Govt may make CSC services free

Though private players wary of taking up CSC projects

brajesh

Brajesh Kumar | February 19, 2010



The public grievances minister Prithviraj Chavan on Thursday suggested that government services being provided through common service centres (CSCs) be made available free of charge for all citizens.

The department of administrative reforms (DARPG), which comes under the public grievances ministry, is the nodal agency for e-governance planning.

"We could think of a way where the agency which has the mandate to provide the service could pay for it while the beneficiaries get it for free," Chavan said, adding, "It would be paying for the convenience of not having to manage the demand and the delivery directly.

The suggestion comes in the face of slow pace of the implementation of the CSC project

The project, aimed at providing government services through internet kiosks at every village has already missed many deadlines.

The government had planned rolling out 100000 CSCs by March last year. One year later only 60,000 have been up and running.

The major hurdle behind the successful implementation of thye CSCs has been the absence of a revenue model for the private player taking up the project. With few takers for the internet kiosks in the rural areas, the project is veering off the sustainability road.
 

Comments

 

Other News

Before India voted, the framers worried about the referee

“We are making a Constitution forever and not only for today.” Shibban Lal Saksena said this in the Constituent Assembly on June 15, 1949. He was warning that a ruling party might one day choose a loyalist to run India’s elections. Seventy-seven years later, the Supreme Court is wrestli

Delhi moves to real-time traffic management

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), chaired by prime minister Narendra Modi, has approved implementation of the ITMS Project by Delhi Police at an estimated cost of Rs.1,789.52 crore, inclusive of taxes. The project will cover 42 identified traffic corridors and will be implemented in three

MDR on UPI: Can sustainability come without weakening the network?

The extraordinary transaction volumes and value (₹29.82 Lakh crore in August 2026 alone) of the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) have made it not only an Indian success story, but a global one. In 2024, UPI accounted for nearly 49% of the world’s real-time payment transaction volume, with more th

The Xi-Trump summit: The unending rivalry

Diplomacy is akin to an art, wherein the summitry, conflict resolution and negotiations form apt constituents of the entire context of deal making and “playing for keeps” in the international arena. The Xi-Trump summit in Washington last week, in which the American president broke all conside

“Indians, yet treated like outsiders”

Moving to Delhi-NCR for education can be an exciting experience for students from Northeast India. It gives us a chance to meet new people, experience a different culture and become more independent. But living away from home also comes with challenges that people who have not experienced them may not al

Import duty on major edible oils cut

The government has reduced the Basic Customs Duty (BCD) on major imported crude edible oils with a view to moderating domestic edible oil prices, providing relief to consumers and mitigating inflationary pressures arising from the sharp increase in international edible oil prices.  

Upcoming Conferences



-->

Archives

Current Issue

Opinion

Facebook Twitter Google Plus Linkedin Subscribe Newsletter

Twitter