The Apprentice- udyaME Kiosks Creating
Micro-franchisees for e-Governance
Common Service Centres
(CSCs) are the government's flagship scheme to take e-governance to the
village level. They are digital access points and provide last-mile delivery
for nearly all government services, such as updating documents, availing
schemes, and processing applications. They represent the government at the
village level. In recent years, their popularity as an opportunity for
entrepreneurs has grown.
Entrepreneurs who wish to set up a CSC have to first pass a challenging
Telecentre Entrepreneur Course test. On clearing the test, they become
certified service providers under the CSC Academy and are assigned a user
identity that lets them access a range of services through the CSC portal.
Moreover, the CSC 2.0 policy stipulates that only one such centre can be
established in a village, which has increased the competition and made it
into a very exclusive club.
Adapting to this situation, prospective entrepreneurs have found a new way
in apprenticeships and micro-franchises. Instead of investing their time and
resources in getting a certified CSC, they prefer to work with the already
operational CSC centres to gain experience and hands-on knowledge. This form
of short-term employment is popular among recent graduates trying to decide
their future. Working at a CSC, they gain experience in operating a business
and get to know the ins and outs of managing a CSC. Access to a digital/tech
space helps them brush up their computer skills, as many lack access to
computers at home. Many join the centres just to learn Microsoft Excel.
Kajal, the first woman CSC entrepreneur in Jhansi, was inspired and supported by an established udyaME Kiosk entrepreneur, Sappu Pandey, from a neighbouring village. Sappu shared his CSC user ID with her to let her start her own enterprise. This helped her understand the business better. She now has her own udyaME Kiosk and also has an apprentice, Rakhi, who too has her own udyaME Kiosk.
Their opportunities have increased, thanks to udyaME, a one-of-a-kind digital platform that caters to the needs and aspirations of micro-entrepreneurs (see box). Thus, for those apprentices who decide to open their own udyaME Kiosk business, their employers can let them use their CSC user ID to render services from their establishment as informal micro-franchises till the apprentices get their own IDs activated.
This is beneficial for both CSC entrepreneurs and apprentices as both are able to expand their businesses. There is, however, an additional risk for the CSC as it is responsible for activities that take place under its user ID. The micro-franchises model, therefore, requires a high level of trust between the two before they set up such a revenue-sharing partnership.
Sanjay, a recent graduate from Mirzapur district of Uttar Pradesh, was still availing training from an Industrial Training Institute in electrical engineering when he started to spend a few hours each day at a nearby CSC. He was drawn to technology right from his childhood and was well-versed in using computers. When he came to know about the udyaME business model, he liked it and opened his own udyaME Kiosk using the credentials of his former employer, paying him a small commission fee, while he was awaiting his own ID to be activated. Today, Sanjay has his own CSC ID and thanks to his services, people in his village have better access to key government services.
Before opening their enterprises, many new entrepreneurs started as
apprentices and franchisee operators. Apprenticeship and micro-franchises
have helped expand the reach and acceptance of the udyaME Kiosk not only as
a mode of e-governance but also as a job opportunity for the youth and women
in Eastern Uttar Pradesh and Bundelkhand. Given the lack of clarity in the
terms and conditions,1 many CSCs see opportunities in sharing
their registered IDs with the people they trust.
Going forward, policies can be further fine-tuned after studying how people innovate and use such schemes. Digital India, thus, can help people not only build capacities but explore larger possibilities as well.
Reference
1CSC E-Governance Services India Limited. 2022. Digital Seva Terms and Conditions. Last accessed on 20 May, 2022 at https://digitalseva.csc.gov.in/web/legal
Shivankar Mohan
smohan@devalt.org