Govt to establish one lakh CSCs in rural areas

New Delhi, Jan 10 (UNI) The Government today said it has formulated a proposal to establish one lakh common services centres (CSC) in rural areas under its national e-governance plan (NEGP) initiative.

The main aim of CSCs is to provide e-governmence services to the citizens, by creating a physical service delivery infrastructure, Communications and IT Minister Dayanidhi Maran said during the inauguration of electronics exhibition 'Elitex 2007' here.

The CSCs are envisaged to be a change instrument that would provide a structured platform for socially inclusive community participation for development.

Mr Maran said certain initiatives taken under the NEGP are expected to provide robust growth in domestic demand for IT service over the next few years.

Over the next five years, domestic spending on outsourced IT services is projected to more than double from Rs 10,300 crore in 2004 to over Rs 23,800 crore in 2009.

Commenting on the FDI cap in the telecom sector, Mr Maran said the 74 per cent cap is a right decision taken by the governement.

He said the robust growth in the telecom sector is reflected by the aggressive bids being placed for Hutch.

''This shows that the outside players are showing interest in Indian telecom market and to ensure good growth, we want good players for the Indian telecom market,'' the minister said.

He futher added, ''The security concerns regarding FDI in Telecom will be under scrutinity and the procedures for it will be made more simpler.'' Referring to the bids for Hutchison Essar, the minister said, ''There are a lot of speculations on this but we want good numbers to maintain the growth and our priority is the security measures.'' The minister also stressed that investment in information, communication and technology (ICT) sector will have a powerful effect on productivity in every industry, but to take full advantage of it, there is a need to develop the skills.

India is considered as the emerging ''service-hub of the world'' with a large share of the global IT and offshored IT-enabled services.

Indian IT and BPO industry touched 6.3 billion dollars of revenue in 2005-06 and employs 1.3 million people.

Expressing his concern over the shortage of manpower in the coming years, as reported in the Nasscom Mckinsey report, Mr Maran urged various stakeholders to take necessary measures to avoid such a happening.

UNI