Solar-Powered CSCs to Reach 2.50 Lakh Gram Panchayats by Year End: Ravi Shankar

The CSC model has adopted India’s six villages in the pilot phase.

The network of Common Service Centres (CSCs), which act as access points for delivery of various electronic services to villages in India, are set to be expanded to 2.50 lakh gram panchayats by the year end, said Ravi Shankar Prasad Union Minister for Electronics & IT.

While addressing an event at Dhanauri Kalan village in Gautam Budh Nagar (UP), the Minister said that, the CSC movement had transformed into a movement of change bringing services like banking, pensions, digital literacy and telemedicine to rural and remote villages through electronic infrastructure.

The CSC project is providing sustainable digital access to rural communities and are giving the necessary impetus for upliftment of the rural community, said Dr Mahesh Sharma, Union Minister of Culture(IC).

Positioned as strategic cornerstones of Digital India programme, the CSC model has adopted India’s six villages in the pilot phase.

Besides, DigiGaon or Digital Village is conceptualised as a connected village where citizens can avail various e-Services of the Central Government, State Governments and private players in a rural and remote villages in the country.

Also, these DigiGaons are projected to be change agents, promoting rural entrepreneurship and building rural capacities and livelihoods through community participation and collective action.

Moreover, these DigiGaons have been equipped with solar lighting facility in their community center, LED assembly unit, sanitary napkin unit and Wi-fi choupal.

Additionally, these villages would have the regular CSC services like banking, health, education, financial services, and a host of other services.

Initially, villages Piyala and Dayalpur in Haryana; Chandankiyari East and Shivbabudih in Jharkhand; and Dhanauri Kalan and Sultanpur in Uttar Pradesh have been chosen for the pilot project.