Sreelatha Menon: The e-flop show
The govt's promise of providing services to the last man, despite private participation, hasn't worked
Sreelatha Menon / New Delhi December 19, 2010, 0:32 IST
The govt's promise of providing services to the last man, despite private participation, hasn't worked
Sreelatha Menon / New Delhi December 19, 2010, 0:32 IST
Common Service Centres, created under the National e-Governance Plan, were supposed to crack the jinx that has hit rural India, which has fossilised for the last 60 years under a spell of neglect and apathy. The government had appointed certain agencies and private partners as state-designated agencies to set up these centres with the intent that the rural connectivity was to happen through them
Little kiosks — which brought government documents to the the villagers’ doorsteps along with phone connections and internet connectivity — were supposed to be owned by a village entrepreneur. These were meant to finally open a window to the industry and the wide world to the villages.
CSEs, however, have been doddering under the reluctance of most state governments to digitise data on death, birth, land records and other things that are currently almost inaccessible to village residents. They were also meant to provide private online educational courses that could help people bridge the rural-urban divide. Courses in the English language, computer applications etc were some of the products on offer.
Recently, the communication ministry has announced 150,000 additional CSEs, but the ones that were opened four years ago are finding reluctant takers.
Meanwhile, many companies have already quit, finding it unaffordable. Comat, which ran close to 2,000 CSEs in about eight states, withdrew about two years ago. CMC Computers, Basix, Zoom and Reliance also left, thus leaving village entrepreneurs in the lurch.
Comat said it was tired of waiting for the G to C (Government to Citizen) products, which the states had promised to offer. SREI Sahaj, which is still battling it out with close to 20,000 CSEs across the country, says the village entrepreneurs were disillusioned and felt cheated. They had hoped their kiosks were going to be quasi-governmental institutions . However, minus the government products they were reduced to just selling private products like insurance policies and tutorial services. The money may be coming in but the respectability they sought is missing.
Now, the government’s other arms are suggesting more CSE model outlets. The rural development ministry is setting up Bharat Nirman Kendras, which would service the panchayats — a function the CSEs were initially promised.
Sam Pitroda has also suggested another branch for the same kind of services.
Meena Chaturvedi, a former bureaucrat, says she left the services after 23 years to join SREI Sahaj hoping that a rural revolution was round the corner. But, this has not happened as the states are not opening their doors to these centres. Where e-governance has started, the centres are flourishing like in three districts of Uttar Pradesh where CSEs issued 150,000 certificates in six months. She is shocked now to see that these CSEs are not recognised for what they are — the last mile infrastructure created by the government itself. Now, when the government has started new services like Unique Identification Number, for which CSEs can provide services, they are not automatically selected as service providers. They have to compete with lakhs of other applicants, she says. But, the government has pushed the centres into the same category of soap sellers or shampoo vendors rather than government service outlets, she says. Given the government’s penchant for reinventing the wheel and being forever in pilot mode even after 60 years, the newer lot of outlets whether started by CP Joshi or Pitroda can be expected to come back with similar reports of neglect.
Since the government cannot change its ways, the village entrepreneurs would be expected to grab the new opportunity provided by the skill development initiative, the business correspondent model of banks and, of course, the grand UID plan. But that can happen only as long as agencies like SREI stick to this and don’t leave 80,000 village-level entrepreneurs to fend for themselves as other agencies did.
CSEs, however, have been doddering under the reluctance of most state governments to digitise data on death, birth, land records and other things that are currently almost inaccessible to village residents. They were also meant to provide private online educational courses that could help people bridge the rural-urban divide. Courses in the English language, computer applications etc were some of the products on offer.
Recently, the communication ministry has announced 150,000 additional CSEs, but the ones that were opened four years ago are finding reluctant takers.
Meanwhile, many companies have already quit, finding it unaffordable. Comat, which ran close to 2,000 CSEs in about eight states, withdrew about two years ago. CMC Computers, Basix, Zoom and Reliance also left, thus leaving village entrepreneurs in the lurch.
Comat said it was tired of waiting for the G to C (Government to Citizen) products, which the states had promised to offer. SREI Sahaj, which is still battling it out with close to 20,000 CSEs across the country, says the village entrepreneurs were disillusioned and felt cheated. They had hoped their kiosks were going to be quasi-governmental institutions . However, minus the government products they were reduced to just selling private products like insurance policies and tutorial services. The money may be coming in but the respectability they sought is missing.
Now, the government’s other arms are suggesting more CSE model outlets. The rural development ministry is setting up Bharat Nirman Kendras, which would service the panchayats — a function the CSEs were initially promised.
Sam Pitroda has also suggested another branch for the same kind of services.
Meena Chaturvedi, a former bureaucrat, says she left the services after 23 years to join SREI Sahaj hoping that a rural revolution was round the corner. But, this has not happened as the states are not opening their doors to these centres. Where e-governance has started, the centres are flourishing like in three districts of Uttar Pradesh where CSEs issued 150,000 certificates in six months. She is shocked now to see that these CSEs are not recognised for what they are — the last mile infrastructure created by the government itself. Now, when the government has started new services like Unique Identification Number, for which CSEs can provide services, they are not automatically selected as service providers. They have to compete with lakhs of other applicants, she says. But, the government has pushed the centres into the same category of soap sellers or shampoo vendors rather than government service outlets, she says. Given the government’s penchant for reinventing the wheel and being forever in pilot mode even after 60 years, the newer lot of outlets whether started by CP Joshi or Pitroda can be expected to come back with similar reports of neglect.
Since the government cannot change its ways, the village entrepreneurs would be expected to grab the new opportunity provided by the skill development initiative, the business correspondent model of banks and, of course, the grand UID plan. But that can happen only as long as agencies like SREI stick to this and don’t leave 80,000 village-level entrepreneurs to fend for themselves as other agencies did.
