Citizens’ Expectations fr om Rural Telecentres: A Case Study of Implementa tion of Common Service Centres in Mushedpur Village, Haryana, India

Abstract

Setting up of rural telecentres, popularly referred to as Common Service Centres (CSCs), are considered one of the initial forerunners of rural e-Governance initiatives under the Government of India’s National e-Governance Plan (NeGP). CSCs are implemented on public-private partnership (PPP) — 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 (SCAs). 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