Common Services Centers (CSCs)

Common Services Centers (CSCs)

Subject – Governance

Context – Common Service Centres can now help with ration card issues

Concept –

• 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.
• 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 objective of CSCs is to 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.
• The PPP (Public Private Partnership) model of the CSC scheme envisages a 3-tier structure consisting of the:
  • CSC operator (called Village Level Entrepreneur or VLE);
  • Service Centre Agency (SCA), that will be responsible for a division of 500-1000 CSCs; and
  • State Designated Agency (SDA) identified by the State Government responsible for managing the implementation in the entire State.
• CSCs enable the three vision areas of the Digital India programme:
  • Digital infrastructure as Utility to Every Citizen
  • Governance and services on demand
  • Digital empowerment of citizens.

Services offered

• 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).

CSC 2.0 Scheme:

• Based on the assessment of CSC scheme, the Government launched the CSC 2.0 scheme in 2015 to expand the outreach of CSCs to all Gram Panchayats across the country.
• Under CSC 2.0 scheme, at least one CSC will be set up in each of the 2.5 lakh GPs across the country by 2019.
• CSCs functioning under the existing scheme will also be strengthened and integrated with additional 1.5 lakh CSCs across the country.
• 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 State Wide Area Network (SWAN), State Service Delivery Gateway (SSDG), e-District, State Data Centre (SDC), and (National Optical Fiber Network (NOFN)/BharatNet.