Common Service Centers

Common Services Centers (CSC) (Hindi: सर्व सेवा केंद्र) are multiple-services-single-point model for providing facilities for multiple transactions at a single geographical location. The main purpose of these centres is to provide a physical facility for delivery of e-Services of the Government of India to the rural and remote locations where availability of computers and Internet is currently negligible or mostly absent. The introduction of eGovernance on a massive scale is part of the Common Minimum Programme (CMP) of the current UPA-II government of India. The CSC project, which forms a strategic component of the National eGovernance Plan was approved in September 2006^[1][2]. It is also one of the approved projects under the Integrated Mission Mode Projects of the National eGovernance Plan^[3].

Introduction

CSC is meant to be a low cost vehicle for Government institutions to deliver eGovernance services to the rural population of India in 'Simple, Moral, Accountable, Responsive and Transparent’(SMART) and most cost-effective manner^[4]. They are the physical front-end for delivery of eGovernment Services to citizens and accepting requests for government services from the private citizen via eForms^[5]. They would also be used for delivery of services and interaction with private service providers. The aim is to create 1,00,000 CSC across 600,000 rural and remote locations^[5] of India.

Objectives

Officially, the objectives of the CSC have been stated as follows^[6]:

• Access to information : all remote/ rural citizens
• Delivery of public services – G2C & B2C
• ICT for rural Empowerment of socially disadvantaged people for inclusive growth
• Access to quality education / skill upgradation
• Access to cost efficient & quality health services
• CSC as a change agent - To promote rural entrepreneurship, enable community participation and effect collective action for social improvement^[2]

Through collaborative framework, the objective of CSC is to integrate the twin goals of profit making and social services, into a sustainable business model for achieving rapid socio-economic change in rural India^[7].

Functions

The following types of services are expected to be provided at the CSCs^[6]:

1. G2C Communication - All G2C (Government to Consumer) Communication including Health, Education, Agriculture, Human Resource Development, Employment, Fundamental Rights, Disaster Warnings, RTI, etc.
2. Information dissemination - Interactive kiosks, voice & Local Language Interface, including web browsing
3. Edutainment - Including multi-functional space for group interaction, entertainment, training and empowerment
4. eGovernance & eServices - Transactions like Market (eKrishi)Information, Banking,Insurance, Travel, Post, eForms to request government services, etc.
5. C2G Kiosk - Grievances, complaints, requests and suggestions.
6. Financial Inclusion - Payment for NREGA, etc.
7. Healthcare - Telemedicine & remote health camps have also been envisaged as part of the CSC's extended functionalities
8. Agriculture
9. Rural BPO

Project governance

The project governance would have a 3-tier implementation framework^[6] involving the following stakeholders^[2]:

1. State Designated Agency(SDA) - SDA would be the nodal agency at state level involved for the monitoring and supervision of the project progress at the state level.
2. Service Centre Agency(SCA) - This would be the main implementing agency providing the required investment budget and the functional specifications of the CSC. This would be equivalent to a franchisor of the CSCs, typically for one or more districts, as identified by the SDA.
3. Village Level Entrepreneur(VLE) - This would be the local level entrepreneur who would be in-charge of running the daily operations of the CSC after its implementation. This is loosely equivalent to a franchisee and would serve rural consumers in a group of 5-6 villages^[5].

Project components

The Project Components of the CSC consist primarily of Content & Services, Technology, Connectivity, Capacity Building and Business Model.^[8]

Implementation

The implementation of the CSC would be done in a Public-Private-Partnership(PPP) model whereby the total project cost of Rs. 57.42 billion, over 4 years, would be shared between Government(30% equal to Rs. 16.49billion) and private finances (70% equal to Rs. 40.93 billion)^[6]. The split between central and state government would be Rs. 8.56 billion and Rs. 7.93 billion respectively^[5]. As of 31st Jan 2011, 88,689 CSCs have been rolled out in thirty one States/UTs. 100% CSCs have been rolled out in 11 (Eleven) States (Chandigarh, Delhi, Goa, Gujarat, Haryana, Jharkhand, Kerala, Manipur, Puducherry, Sikkim & Tripura). More than 80% of the rollout has been completed in 6 States (Assam, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Meghalaya, Mizoram and West Bengal). In about 6 States (Chhattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh, Maharashtra, Orissa, Tamil Nadu and Uttarakhand) implementation of CSCs have crossed half way mark (more than 50%). It is expected that the roll out of 100,000 CSCs would be completed by March 2011^[1].

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Department of IT's CSC Webpage
2. ^ ^{a b c} CSC Project website
3. ^ NISG eGov Knowledge eXchange
4. ^ Second Administrative Reforms Commission Preface to the Report
5. ^ ^{a b c d} eGov approach in India
6. ^ ^{a b c d} NeGP overview
7. ^ 12th Nov meeting of NeGP Advisory Group
8. ^ Project Components on CSC website

External links

• Common Services Centers Scheme official website

	India portal
	Government of India portal