Digitalization at its peak: 700 Digital villages to be established by the year end

Lucknow, May 21: 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, Union Minister for Electronics and IT Sh. Ravi Shankar Prasad said on Sunday at Dhanauri Kalan village in Gautam Budh Nagar (UP).

Addressing, an event to showcase a host of digital services that will now be available in the digital village Sh. Prasad 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. Union Minister of Culture(IC), Dr. Mahesh Sharma also present at the event said that the CSC project is providing sustainable digital access to rural communities and are giving the necessary impetus for the upliftment of the rural community.

Positioned as strategic cornerstones of Digital India programme, the CSC model has adopted six villages in the country in the pilot phase.DigiGaon or Digital Village is conceptualized 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 village in the country. These DigiGaons are projected to be change agents, promoting rural entrepreneurship and building rural capacities and livelihoods through community participation and collective action.

The digital villages have been equipped with solar lighting facility in their community center, LED assembly unit, sanitary napkin unit (with active participation on Asha and Anganwadi workers) and Wi-fi choupal (rural Wi-Fi infrastructure and a slew of suitable applications).

These villages would also have the regular CSC services like banking, health, education, financial services, and a host of other services. In the initial phase 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.