KEONICS Common Services Centers (CSCs) are a strategic cornerstone of the Digital India programme. They are the access points for delivery of various electronic services to villages in India, thereby contributing to a digitally and financially inclusive society. CSCs are more than service delivery points in rural India. They are positioned as change agents, promoting rural entrepreneurship and building rural capacities and livelihoods. They are enablers of community participation and collective action for engendering social change through a bottom-up approach with key focus on the rural citizen. The Government of Karnataka’s vision for the Common Service Centre Project is that the IT enabled Government Services should be accessible to the common man in his/her village, through efficient, transparent, reliable and affordable means. This vision shall be realized by the state Government by setting up the CSC project in partnership with 1 or more private entities who will establish the network of common service Centers and deliver range of G2C and B2C services through the network of CSCs. Mission Statement: The mission of the CSC Project is to deliver efficient Government services at the doorstep of Citizen. This project is in conceptualization stage. In the above context GoK is interested in setting up of 2000 or more CSCs in the Gram Panchayat village head quarter (each CSC covering about 6 villages) across Karnataka facilitating smooth delivery of G2C and B2C services to rural citizen. Common Services Centers are envisioned as the front-end delivery points for Government, private and social sector services to rural citizens of India. The idea is to setup a platform that can enable government, private and social sector organizations to integrate their social and commercial goals for the benefits of rural populations in the remotest corners of the country through a combination of IT as well as non-IT services. With the view to consolidate the IT foot print and build a common platform for delivery, Government of Karnataka would utilize the cloud based solution frame work. The government would provide the portal solution to maintain general consistency and reliance on manual operations and reporting irrespective of the different Service centre agencies(SCAs) involved in delivery. A cloud-based model would fit very well for CSC Project, and is the only way we can achieve large scale success, and make that success repeatable. The SCA has to provide the B2C services (which are not available in government portal) to the rural residents from the portal owned and managed by SCA. Government prefers cloud model for delivery of CSC services across the state. The back end cloud platform would be enabled by the eDistrict project. The eDistrict project would bring in large number of G2C services for delivery through the CSCs. But beyond a delivery channel, the CSCs can play a role of an effective “Change Agent” that would provide a structured platform for socially inclusive community participation for collective development activities. Such change, it is proposed, would be undertaken through three important components. A Public Private Partnership (PPP) Framework. Rural Entrepreneurship and Market Mechanisms. Government Policy and Support.
