Looking at tapping the 2.29 lakh Common Service Centers (CSCs) in the country to boost rural economy, the government plans to enable assembly and manufacturing of LED lights at these centers.
“CSCs can be a great system for generating revenues and employment in rural India. Making LEDs is not tough...all these will be bought by Energy Efficiency Services Ltd (EESL),” Union Telecom and IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said here on Tuesday.
The government, through these centers, also will provide in rural regions, tele-consultation services for animal healthcare as well as legal issues. Kits for testing of dieseses such as malaria and dengue will also be made available at these centers.
Mr Prasad also inaugurated Wi-Fi in six villages of Uttar Pradesh. This follows state government's announcement to distribute smartphones “to help a two-way communication between the government and people and also take direct feedback on the various schemes of the government.”
Assembly elections are to take place in the state early next year.
“Offering government services should be an enabler for CSCs. But they should also find there own business model for eg education and selling of insurances. There should be competition among CSCs,” Mr Prasad said at function here, which was attended by about 3000 CSC owners or village level entrepreneurs.
The minister also launched a scheme under which IIT courses will be taught to students in village using CSCs. CSCs have also tied up with TCS and Siemens for skill development courses.
“We ramped up the number of CSC's to 2.29 lakh from 80,000 in 2014. We soon plan to take it up to 2.50 lakh. If one CSC employs 10 people, these centers can generate employment for 25 lakh people,” Mr Prasad said.
Pointing out the importance of CSCs, the minister said these centers provide digital access and services in those areas where digital connectivity is not available.
(Disclaimer: The Journalist was in Varanasi on invitation of CSC.)
