About Me
- CSC e-Governance Services India Ltd
- India
- CSC SPV, is a Company created as a Special Purpose Vehicle for the CSC Scheme to monitor its outcomes andd facilitate effective implementation.
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
HIGHLIGHTS OF JANUARY 2012
The T.N. Govt. has decided to roll out the e-District project in 26 more districts following the successful implementation of the project in six districts. At the district level, a District e-Governance Society (DeGS) has to be formed for implementing the project.
After successfully implementing the e-District pilot project in six districts, the Tamil Nadu Government will extend the project in the remaining 26 districts. This is to help citizens use the electronic mode to access government-to-citizen services such as issuing birth or death certificates.
Kerala Online Gateway will benefit citizens, as they will be able to fill the form electronically (both online and offline) through Internet services including Common Service Centre (CSCs) outlets and submit the application electronically.
Govt bets on eBiz project to improve the country's ‘ease of biz' ranking. Roll-out expected in Nov 2012 .
E-District projects introduced in five districts of the Madhya Pradesh .
The submission of the applications for Kerala Medical/ Agricultural/ Veterinary/ Fisheries/ Engineering/ Architecture degree courses can be submitted through Akshaya centres (CSCs)
Working paper about CSCs by IIM-Bangalore Professors recommends "to expand the range of services available at the telecentres by embedding all government programmes and services (both G2C and G2G), to gain from the economies of scope and strengthen management information systems as well."
The e-governance roadmap for 10 key departments of the Orissa government is expected to be readied in six months, keeping in tune with the IT department's commitment to improve service delivery through adoption of latest technologies.
Sh. Abhishek Singh, Director (I.T), DIT, GoI on progress of e-District project which seeks to channelize public services through CSCs
Mr. Sajad Wani, Executive (IT), J&K Bank was interviewed about the Financial Inclusion through Khidmat Centers in Jammu & Kashmir
VIDEO VISITATION (VV) IN JAIL SAKSHATKAAR IN JHARKHAND
Dhanbad is the first district of India to have successfully implemented the unique and innovative idea of Video-visitation using VC facility between Jail and Pragya Kendras (CSCs) at every block HQ. This facility allows the inmate inside the jail and their relatives outside to communicate video conferencing using State Wide Area Network (SWAN i.e JharNet).
Video visitation is the use of video conferencing systems and software to allow inmates of a jail and visitors (friends, family members, relatives etc) to interact without physically meeting or travelling to jail campus. It has dramatically improved the productivity of jail staff as well as security of jails. It has provided inmates and their family members a psychological security as they could interact with ease, convenience, clarity, privacy and at lesser cost.
Under the old system of face to face visitation, a relative visits a jail, seeks appointment while the jail inmate is transferred from the housing area to the visitor area. The meeting is held with the visitor in the open area and the jail inmate inside a netter area. There is a lack of privacy and at the same time, meeting is a chaos as it is held in crowds. Further, as the visitor has to travel to long distances to jails, they could not come at regular intervals.
In the new system, a visitor goes to a nearby block CSC (Pragya Kendra) and applies for an appointment. The VLE at the CSC gets the appointment either on phone or on the online scheduling system. The jail authorities verify the applicability of the appointment as per the Jail manuals and either approves or rejects the appointment. On approval, the visitor visits the nearest block CSC and pays Rs 10 for a 15 min video-conferencing session. The VLE starts the VC session at his end while jail operator starts it at his end. The visitor has to submit details of his identity and his relation with the jail inmate which is documented for security reasons. The jail authorities can record the VC if required.
As the facility is on SWAN (JharNet is operational in 200 blocks), practically any block of the State can access the service. Integration of the SWAN and CSC facilities has resulted not only in an innovative citizen convenience facility, the government has approved the rate of Rs 10 for a VC session to be charged by VLEs adding to the income of the VLEs.
Video visitation has been implemented in Dhanbad divisional jail since the last one year and is available at all 8 block HQ CSCs with success. While the results are encouraging, publicity is being enhance so as to make the facility known to the masses. As all jails and CSCs already have the required IT infrastructure, the service is all set to be replicated across the state.
SKILL DEVELOPMENT THROUGH CSCS
Skills and knowledge are the driving forces of economic growth and social development for any country. At present the capacity of skill development in India is around 3.1 million persons per year. The 11th Five Year Plan envisions increasing this capacity to 15 million annually. Further, India has a target of creating 500 million skilled workers by 2022. In order to achieve this target, it is critical that a holistic approach is taken that ensures building employable skills, encourages lifelong learning and efficiently links employers with employable skilled workers. Further, to ensure success, skill development programs must reach out to and impact the rural population.
Since, the Common Services Centers (CSCs), (established across the Country under the National e-Governance Plan) are located in rural areas and are equipped with the ICT infrastructure required Ito deliver online services, it is felt that Central Ministries and State Governments can employ them for following initiatives/schemes:
Skills Mapping: CSCs can undertake activities to assess skill deficiency, map availability of skilled workers and local employment opportunities. They can conduct local surveys and gather business intelligence regarding the availability of local employers, job opportunities they provide and potential employees eligible to apply for the positions.
Pre-employment Training: CSCs can be used to impart vocational training and distant learning courses that allow citizens to acquire employable skills. Further, CSCs can impart coaching classes to students to supplement formal education. Already a number of CSCs are offering courses from IGNOU, DOEACC Society, Maharashtra Knowledge Corporation Ltd, Intel and Microsoft. Popular courses include e-literacy training, spoken English and soft skill development like interviewing, personality development etc.
