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The government has announced a major initiative to set up 1-lakh electronic common service centres in rural areas. These kiosks will cater to 6 lakh villages across the country and would make government services more accessible to the public. The project has been designed as a public-private partnership (PPP) initiative. The total cost of the project is estimated at Rs5,742 , with a private sector contribution of Rs4,093 crore. The central government would contribute Rs856 crore while the state governments are expected to pitch in with Rs793 crore. The kiosks would act as the front-end of the e-governance initiative, which would provide application forms for various government services and facilities, certificates from the government etc. The centres would also have the facility for paying electricity, water and telephone bills. The government is also planning to offer remote consulting for healthcare, e-enabled vocational training, market and supply chain linkages, rural BPO, agricultural price and weather information through the kiosks. The centres would have broadband internet connectivity and would be operated by village level entrepreneurs. There would be an agency to monitor between 200 and 500 centres and a state-level implementing agency to oversee the roll out.
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