Citizens’ epectations from rural telecentres: A case study of implementation of common service centres in Mushedpur Village, Haryana, India

Rural telecentres, popularly referred to as Common Service Centres (CSCs), have been one of the initial e-Governance initiatives under the Government of India’s National e-Governance Plan. CSCs are implemented on public-private partnership - where State governments play a major role in facilitating the establishment of CSCs and investments are made by private companies referred to as Service Centre Agencies. CSC implementation is expected to help in improving public service delivery in a transparent and efficient manner. However, there is very little research undertaken to study the actual impact of CSC implementation at the grassroots level. This paper addresses the gap by identifying the circumstances, concerns and expectations from the point-of-view of citizens and examining the finer aspects of social processes in the context of rural e-Governance.

The qualitative field research carried out in the CSC study confirms the importance of contextual factors in the implementation of rural ICT/e-governance initiatives - this issue emerges as an important aspect that needs further investigation. Overall, it is realised that the implementation of CSCs in rural India is not free from challenges.  Specific observations include:

• improvements such as more proactive grassroots collaboration, and with complete support and involvement of local bodies, the citizens themselves as well as village level entrepreneurs (VLEs) could generate better avenues for information access and sustainable livelihoods through CSC
• initiatives lacked a substantial basket of relevant services expected by the rural citizens
• conducive social dynamics, involvement of local bodies and citizen participation are necessary conditions for sustainable citizen interest in ICT initiatives implemented in rural areas.
• contextual factors such as availability of maintenance services for infrastructure, regular power supply, capacity building of rural citizens and VLEs, and support provided by local bodies are probably central to the success of e-Governance initiatives in rural areas
• there is also a need for each stakeholder to understand their individual role and role of others in the implementation of the e-Governance initiatives. This would lead to creation of an enabling social dynamics resulting in effective implementation