The Common Service Scheme has been introduced as part of the “good governance” paradigm. It is stated to be a two-in-one solution that will help to revamp the front-end delivery systems of the public services and at the same time will encourage rural entrepreneurship in order to create jobs. The CSC started as part of the E-governance plans in the year 2006. At present, it is one of the 31 Mission Mode Projects under “Digital India”.

The idea behind CSC is the digitization of several government schemes so that it becomes easier to carry out the process. This process includes the issuance of certificates, licenses and so on. The job will be handed over to the ‘Village Level Entrepreneurs (VLEs)’ who will run Common Service Centers. The aim is to have at least one CSC in each of the Gram Panchayats. At present, there are 2.5 lakh gram panchayats in the country. The entire thing will be a culmination of private and public partnership at the central level.

However, at the state level, the responsibility of hiring the VLE has been given to private companies known as the ‘Service Centre Agencies’. The qualifications to become a VLE are very minimal. This has been done to encourage participation from the villages. The higher the participation the greater will be the success of this scheme