Common Service Centre Program

Introduction

Common Services Centre (CSC) programme is an initiative of the Ministry of Electronics & IT (MeitY), Government of India. CSCs are the access points for delivery of various electronic services to villages in India, thereby contributing to a digitally and financially inclusive society.

CSCs are more than service delivery points in rural India. They are positioned as change agents, promoting rural entrepreneurship and building rural capacities and livelihoods. They are enablers of community participation and collective action for engendering social change through a bottom-up approach with key focus on the rural citizen.

CSC e-Governance Services India Limited is a Special Purpose Vehicle (CSC SPV) incorporated under the Companies Act, 1956 by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), Government of India, to monitor the implementation of the Common Services Centers Scheme. It provides a centralized collaborative framework for delivery of services to citizens through CSCs, besides ensuring systemic viability and sustainability of the scheme.

Common Service Centres and Digital India

Digital India is a flagship programme of the Government of India with a vision to transform India into a digitally empowered society and knowledge economy.

CSCs enable the three vision areas of the Digital India programme:

1. Digital infrastructure as Utility to Every Citizen
2. Governance and services on demand
3. Digital empowerment of citizens

Partners

1. Village Level Entrepreneur (VLE) to provide service to the rural consumer in villages.
2. The agency designated by the State - State Designated Agency (SDA)—to facilitate implementation of the Scheme within the State.
3. Others include central ministries, their departments and other central agencies to offer various services to the citizens and partner banks (public and private sector) and regional rural banks to enable CSCs to become Banking Correspondent Agents / Customer Service Points to deliver various banking and financial services.

Services offered

The CSCs would provide high quality and cost-effective video, voice and data content and services, in the areas of e-governance, education, health, telemedicine, entertainment as well as other private services. A highlight of the CSCs is that it will offer web-enabled e-governance services in rural areas, including application forms, certificates, and utility payments such as electricity, telephone and water bills. In addition to the universe of G2C services, a wide variety of content and services that are offered are:

1. Agriculture Services (Agriculture, Horticulture, Sericulture, Animal Husbandry, Fisheries, Veterinary)
2. Education & Training Services (School, College, Vocational Education, Employment, etc.)
3. Health Services (Telemedicine, Health Check-ups, Medicines)
4. Rural Banking & Insurance Services (Micro-credit, Loans, Insurance)
5. Entertainment Services (Movies, Television)
6. Utility Services (Bill Payments, Online bookings)
7. Commercial Services (DTP, Printing, Internet Browsing, Village level BPO).

CSC 2.0 Scheme

Under the Digital India programme, at least one CSC (preferably more than one) is envisaged in 2.5 lakh Gram Panchayats for delivery of various electronic services to citizens across rural India. This would include strengthening and integrating the existing 100,000 CSCs under the CSC scheme and making operational an additional 1.5 lakh CSCs in Gram Panchayats.

CSC 2.0 is a service delivery oriented entrepreneurship model with a large bouquet of services made available for the citizens through optimum utilization of infrastructure already created in the form of SWAN, SSDG, e-District, SDC, and NOFN/BharatNet.

Objectives of CSC 2.0

• Non-discriminatory access to e-Services for rural citizens by making CSCs complete service delivery centres, utilizing the infrastructure already created in terms of other Mission Mode Projects.
• Expansion of self-sustaining CSC network till the Gram Panchayat level – 2.5 lakh CSCs, i.e. at least one CSC per Gram Panchayat, more than one preferred.
• Empowering District e-Governance Society (DeGS) under the district administration for implementation.
• Creating and strengthening the institutional framework for rollout and project management, thereby, supporting the State and District administrative machinery and handholding of VLEs through local language Help Desk support.
• Enablement and consolidation of online services under single technology platform, thereby making the service delivery at CSCs accountable, transparent, efficient and traceable, with a technology-driven relationship between all stakeholders.
• Providing Centralized Technological Platform for delivery of various services in a transparent manner to the citizens.
• Increasing sustainability of VLEs by sharing maximum commission earned through delivery of e-services and encouraging women to join as VLEs.

Participating in CSC scheme

Eligibility :

• Applicant should be a village youth above 18 years of age
• Applicant must have passed the 10th level examination from a recognized board as minimum level of educational qualification.
• Applicant should be fluent in reading and writing the local dialect and should also have basic knowledge of English language
• Prior Knowledge in basic computer skills would be advantage
• Applicant should be motivated enough to be the prime driver of social change and disperse his or her duties with utmost dedication
• Should have a valid VID (Virtual ID) and PAN

Infrastructure Required for CSC

• At least 120 GB Hard Disc Drive.
• At least 512 MB RAM.
• CD/DVD Drive.
• UPS PC with Licensed Windows XP-SP2 or above operating system.
• With 4 hrs battery backup/Portable Genset.
• Printer/ Colour Printer.
• Web cam/digital camera.
• Scanner.
• Internet connection with at least 128 kbps speed for browsing & data uploading over internet.

Source: Common Service Centre scheme

Related Resources

1. CSC 2.0 Implementation Guidelines
2. Online Registration form for Common Service Centre
3. Locate your nearest CSCs