Common Service Centre-A Viable Institutional Mechanism for Agricultural Extension in India

ICT can work wonders if given a directional change. The aim of transforming Indian society into a knowledge based society cannot be realized without the application of ICT in rural areas in general and agriculture in particular. ICT has transformed the industries and business and is poised to show its impact in rural areas. The government across the countries in the world has been trying to infuse ICT into governance and development which have been termed as e-Governance. The e-Governance initiative in India started with the launch of National e-Governance Plan in the year 2006. The plan envisioned to be implemented through two point strategies i.e. connectivity and content along with the service delivery through Common Service Centres (CSCs). The plan is implemented in the country in public-private-partnership (PPP) mode. National Level Service Agency (NLSA) and Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) have been established at national level. At state level agency for promotion of information technology has been created as State Designated Agency (SDA) and Service Centre Agency (SCA) has been identified to establish CSCs at panchayat level and provide necessary hand holding to them. One CSC initially was to cater 6–7 villages, now it is proposed to establish one CSC for 2–3 villages. The operators of CSCs are known as Village Level Entrepreneurs (VLEs) who are youth of that locality. The CSC is to act as front end delivery point for G2C and B2C services. G2C services include issuance of different types of certificates, agriculture, education, health and telemedicine etc. Under NeGP-Agriculture, all modes of communication and all sorts of mechanisms including CSC have been included. But the delivery of extension services through CSCs is yet to show its visibility because of various constraints. Hence, some mechanism needs to be devised so that the CSCs could serve as an engine of agricultural growth.