Feature

Mushrooming of Common Service Centers

Proliferation of Common Service Centers is integral to take the benefits of e-Governance to the remotest areas of rural India. Priyanka Akhouri writes about the status of CSC implementation in the country

India is home to 1.07 billion people where the population constantly grows at the rate of 1.3% every year. Of this, 650 million people live in remote areas spread across 6,30,000 villages. Rural India contributes to 27% of the country’s Gross Domestic Profit (GDP) but gets back only 5%, which is less than one-fifth of its contribution. The initiative of introducing Common Service Centers (CSC) in India by the Government of India (GoI) will deliver various services ranging from agriculture, education, health, finance, banking, etc. Alok Bhargava, Executive Director (Financial Services), IL&FS, said, “These centers will help lay a solid foundation for the economic prosperity of rural India. It will help to link rural India to a basket of information, knowledge, skills, etc., under one roof through demonstrable models.”

For the development of our economic growth, education, healthcare, infrastructure, etc., are the aspects to focus on. Despite the various steps taken by the government, NGOs, and other bodies, transforming the lives of rural citizens remain the biggest challenge in India. However, the problem lies in providing facilitative framework where knowledge combined with Information and Communication Technology (ICT) produce economic benefits for the country and its people.

As part of India’s 11th Five Year Plan (2007-2011), the GoI structured a new paradigm that is broad-based, focusing specifically on alleviating poverty. It formulated the National e-Governance Plan (NeGP) with the vision of providing all government services in an integrated manner to the rural population at their doorstep and at an affordable cost. Amod Kumar, Special Secretary (Revenue), Government of UP who was earlier the Special Secretary (IT& Electronics) believes that the major objective is to take the benefits of ICT and make it accessible to the rural masses. “The aim is to build the platform connecting the rural people with the government and business organizations. With the use of ICT, the scope is to make people aware of the various services available to them and train them as per their needs,” said Kumar.

Common Service Centers

On September 21, 2006 the Union Cabinet approved the setting up of CSCs across the country at an outlay of Rs. 5,742 crores. Of this, the GoI’s outlay would be Rs 856 crores, and the state governments’ share is approximately Rs 793 crores. The balance amount of Rs 4,093 crores is expected to come from the private sector. As per the plan, the scheme will provide support to 600,000 villages in India by establishing 100,000 CSCs by 2008-09 across these villages.

“CSCs being a part of NeGP plan can play the a role of an effective ‘change agent’, where action is undertaken through three important components, namely a Public Private Partnership (PPP) framework, rural entrepreneurship and market mechanisms, and government policy and support,” stated Rajendra Mahatma, Senior Consultant, CSC, National e-Governance Plan (PMU-NeGP), Department of Information Technology, Ministry of Communications & IT, Government of India.

GoI has appointed IL&FS as the Central Government Nodal Agency for rolling out CSCs. IL&FS as a Program Management Agency will facilitate the roll out of CSCs in a PPP format. These CSCs will have appropriate IT infrastructure through State WAN, power, space and connectivity to various services required for rural development. Alok Bhargava, Executive Director (Financial Services), IL&FS said that in addition, the Department of IT has IL&FS, a National Level Service Agency (NLSA), to support the SDA (State Designated Agency) as well as the SCAs (Service Center Agency) to operate the CSC business in a state. This scheme is not just an e-Governance initiative, but based more on the community’s needs. CSCs would be a platform for the fundamental transformation of the ways in which the government meets development challenges in rural India.

The inside story

“As per CSC guidelines, the setup is based on the ratio of 1:6, which means that there is one CSC for every six villages. This in turn will meet the target of 100,000 CSCs covering 600,000 villages,” explained Deepak L Bhagchandaney, Director, Sales & Marketing, and Spanco Telesystems & Solutions.