Benifits
- Sustainable source of income for CSCs.
- Enable rural workers to acquire skills.
- Make rural works at par with urban populations
- Allow rural population to dynamically adjust to the changing demands of employment and technologies.
- Create an efficient hiring mechanism,
- Reduces cost of recruiting rural populations.
- Provide mechanism for State & Central Ministries to accurately identify the skill gaps and employment needs of the rural population.
Departments as a criterion to secure employment. It is offered in e-learning mode through CSCs and is currently available in 10 Indian languages. Additionally, DIT is also funding a Women Digital Literacy Scheme that will train 25,000 rural women across 10 States, with limited or no prior computer skills, in the CCC Course.
Akshaya’s e-literacy Campaign in Kerala: The Akshaya Center’s digital literacy project was first piloted in Malappuram district of Kerala in 2003, with the aim of training at least one person from each household in basic computer literacy concepts. It was expected that each participant would enroll into a 15 hour digital literacy course spread over 10 sessions. To ensure successful implementation, the entrepreneurs operating the Akshaya centers were assigned a list of households from which a member was to be trained. Each Akshaya center was meant to cater to approximately 1000 households within the radius of its location. The Government subsidized most of the expenditure during the e-literacy training phase, with each household member paying only a small training fee. The State and Panchayats paid up to Rs 120/- and each household paid Rs 20/- to train one member of the household. By the end of the first phase, the project had succeeded in covering 90% of the households, based on which the initiative was scaled up across the State of Kerela.
Chaakri.co.in: (SCA), SREI Sahaj, launched Chaakri, an online job portal for the rural workforce. This service is offered through the CSCs. Skilled workers looking for jobs are required to register themselves and their CVs at the CSC. The Recruitment Team matches the requirement of the registered CVs with potential employers. Srei Sahaj also offers skill building and upgradation of the rural youth to make them suitable for the relevant job. Thus, the business model is based on the market driven demand, nitrating an exclusive system for a 360° solution after carrying out a skill gap analysis and providing suitable candidates to all the employers. Chaakri.co.in has vacancies for sales executive, office assistant, carpenters, plumbers, electricians, courier boys, drivers, security guards, masons, fitter, welder, barbers etc. For rural women, it offers jobs such as front office executive, data entry operators, beauticians, healthcare assistants etc. Chaakri would cater manpower requirement for various sectors like FMCG, FMCD, Telecom, Retail, Manufacturing, Construction, Facility Management, BFSI, etc.
IGNOU Courses: Indira Gandhi National Open University has partnered with two Service Center Agencies (SCA)- Srei Sahaj and AISECT- to successfully offer a number of its courses through the CSC Network. These partnerships enable the delivery of international quality skill development vocational programmes at affordable costs to the rural population of India. An estimated 100 million below poverty line rural youth across the country stands to benefit through these partnerships. IGNOU’s diploma and certification courses are offered in the e-learning mode and include courses in IT & Management, Hardware & Networking as well as Livelihood & Vocational Education courses. The SCAs are responsible for administration of the programmes, including enrolments, registration, fee collection and evaluation, while IGNOU does the certification directly.
IL&FS ETS Skill Development Program: CSC-SPV has entered into Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with IL&FS ETS on 19th August 2011 for using CSCs as authorized Counseling centers for identification, sensitization, screening and selection of the youth by Village Level Entrepreneurs (VLEs) for various skill development programs of IL&FS ETS. In this, IL&FS ETS will provide training, orientation and other requisite material for promotional activities to the VLEs through SCAs and make them aware of the program at free of cost. VLEs then need to identify local youths who would fit into the skill development training and sensitize & motivate the youths to come forward for the training. The program will create employment opportunities for rural below poverty line (BPL) youth and IL&FS will be tracking the placement and progress of trained manpower. 191 VLEs participated in the training organized in Jammu & Kashmir in the month of August-September 2011 and approximate 454 students were referred and enrolled by VLEs for skill development. IL&FS ETS and CSC-SPV are now working for replicating the success in other States.
To impart Skill Development Services :
- CSCs must have multiple computers with broadband internet connectivity along with video conferencing
- CSCs must offer Industry recognized short term modular courses in the e-learning mode.
- CSCs must have transparent online registration and enrollment process, secure & independent examination and evaluation process.
- CSCs must offer job placement services to increase employment after certification.
“THERE IS NO ONE GIANT STEP THAT DOES IT, IT'S A LOT OF LITTLE STEPS.”
Quoting Peter A Cohen here, it is implied that every little step on the path is meaningful, to finally reach till the end!
Republic Day’s vibrant parade in the Capital, comprised of tableau of the Ministry of IT and Communication showcasing the NeGP Theme Song “Hath Pakarlo Saath Chalein”. The kaleidoscope of colors represented Common Service Centers (CSCs) providing e-Services at the door steps.
The tableaux of other states like Tripura, Manipur and Bihar demonstrated how Common Service Centers (CSCs) support the rural population to access online services as well as acquire the required skill sets, not only to increase their flexibility and prospects to avail the essential services, but also to add to their employability; significantly helping them to come at par with the urban population.
The charm of Rural India is augmenting gradually and progressively through various trainings and certifications being imparted to the rural society in skill development programs through Common Service Centers (CSCs). A step by step way forward to our goals, is a combined effort of Common Service Centers (CSCs), Village Level Entrepreneurs (VLEs) and Service Center Agencies (SCAs).
Each progressive step takes us one step closer to achievements and gives us a headway to advance to the next step encouragingly. Keep stepping forth till the next month’s Nav Jeevan Edition.
Editor