Citizen Service Centers

Under the

National e-Governance Plan

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Background

Governments worldwide are striving to deliver more and better services to their
citizens through channels that are convenient as well as economical. In this
technology has played the most important role and has revolutionized the ways
of working. Information and communication technology can be a powerful enabler
of developmental goals as its use can dramatically improve communication and
exchange of information to strengthen and create new economic and social
networks. Technology facilitates disintermediation, as it makes it possible for
users to acquire products and services directly from the original provider,
reducing the need for intermediaries. It is also transparent it does not differentiate
on the basis of economic status, religion or castes of its users.

Access to information, backed with relevant infrastructure and services, not only
allows rural populace to improve its quality of life but also supports and
supplements its existing incomes in a sustainable way. Large number of
population in India lives in the rural area which is still living in 18 th century arena.
Making the technology available to them is an achievement in itself. Rural
consumers are willing to pay for products and services that meet their needs and
are offered at affordable prices. Therefore, what Rural India needs is a new
social contract in which there will be common access infrastructure, provided at
commercial prices rather than given for free.

The Government recognizes the role of IT as an effective tool in catalyzing

economic activity, in efficient governance and in developing human resource.
This policy seeks a deep impact initiative by the Government in encouraging
replacement of traditional delivery system of public services by IT driven system
of governance that works better, costs less and is capable of serving the citizens’
needs with ease.

This meant fundamental changes in the ways of working of the government. The
result is the emergence of e-Government, which simply stated, is the use of
technology to enhance the access to and delivery of government services for the
benefit of citizens of the country. Access to information and services like e-
Government, micro-credit, literacy, education, health, etc., can provide a solid
foundation for the economic prosperity of rural India. Traditionally e-Governance
has been defined as an IT enabled route to good governance. Basic idea behind
e-Governance include enhancing transparency, generating accountability and
responsiveness in the system in order to provide faster and quality service to the
citizen. This would enable citizens to have the choice of accessing government
information and services.

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National e Governance Plan

The Government of India has formulated the National e-Governance Plan

(NeGP) 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 27 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:

• Connectivity: State Wide Area Networks (SWANs)/NICNET

• National Data Bank/ State Data Centres ( SDCs)
• Citizen Service Centers (CSCs)

The National E Governance Plan is a flagship initiative of the Central

Government aimed at management of change and re-engineering of Government
processes besides establishing the necessary technological infrastructure
needed for promoting integrated use of IT in governance. The NeGP is an
enormous step towards making the Government accessible to citizens, in ways
that can not only save huge costs to the Government but also make it more
transparent and efficient in its day-to-day interactions with the common man. To
that effect, the role of Citizen Services Centers, envisaged as the front-end
delivery network for Government services assumes great significance.

The vision of NeGP is to make all Government services accessible to the

common man in his locality, through common service delivery outlets and ensure
efficiency, transparency & reliability of such services at affordable costs to realise
the basic needs of the common man.

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Citizen Service Centers

The Department of Information Technology (DIT), Government of India has

announced a National Level Scheme to create a network of 100,000 access
points termed Citizen Services Centers (CSCs) as outlets for essential services
in rural India. The CSCs are ICT-enabled. To be effective, however, Information
and Communication Technology (ICT) needs to be woven into existing systems
and processes in a localized fashion. The challenge is to build a sustainable
business model that emerges out of the developmental needs of the rural
population of India.

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.

The CSC Scheme is envisaged to be a bottom-up model for delivery of content,

services, information and knowledge, that can allow like-minded public and
private enterprises, through a collaborative framework to integrate their goals of
profit as well as social objectives, into a sustainable business model for achieving
rapid socio-economic change in rural India.

Public Private Partnership (PPP):

To undertake such a mammoth task calls for participation of leading thought leaders
and agencies involved in rural markets. It is proposed that a Public Private
Partnership model can undertake this challenging task in the most effective way.