Today, the whole world is transforming at a fast pace, from physical to digital. With the use of IT, execution of day-to-day work is changing in sectors such as education, health, banking, etc. Due to the dissemination of digital information, efficiency, transparency, and accountability have increased with operational costs reducing phenomenally. Neelkanth Mattar, Project Leader, “e-Gram” at HCL, said, “Apart from important services such as land records, birth and death certificates, utility bill payments, house tax payment to be provided by the government, CSCs will be acting as a medium for providing information or services on informal education, e-learning, licenses, permits, crop insurance and more. This will help the rural masses reduce their spending on travel as well as use the services through these CSCs at a reasonable rate. It will also allow them to save time as the services will be delivered to their doorstep.”

CSCs will act as the front-end delivery points for the government, private, and social sector services to rural citizens. The aim is to build a stage, which will allow these institutions to put together their social and commercial goals that will be beneficial to the rural people. These services will include both IT as well as non-IT services. Bhagchandaney agreed that there was a requirement of bringing in certain services such as finance and banking, etc., to the unprivileged. For example, a villager with regular wages usually travels 1,000-1,500 kms to purchase various forms from the banks, thereby losing a part of his income in travel. The purpose of CSCs is to bring the government-enabled services to the citizens. CSCs will bring about a total change in the rural environment and in the way that people carry out their daily routines.

Rajendra Mahatma, Senior Consultant of CSCs at the Department of Information Technology, Ministry of Communications & IT, Government of India, explained that the Department of IT and the GoI, as part of its mandate under the NeGP is currently implementing the CSC Scheme, and establishing 100,000 broadband Internet enabled kiosks in rural areas for delivering government and private services in rural areas through a PPP.

Mattar affirmed that the project is a unique example of PPP, since the investment for the project is made by the private investor known as a ‘Service Center Agency (SCA)’ and the ‘e-Gram Vishwagram Society’. These come under the Department of Panchayat, Rural Housing & Rural Development, and the Government of Gujarat known as State Designated Agency (SDA) that shall facilitate the process reengineering to create a network of integrated service centers in the 600,000 villages to offer all the citizen-centric services under one roof.

Structure of CSC

The implementation of the CSC scheme is in a PPP format and the state governments will select the SCAs through a transparent bidding process.

The first level includes the Village Level Entrepreneurs (VLEs). The SCA would manage a network of VLEs, who in turn would manage the operational business of the CSCs at the village level. The VLEs would report to the SCA. They are required to possess qualities such as understanding the customer’s needs, willingness to learn computer skills, etc. Additionally, the NLSA will provide support with training, content development, etc. “The VLE is the key to the success of the CSC operations. A good VLE would be one who has strong entrepreneurial skills, social commitment as well as respect within the community. The VLE would manage the CSC business at the ground level. Selection and proper training of the VLE would play a vital role in effective implementation of the CSCs,” said Mahatma.

At the second level, the SCA will be responsible for the overall profitability and sustainability of the CSC business. The SCA is the prime driver of the CSC scheme and the owner of the CSC business. SCAs are also responsible to set-up the CSCs in a phased manner with the required and appropriate hardware and software.

“SCAs play an essential role as they need to promote the use of CSCs in rural areas through state-level and local promotion campaigns,” added Bhargava.

The third level includes the SDA, which will ease the implementation process as well as provide Government to Citizen (G2C) services, policy guidelines from time-to-time, and disbursement of revenue support to the SCAs.

Under PPP mode, there is a revenue sharing model for various stakeholders, which varies subject to the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the service provider and the SCAs. For example, the revenue sharing model may differ between BSNL and the railways.

An ICT-enabled CSC can provide citizen-centric services of the state and central government in a convenient and efficient manner. It will enhance the accountability, transparency, and responsibility of the government towards the needs of the citizens. “It aims to provide efficient and cost effective methods of service delivery to departments and agencies and train VLEs in business and IT management skills. Moreover, the focus is to empower the rural citizen through information dissemination and market linkages,” explained Mattar.

CSCs will help bridge the technological divide between the urban and rural masses. CSCs will offer and monitor all types of training and extension programs, giving a platform to the rural sector to access regional, national and international markets. Creating primary data collection centers and data warehouse will be the source of authentic statistical data used for various analytical and decision support purposes.

