CSC Celebrates 16 Years of Rural Digital Empowerment
14 Jul 2025 CW Team
The Common Services Centres (CSC), a key initiative under the Government of India’s Digital India programme, will celebrate its 16th Establishment Day on 16 July 2025 at the Yashobhoomi Convention Centre in Dwarka, New Delhi. Now operating through over 650,000 centres across rural and urban India, CSC has grown into one of the world’s largest digital service delivery networks.
Union Minister of Home Affairs and Minister of Cooperation, Shri Amit Shah, will inaugurate the celebrations, joined by Shri Ashwini Vaishnaw, Union Minister for Electronics & Information Technology, and Shri Jitin Prasada, Minister of State for Electronics & IT.
The event will showcase CSC’s future roadmap focused on deeper outreach, expanded services, and tech-driven innovation. Plans include AI-enabled services, cloud integration, and enhanced support for digitally-enabled livelihoods. This marks a new phase for CSCs as engines of rural innovation and self-reliance under the Atmanirbhar Bharat vision.
Celebrations will be held at national, state, and district levels, honouring outstanding Village Level Entrepreneurs (VLEs) and community leaders. Their efforts have made CSCs a model of public-private partnership and a cornerstone of citizen-centric digital governance.
As part of CSC's collaboration with the cooperative sector, agreements signed in 2022 with NABARD and the Ministry of Cooperation enabled Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (PACS) and LAMPS to function as CSCs. These societies, after training and receiving CSC IDs, now offer services in remote locations, benefitting thousands of members and creating a ripple effect of digital empowerment.
Launched in 2006 under the Ministry of Electronics and IT, CSC SPV has transformed rural access to government, financial, health, legal, and educational services. Each centre is operated by a local VLE, bridging the digital divide between citizens and the government.
CSCs offer a wide range of services:
- G2C services: Aadhaar, PAN, passport, birth/death certificates, utility payments, DigiLocker
- Financial inclusion: Banking, DigiPay, insurance, pensions, loans
- Education: CSC Academy, online courses, IGNOU, NIOS, CSC Olympiad
- Health: Telemedicine, Ayushman Bharat support
- Agriculture: Kisan Credit Cards, PM-KISAN, soil health cards, agri-input eStore, FPO assistance
- Digital utilities: Rural e-commerce, LED distribution, recharges
- Legal and governance: Tele-Law, eStamp, document registration
- Other services: Travel booking, IRCTC, mobile sales
Through these services, CSCs have empowered rural citizens — especially women, farmers, and marginalised communities — providing last-mile access and building a digitally inclusive India.