Advances in Information and Communication Technologies have made it possible today to provide a whole range of high-quality and cost-effective services relating to video, voice and data content through a single communication channel using appropriate terminal equipment. This opens up a whole realm of possibilities for provision of e-government, entertainment, education, telemedicine, e-commerce, info-services, etc. ubiquitously.
National e-Governance Plan
The formulation of the National e-Governance Plan (NEGP) envisages the leveraging of these advances for the benefit of the citizens, especially those in rural and remote areas. As a part of the NEGP, the Government has already approved a scheme for the establishment of State Wide Area Networks (SWANs) at a total outlay of Rs. 3,334 crore over a period of 5 years. These SWANs will extend data connectivity of 2 Mega bits per second upto the block level in State or Union Territory in the country. The block level nodes, in turn, will have a provision to extend connectivity further to the village level using contemporary wireless technology. Under the scheme, proposals from 17 States/Uts have already been sanctioned and first installment of grant released to them.
The Department of Information Technology has formulated a Scheme to build an enabling environment for establishment of 110,000+ Common Services Centres, primarily in the rural areas by the year 2007. The CSCs would provide a whole range of government and private services in the form of e-Government Services, Education, Entertainment, Telemedicine, Information Exchange, Market Linkages, Vocational Training, Micro-credit, etc.
Three-tier Structure
The CSC Scheme would be rolled out to establish 110,000 CSCs across the country, with an equitable geographical spread that would cover at least 40 per cent of the Gram Panchayat locations in each district in a State. The Scheme would be implemented through a three-tier structure for the States. At the first (CSC) level would be the local Village Level Entrepreneur (VLE loosely analogous to a franchisee). At the second/middle level would be an entity termed the Service Centre Agency (SCA lossely analogous to a franchiser). At the third level would be the agency designated by the State to facilitate implementation of the Scheme within the State. In addition, it is proposed that out of the total 110,000 CSCs, around 10,000 CSCs would be set up in urban areas of India, with an aim to providing financial incentive as well as cushion to the SCAs.
Since implementation of a mission-oriented project of this size and scope would pose significant challenges of project management at the national level as also in exploiting opportunities to achieve significant economies of scale, a National Level Service Agency (NLSA) has been appointed to assist the Department of IT and the States in carrying all activities related to pre-implementation and implementation phase of the Scheme. The NLSA would work with the Department of IT to develop a Public Private Partnership frame work for the Scheme, coalesce diverse stakeholders to work through common institutional and contractual frameworks, harness national level resources, loop best practices, enable transparent and inclusive process of participation across stakeholders, undertake to underwrite resources for the Scheme, standardize design, content and processes into a replicable collaborative framework and so on.
It is envisaged that State governments would play a major role in facilitating the establishment of a large number of CSCs, particularly in the rural areas. State governments would put in place an appropriate institutional mechanism for such support. State governments would also focus on taking necessary legal and policy measures to enable the CSCs to come into being, attain sustainability and deliver the e-government services as contemplated in the CSC Framework.
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