A PPP is a facilitating framework that enables sustainable development by effectively

leveraging limited public funds, integrating scale with efficiency; reducing life cycle
costs, harnessing national resources and looping best practices, to achieve a social
purpose. A PPP provides a format in which all the important stakeholders are
incentivized to come together in achieving the community development goals
enshrined in the project. To that effect, a PPP framework is more than a Joint
Venture.

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Objectives of CSCs

• Provide citizen centric services of the State and Central Government in a

convenient and efficient manner through
• Enhance the accountability, transparency and responsiveness of the
Government to citizen’s needs.
• Provide efficient and cost effective methods of service delivery to
departments and agencies
• Allow private and social sector to collaborate with the Government to offer
world-class services in rural India
• Train village level entrepreneurs in business and IT management skills
• Empower the rural citizen through information dissemination and market
linkages
• To provide one stop venue for all citizen centric services.
• Time-bound service delivery has resulted in improving the efficiency of
delivery of the services
• Elimination of corruption and middlemen from the process.
• Provision of a wide spectrum of services at a single place has helped in
saving citizens the trouble of going to various departments
• Integration of data bases of government departments and organisations.
This integration has also forced user departments to carry out process re-
engineering and standardisation in delivery of services.
• Creation of jobs in the districts for the local IT-savvy youths.
• The utility of information technology to be spread among the masses.

CSC can play a role of an effective “change agent” that would provide a
structured platform for socially inclusive community participation for collective
developmental activities. Such change, it is undertaken through three important
components:

• A Public Private Partnership (PPP) Framework

• Rural Entrepreneurship and Market Mechanisms
• Government policy and support

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Structure of CSC’s

The Service Centre Agency (SCA) is the prime driver of the CSC Scheme and
the owner of the CSC business. The CSC structure is envisaged as follows:

• At the first level is the Village Level Entrepreneurs (VLEs).

• At the second level is the Service Centre Agency (SCA).
• At the third level is the agency designated by the State- the State
Designated Agency (SDA) - to facilitate implementation
• In addition, the DIT has appointed a National Level Service Agency
(NLSA) to support the SDA as well as the SCAs to enable the CSC
business in the State
• In addition, an SPV proposed to undertake the day-to-day monitoring of
the CSC Scheme on behalf of the Government.

CSC Structure

DIT STATE GOVERNMENT

NLSA SPV SDA

SCA

VLE

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• The State Designated Agency (SDA): The CSC Scheme is rolled out in
the State through the SDA. The SDA plays three major roles as follows:

1. Facilitator for policy, regulatory and other relevant changes with the
State Government
2. Facilitator for enabling e-Government services
3. Enabler for infrastructure and other support to the SCA

• Service Centre Agency (SCA): The SCA is the prime driver of the CSC
eco-system. The SCA is the owner of the CSC network in pre-defined
areas of operations in the State. The SCA undertakes activities such as
identifying the required applications and services, harnessing the State
network, identifying and training the VLE, establishing the CSC (either
directly or through the VLE), supplying, aggregating and updating content
and services and so on. The SCA is supported by the NLSA and the
respective State Designated Agency (SDA) to implement the CSC
Scheme.

• Village Level Entrepreneur (VLE): The VLE is the key to the success of
the CSC operations. A good VLE is one who has good entrepreneurial
skills, strong social commitment as well as respect within the community.
The VLE manages 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.

• National Level Service Agency (NLSA): A project of this scale poses

significant challenges of project management at the national level.
Significant economies of scale can be achieved 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.,
a National Level Service Agency (NLSA) has been appointed by the DIT
for facilitating the rollout process on a Public Private Partnership format.

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 • Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV): In addition to the NLSA, an SPV has
been proposed to undertake the day-to-day monitoring of the CSC
Scheme on behalf of the Government. The SPV would undertake the
following key roles and responsibilities:
1. Lay down operating and financial guidelines within the CSC system
2. Providing a framework for collaborative decision making process
3. Catalyzing and maintaining content aggregation on an on-going
basis
4. Build a common “Identity”
The SPV will have equity partners who would invest in the SPV, like DIT, NLSA,
Strategic Investors. The Equity Capital of the SPV, in part, may also be
subscribed to by the SCAs. The exact amount of investment would be
determined at a subsequent juncture. The SPV may also be made responsible
for channelizing the Government support to the SCAs. The SCAs are expected to
pay a fee to the SPV for all the above assistance / services.

