s vision of creating a trillion-dollar digital economy.
Benefits of the National Digital Citizen Forum
The forum aims to educate citizens on digital regulations, enhance their digital competence through expert sessions, and address the following five key areas:
1. Consumer protection and online safety
2. Discouraging discriminatory and anti-competitive practices in the online world
3. The potential of Indian digital technologies to transform retail and industrial business, boost employment, and expand investment footprint
4. A taxation policy that encourages certainty and productivity while preventing illegal activities such as tax evasion and money laundering
5. Assessing the impact of emerging technologies on retail trade and protecting the interests of consumers.
Working Towards a Self-Reliant India
With the National Digital Citizen Forum, CAT hopes to realize Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of “Digital India” and help the government achieve its goal of creating a self-reliant India as a $1 trillion digital economy in the coming years. The forum will involve stakeholders from various sectors, including corporate and non-corporate sectors, MSMEs, farmers, consumers, experts, and technocrats.
Targeted Outreach and Engagement
The National Digital Citizen Forum will organize awareness camps, digital and physical interactions, trainings, and targeted outreach to stakeholders from government, private sector, and civil society, including policy makers and other relevant stakeholders at the state level. Through these efforts, the forum aims to empower traders and consumers alike and drive India’s digital economy forward.
