Lok Sabha Question No. 3973 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2016-08-10
Subject: Common Service Centres
Ministry: ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Asked by: G. HARI

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

## LOK  SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3973

TO BE ANSWERED ON: 10.08.2016

## COMMON SERVICE CENTRES

## 3973 SHRI  G. HARI:

Will the Minister of Electronics and Information Technology be pleased to state:-

- (a) whether the entrepreneurs have benefitted from Common Service Centres (CSCs) in the country;
- (b) if so, the details thereof;
- (c) whether the Government has taken a decision to provide internet connection to CSCs on priority basis; and
- (d) if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE FOR ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRI P. P. CHAUDHARY)

(a) and (b): Yes, Sir. The CSCs are playing as game changers by providing a common platform for socially-inclusive community participation leading  to  empowerment and  development of society.    Enabling  delivery  of  a  wide  range  of eServices has enhanced the business of Village Level Entrepreneurs  (VLEs) by increasing their income and making them sustainable.  Keeping  in  view  of  the  commitment  for  maximized  delivery  of  various  e-Governance  services  within  the reach  of  the  citizen,  Government  has  been  striving  to  integrate  more  and  more  services  of  different  service  access platforms & portals with the consolidated service delivery framework of CSC called 'Digital Seva Platform'. This has significantly enhanced the footfalls of the CSCs, thereby helping in strengthening the Government's objective of rural employment through ICT under 'Digital India' initiative.

Presently,  CSCs  are  delivering  various  services  such  as  Banking,  Insurance,  Aadhaar,  Electoral  Cards,  Educational (NDLM/DISHA etc.) and various other Government to Citizen (G2C) Services such as Land Record/Income/Caste/Birth & Death/Domicile, etc, and also many Business to Consumer (B2C) services such Railway ticketing, Utility bill services such  as  Electricity  Bill  Payment  etc.  These  services  have  benefitted  the  VLEs  to  a  great  extent  in  terms  of  their sustainability.

(c) and (d): Yes, Sir. Government had taken decision to provide internet connection to CSCs on priority basis. These are mentioned below:

-  Efforts  were  made to connect the CSCs in North East  & difficult areas by providing Broadband connectivity to 2500 CSCs using VSAT technology. As on 31 st July, 2016, 1959 VSATs have been commissioned at CSCs.
-  Besides, efforts were made to connect the CSCs in other areas using WiMax technology. Around 28,718 CSCs were covered using this technology.

Apart from that, the following steps have been taken to connect the upcoming CSCs:

- In  order  to  leverage  the  imminent  high-speed  connectivity  at Panchayat level  to  provide  an  integrated  electronic delivery of services, an advisory has been issued by Ministry of Panchayati Raj to all States and UTs, requesting to co-locate the CSCs in the Gram Panchayat (GP) Premises or provide suitable space near the GP Bhawans.
- Efforts are being made by the Government to connect all Gram Panchayats with high speed broadband. In view of this, necessary guidelines have been issued to the State Governments/Union Territory Administrations to set up all the planned 2.5 lakhs of CSCs within Gram Panchayat Offices.
- Efforts are being made to co-locate the CSCs at GP Buildings where connectivity can be easily availed from the upcoming high speed broadband network.
- 746 CSCs have been identified for co-location to use this connectivity as on 3 0th ,  June,  2016.  Out  of  them,  332 CSCs have been co-located & working at Gram Panchayat using bandwidth from BharatNet terminals in the States. For remaining GPs, efforts are being made to co-locate/re-locate the CSCs with BharatNet connectivity .
- Presently, the operational CSCs are transacting eServices by using various other means of connectivity also.

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