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Determining the CSC locations
The aim of the CSC scheme is to establish 100,000 rural kiosks across the
country with an equitable distribution, 1 CSC for every 6 census villages. The
SCA is free to locate the CSCs anywhere within a Block within the overall ceiling
prescribed by the govt. The SCA however, needs to ensure that, not more than
one (1) CSC is established in one Gram Panchayat, unless the number of Gram
Panchayats in a Block is less than the number worked out as per 1:6 criteria. In
case the SCA decides to establish more CSCs than defined, those additional
CSCs would not be entitled for any revenue support. The State may at its
discretion ask the SCA to increase the number of CSCs in its divisons on
mutually acceptable terms and conditions

Government Support

1. No Capital Subsidy is envisaged under the CSC Scheme

2. However, the track record of rural projects, underscores the need and
essentiality for financial support. It is therefore proposed to cover the
revenue gaps and associated risks, which arise in rural markets.
3. To ensure sustainability, the SCAs would be provided support in the form
of a “Minimum Revenue Assistance / Guarantee against Governmental
services”.
4. The state govt. would support the SCA in setting up the centers and
tackling the issues pertaining to law and order and help from district
administration.

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Connectivity

As part of the National e-Governance Plan (NeGP) of the Government of India

(GOI), a State Wide area Network (SWAN) has been established to provide
reliable broadband connectivity across the State up to the block level. SWAN has
been identified as the core connectivity option for supporting the CSCs. The
SWAN Scheme has established 2 Mbps connectivity bandwidth up to the block
level. It is envisaged that SWAN would be set up before the CSCs are
operational. The State/DIT will work with the SCA to determine the appropriate
last mile connectivity options available.

Connectivity requirements of the SCA may be divided in two parts:

• Connectivity between the CSC and the Data Centre where the G2C e-
Government services are to be delivered from;

• Connectivity for the other private services (B2C) to be delivered through

CSCs. Over and above, SCA needs to work out the connectivity required
to centrally manage the CSCs under its establishment. SCA may have
various options to meet the above connectivity requirements.

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CSC Service Profile

The CSCs offer a multitude of services ranging in the areas of e-Government,

education, health, agriculture, commercial, retail, etc. To that effect, possible
service areas are listed below:

1. Key Government Services

i Land records
ii Registration
iii Issue of certificates/ Government schemes
iv Employment exchange services
v Ration cards
vi Electoral services
vii Pension schemes
viii Road transport
ix Public grievance
x Utility/Telephone Bills

2. Business to Consumer (B2C) services

i Commercial Services
ii e-Commerce/online services
iii Education Services
iv Entertainment
v Agriculture Services
vi Business-to-Business services (B2B)
• Advertising & Promotion Services
• Data Collection Services
• Distribution Services
• Financial Services

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CSC Status

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Challenges Faced

• Non availability of IT infrastructure at most of the states.

• Digitisation of govt. departments not done.
• District administrations in various states not aware of the central govt.
initiative.
• Initial pilot project not done by the central govt.
• Large capital expenditure involved.
• At the same pace break even cannot be reached.
• No ownership of the project from state governments.
• Being a partner to the government in the project, citizens still do not have
confidence on private companies.
• State govt. and district administrations not appraised that SCA are the
partners to the govt. and not just vendors.
• Non availability of G2C services, which are most important for footfall.
• Sustainability of the centers difficult due to less footfall of public.
• Lack of publicity by the central and state govt.
• Pressure from local administration to vacate center premises due to non
availability of G2C services.
• No timelines in place from the state govt. for starting various services.
• No uniformity in working of different state governments.
• Operation of centers difficult due to lack of electricity as well as
connectivity in rural areas.
• Problems in identifying suitable operators and VLEs for centers.
• Due to operational costs, it is not possible to keep security guards at all
the centers; hence possibility of theft remains a major issue.
• Non availability of funding to the VLEs.

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