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Common Services Centers

The CSC is a strategic cornerstone of the National e-Governance Plan (NeGP),
approved by the Government in May 2006, as part of its commitment in the National
Common Minimum Programme to introduce e-governance on a massive scale.
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, the CSC Guidelines envisage a
wide variety of content and services that could be offered as listed below:
Agriculture Services (Agriculture, Horticulture, Sericulture, Animal Husbandry,
Fisheries, Veterinary)
Education & Training Services (School, College, Vocational Education,
Employment, etc.)
Health Services (Telemedicine, Health Check-ups, Medicines)
Rural Banking & Insurance Services (Micro-credit, Loans, Insurance)
Entertainment Services (Movies, Television)
Utility Services (Bill Payments, Online bookings)
Commercial Services (DTP, Printing, Internet Browsing, Village level BPO).
The Scheme creates a conducive environment for the private sector and NGOs
to play an active role in implementation of the CSC Scheme, thereby becoming a
partner of the government in development of rural India.
The PPP model of the CSC scheme envisages a 3-tier structure consisting of
the CSC operator (called Village Level Entrepreneur or VLE); the Service Centre
Agency (SCA), that will be responsible for a division of 500-1000 CSCs; and a State
Designated Agency (SDA) identified by the State Government responsible for
managing the implementation in the entire State.
CSC Online Monitoring Tool
The four key applications developed and currently implemented which form part of
the CSC monitoring solution include:
CSC SMART Solution:
This application tracks CSC roll out progress at block level up to the stage
CSCs are finally commissioned.
The application tracks CSCs over stages, such as selection of SCAs, selection
of CSC locations, identification of VLEs, setting up IT infrastructure, Internet
connectivity, commissioning, final certification of CSCs, the system also tracks status
of BSNL connectivity at various CSC and provides useful performance information
of CSCs.
http://www.cscsmart.in
CSC Online Monitoring Solution:
Post CSCs are commissioned; the online monitoring tool helps in registration
of CSC IT terminals and tracks uptime of IT terminals.
Each CSC PC is required to install and register online monitoring tool. The
online registration process serves a proof of availability of CSC IT terminals as
validated by their unique machine ID (Mac ID) and internet availability for
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delivering digital services.
CSC Online Dashboard:
This tool provides executive MIS on registration and uptime status of CSCs
on Pan India basis and tracks the performance of CSCs, SCAs and States based on
uptime logs generated and disseminated by the online monitoring tool.
http://www.csclive.in/dashboard.


CSC Connect:
CSC Connect is a facility available to various Service Access Provider (SAP)
Portals to allow CSCs to login into their portals using their unique CSC ID /
password combination defined under CSC Online Monitoring System.
This facility would save CSC the trouble of registering their profiles and
remembering their IDs and password with multiple SAPs.
The CSC Connect mechanism would make it possible for CSCs using their
unique CSC ID / Password to gain access to the SAP Portal and will also help DIT to
measure the usage of services of various SAP sites at various CSCs.
http://www.csclive.in/cscconnect
The solution currently serves the following purpose
Provides unique identification of a CSC based on their geography
Maintains a centralized database of CSCs, VLE with their addresses, email and
contact details.
Enables online registration status of CSCs
Reckons uptime performance of CSCs which have been registered online on a
daily basis
Maintains uptime Performance of a CSC, SCA and States based on CSC
performance in their respective territories
Provides role based access to all the stakeholders based on their privilege
geographic usage
Provides single waterfall view of CSCs from Pan India-State- District-Block to the
ultimate CSC
Enables recording of BSNL connectivity status at each of the CSCs
http://deity.gov.in/content/common-services-centers

Common Service Centres Programme
Common Services Centres (CSCs) Scheme is the nationwide initiative of
Government of India to provide support for establishing 1 lakh Common Service
Centers in 6 lakh villages of India.
CSCs scheme has been started in 2006 with the vision to develop these centres
as a front-end delivery points for Government, private and social sector services to
rural citizens of India in an integrated manner.
The objective is to develop a platform that can enable Government, private
and social sector organizations to align their social and commercial goals for the
benefit of the rural population in the remotest corners of the country through a
combination of IT-based as well as non-IT-based services.
An estimated amount of Rs. 5742 crores, will be spent over a span of 4 years
for the project. A major portion of the total amount will be pooled from
contributions made by the state and central governments, while the balance will be
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mobilized from the private sector. The central government would contribute Rs. 856
crores while the state government contributes an amount of Rs. 793 crores out of the
total amount.
The Scheme is to be implemented through a Public-Private Partnership. CSCs
are the primary physical front-end for delivery of Government and private services
to citizens.
The government has taken a three pronged approach for effective
implementation of National egovernance plan to enable anytime anywhere delivery
of government services.
CSCs are one among the three pillars, they support the infrastructure
requirements
State Wide Area Network provides the necessary support for Connectivity.
This has already been approved by the Government for Rs 3334 crore
State Data Centre Scheme is useful for secure hosting of data and applications
The Common Services Centres would be designed as ICT-enabled Kiosks having a
PC along with basic support equipment like Printer, Scanner, UPS, with Wireless
Connectivity as the backbone and additional equipment for edutainment,
telemedicine, projection systems, etc., as the case may be.

The CSC Scheme has a 3-tier implementation framework:
First (CSC) level would be the local Village Level Entrepreneur (VLE) to
provide service the rural consumer in a cluster of 5-6 villages (but Tamil Nadu
government has planned to set up an CSCs centre for every 3 villages)
Second/middle level would be an entity termed the Service Centre Agency
(SCA) to operate, manage and build the VLE network and business. An SCA would
be identified for one or more districts (one district would cover 100-200 CSCs).
Third level would be the agency designated by the State- the State Designated
Agency (SDA) - to facilitate implementation of the Scheme within the State and to
provide requisite policy, content and other support to the SCAs.

