Dr. Ashwini Kumar Sharma, Managing Director of National Institute of Electronics and Information Technology (NIELIT) and Dr. Dinesh Tyagi, CEO of CSC e-Governance Services India, the Special Purpose Vehicle of the Common Services Centre (CSC SPV) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to offer various services for the NIELIT’s Information, Electronics and Communication Technology (IECT) courses through the Common Services Centres (CSCs); as well as to extend the reach of the Common Services Centres Scheme by integration of NIELIT authorized centres across the country.
Shri Sachin Pilot, Hon’ble Minister of Communications & Information Technology informed that through this unique partnership, citizens in rural India will now be able to avail online services for NIELIT’s government recognized IECT courses, through the CSCs. Thus, enabling NIELIT reach its target of certifying over 1 crore individuals and moving the country closer to the objective of making one person in each family digitally literate- a goal the Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DEITY) has already committed to achieve. This MOU will fast track adding skilled manpower to the ICT based Indian economy, by providing opportunities to citizens in rural India to become eligible for a government and private sector jobs. CSCs offer a wide range of services in their villages, in an efficient and transparent manner, including government services like online certificates, affidavits, ration card, land records, e-district, grievance redressal, utility payments, social welfare benefits payments, Aadhar services; financial services like banking, insurance, micro-credit, pensions; educational services like digital literacy, distance education; business services like telecom, employment, train & bus ticketing, etc. Every day, States across the Country are adding new services to be delivered through CSCs, changing the way rural India accesses Government.
Shri Rajiv Gauba, Additional Secretary, DeitY during the function mentioned that the CSC SPV will enable States to integrate the NIELIT authorized centres into the CSC Scheme, thereby extending the reach of the CSC network, which leverages rural entrepreneurs to bring online services, both government and business, to the door-step of the citizen in every village, even in the remotest parts of the country. Today over 50,000 rural entrepreneurs are actively providing services to almost one crore citizens every month, with a cumulative monthly turnover of over Rs. 200 crores; making the Common Services Centre Scheme, under the National e-Governance Plan of the Government of India, one of the largest tele-center initiatives in the world.
Dr. Ashwini Kumar Sharma, Managing Director, NIELIT mentioned that NIELIT is an Autonomous Scientific Society of the Department of Information Technology envisioned to bring in the most updated global industry relevant computer education within the reach of the citizen in the areas of Information, Electronics and Computer Education by offering its user friendly and appropriately designed curriculum through the non formal sector; and has authorized training Centres across the country for delivering courses and certifications in the field of Information, Electronics and Communication Technology (IECT). Now, NIELIT is planning to enable these authorized training Centres to offer various G2C and B2C services.
NIELIT will automate its activities related to citizens specially Students and these services will also be delivered through CSC Kiosks Thus giving more facilities to students for online Registration, Online Examination form filling, On line Accreditation form filling, On line expert registration, On line result certificate printing etc. specially for those living in Rural Areas
Some of the NIELIT courses are now recognized for various Government jobs and therefore the facility of utilizing the CSC network will provide the unique opportunity to people living in remote areas of the country
With this association NIELIT will also like to enhance the reach of digital literacy in the country. CSC of course shall be able to generate additional income which shall enhance its sustainability.
Dr. Dinesh Tyagi, CEO, CSC-SPV mentioned that the flagship Common Services Centers (CSC) Scheme is being implemented across the Country under the National e-Governance Plan (NeGP) by the Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DEITY), Ministry of Communications & Information Technology, Government of India. The objective of the Scheme is to provide online services- government, financial, business, and social- at the door-step of citizens, through 100,000 internet enabled ICT centers called Common Services Centers (CSC). Each CSC is operated by a Village Level Entrepreneur (VLE) and serves a cluster of about 4-6 villages. VLEs are selected by the Service Centre Agencies (SCAs), the implementation partners under the CSC Scheme. SCAs are identified by States through a transparent bidding process. A Special Purpose Vehicle has been setup to monitor and expand the CSC Scheme.
Currently about 24 SCAs have implemented about 93,000 CSC across 33 States and UTs. Today over 50,000 rural entrepreneurs are actively providing services to almost one crore citizens each month, with a cumulative monthly turnover of over Rs. 200 crores; making this one of the largest tele-center initiatives in the world.
He mentioned that CSC-SPV was established as a company under the Companies Act 1956, the CSC SPV was setup as an agency in perpetuity to guide and expand the CSC Scheme ecosystem. The main objectives of the company are:
• Ensuring systemic viability and sustainability of the CSC Scheme
• Monitoring achievements of the outcomes by the CSCs
• Enabling delivery of G2C and B2C services through CSCs
• Providing a standardized framework for collaborative decision making
• Catalyzing and maintaining content aggregation on an on-going basis
• Building stakeholder capacity and replicating best practices