“The aim of the scheme is not merely to roll out IT infrastructure but to build a network of 100,000 plus rural businesses across India, providing e-Governance, education, health, e-commerce services by leveraging the advances in ICT for the benefit of the rural population. To that effect, the CSC scheme has been designed to create a value proposition for all stakeholders and alignment of their economic interests,” commented Mahatma.

The various IT and non-IT services that will be offered include Government to Citizens (G2C), Business to Consumer (B2C), and Business to Business (B2B). However, the primary focus will be on G2C services like birth and death certificates, land registration, utility bill payments (electricity, telephone, mobile etc), form downloads, license, permits, and subsidies. “In the times to come most of the G2C services would be IT-based, such as property tax and legislation, railway tickets booked through smart cards, etc.,” added Bhagchandaney.

The B2C services are mostly IT-centric like market linkages for agricultural commodities, mobile services, banking and financial services, commercial services (matrimonial, astrology, etc.), education services, online shopping, trading, and telemedicine. Healthcare is another sector that seeks to benefit immensely from the CSCs. With the use of telemedicine, doctors can monitor their patients’ health through CSCs. This will also allow them to take preventive measures, precautions, and diagnose at the right time.

The business model is such that 70% of the revenue would be coming from B2Cs and 30% from G2Cs.

Implementation status

The space required per CSC is approximately 100 to 150 square feet. It will comprise of two PCs with UPS connected to two printers (inkjet and dot matrix), digital or Web camera, wire as well as wireless connectivity, inverter, mobile phones, OS and other software. The total estimated cost per CSC is Rs 1.25-1.50 lakhs, excluding land and building cost.

Mahatma mentioned that according to the current implementation structure across India, 21 states have issued the Request for Proposals (RFP), which includes Punjab, Kerala, Pondicherry, etc. In October 2008, another RFP will be issued by Arunachal Pradesh and Karnataka. The SCAs have been selected for Jammu & Kashmir and Rajasthan and other 21 states he added. Nearly 14,398 CSCs are operational in 10 states, including Haryana, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Tripura, Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, and Assam. Currently, the CSC roll out is in progress in 20 other states.

In Gujarat, the partner to the schemes include e-Gram Vishwa Gram Society (e-GVGS) formed under the Department of Panchayat, Rural Housing and Rural Development, Government of Gujarat known as a State Designated Agency (SDA). In Gujarat 6,000 CSCs are going to be set up.

Among the SCAs, CMS Computers has been selected to set-up, run, and manage 1,473 CSCs. 3i Infotech will setup and run 3,023 CSCs, while Reliance Communications will run 1,504 CSCs in Gujarat. Currently the CSC project in Gujarat is in the roll out stage. Out of 6,000 centers approximately 4,500 are already equipped with VSAT broadband connectivity along with PC, printer, and an operator to roll out the services, said Mattar.

The other SCAs selected across states include SREI Infrastructure Finance and Wipro, Zoom Developers, Comat Technologies, United Telecoms and Orion eServices, NICT and Writers and Publishers, Spanco Tele Systems and Solutions, Terra Software and G&G, SARK Systems, Alternative for India Development, Bharat Electronics and Radiant Info Systems, and J&K Bank.

In April 2008, the Government of UP signed a Master Services Agreement (MSA) with 4 SCAs, namely SREI Infrastructure Finance and Wipro, Comat Technologies, 3i Infotech, and CMS Computers. “The UP government is divided into seven zones and not more than two zones are given to the respective companies. However, so far few CSCs have been set up in some zones. The aim is to set up 17,909 CSCs,” commented Kumar.

Recently, Spanco signed an MSA with the Government of Maharashtra. According to the agreement, out of 11,200 CSCs to be rolled out in Maharashtra, Spanco is entitled to roll out 3,689 of them. This includes the ones in the Konkan and the Pune region. “The timeline for rolling out the CSCs is 18-24 months from the day of signing the agreement. Till now we have finalized 500 CSCs and these will be operationalized by January, 2009,” stated Bhagchandaney.

malabika.sarkar@expressindia.com