The Common Services Centers Scheme: Background
1.1 The Government of India has formulated the National E-Governance Plan with
the vision of providing all government services in an integrated manner at the
doorstep of the citizen, at an affordable cost. The NeGP initiatives consist of 26
Central, State and Integrated Mission Mode Projects (MMPs) along with 8 other
support components for rapid introduction of e-governance in the country. The
NeGP envisions a three pillar model for delivery of web-enabled Anytime,
Anywhere access to information and services in rural India. These are:
a) Connectivity: State Wide Area Networks (SWANs)/NICNET
b) National Data Bank/ State Data Centres (SDCs)
c) Common Services Centers (CSCs)
1.2 The CSC Scheme, as approved by the Government of India, envisions CSCs as
the front-end delivery points for Government, private and social sector services to
rural citizens of India, in an integrated manner. The objective is to develop a
platform that can enable Government, private and social sector organizations to
align their social and commercial goals for the benefit of the rural population in the
remotest corners of the country through a combination of IT-based as well as non-IT-
based services.
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1.3 Thus, the CSCs cannot be seen as mere service delivery points in rural India. The
CSC is positioned as a Change Agent - that would promote rural entrepreneurship,
build rural capacities and livelihoods, enable community participation and collective
action for social change - through a bottom-up model with focus on the rural citizen.
1.4 Undertaking such a mammoth task calls for active participation and close
interaction amongst various stakeholders such as State Governments, local bodies,
opinion makers and agencies/ institutions involved or having interest, commercial
or otherwise, in rural areas/ markets. Under the CSC Scheme, a Public Private
Partnership (PPP) model has been proposed for undertaking this challenging task
and addressing the related issues in the most effective way.

2. The Implementation Framework
2.1 The CSC Scheme has a 3-tier implementation framework:
a) At the first (CSC) level would be the local Village Level Entrepreneur (VLE-
loosely analogous to a franchisee), to service the rural consumer in a cluster of 5-6
villages.
b) At the second/middle level would be an entity termed the Service Centre Agency
(SCA loosely analogous to a franchiser) to operate, manage and build the VLE
network and business. An SCA would be identified for one or more districts (one
district would cover 100-200 CSCs).
c) At the third level would be the agency designated by the State- the State
Designated Agency (SDA) - to facilitate implementation of the Scheme within the
State and to provide requisite policy, content and other support to the SCAs.

3. Other Agencies
3.1 The National Level Service Agency (NLSA): There are significant challenges in
exploiting opportunities to achieve economies of scale in the identification,
customization and implementation of the physical and digital infrastructure
required for the project. Further, many of the potential citizen-centric services would
lend themselves to aggregation at the national level. To enable the State-specific
implementation plans to benefit from such economies of scale, aggregation of best
practices, content providers, etc., the DIT would be appointing a National Level
Service Agency (NLSA).
3.2 The Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV): In addition to the NLSA, an SPV has been
proposed for the day-to-day monitoring of the CSC Scheme, in terms of channeling
Government support, content aggregation, etc. While the SPV is proposed to be set
up during the initial implementation phase of the Scheme, it is essentially an entity
created to be an integral part of the CSC

Common Service Centre Scheme
Government of India under NeGP (National eGovernance Plan program
proposed to setup 1 lakhs Common Services Centers (CSC) in rural India in PPP
mode
NeGP envisions web-enabled Anytime, Anywhere access to information and
services in rural India, through three infrastructure pillars
CSC is the front-end delivery points for Government, private and social sector
services to rural citizens of India
Unique PPP initiative accepted by all the state government
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Essence of CSC is its equitable spread geographically
Centralised planning and decentralised Implementation
Private entities identified in all the states without exception value at the
bottom of the pyramid

Maharashtra (Maha e-SevaKendras)
The State of Maharashtra started the CSC implementation in September 2008
by appointing four SCAs, viz, CMS Computers, Reliance Communications,
Spanco and 3i Infotech, to rollout 1181 CSCs across the State. It was envisaged
that each CSC would cater to 4 villages. However, due to non-performance 3i
Infotechs contract was terminated and Bharat Samruddhi Finance Ltd. was
selected in its place in January 2011. By August 2011, 9336 CSCs have been
rolled out in the State, with over 80% having connectivity
Setu Maharashtra, the State Designated Agency has taken a number of steps
to make a number of G2C services available to the citizens via the CSCs,
including 96 Revenue Department services, land records, ration card and
employment exchange services. Already over 22 lakh G2C certificates and
affidavits have been issued through CSCs. Currently test runs are being
conducted for delivery of e-District services as well. UID enrolment in the
State is also taking place through the CSCs.
Further, the SCAs have taken a proactive step to offer a range of B2C services
including IRCTC services, electricity bill collection, insurance sale and
premium collection, mobile sim sales and recharges, DTH services and online
job registration. Currently a few districts are offering Pension services as well.
Education is a key service that is being successfully delivered through CSCs
in the State. SCAs have tied up with the Maharashtra Knowledge Corporation
(MKCL), to offer the popular MS-CIT computer course. Currently, the State is
enabling, various Banks to leverage the CSC network to offer banking services
to ensure financial inclusion amongst its citizens.
http://csc.gov.in/states/maharasthra/


Concerns raised:
Why set up a front end when there is no back end
No basic survey done
Not feasible in all the location naxal areas
Gradual approach may have been better first district , then block
Do you need Intermediaries like SCA Govt to set up
SCA exploit the VLE
The CSCs are like a shop- Not fit for service delivery- poor infrastructure
Poor Connectivity
Power Issues
In adequate G2C services
Are they sustainable

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