Pillar: Connectivity
A Common Service Centre (CSC) is a physical access point — usually a small shop or office — where citizens access government digital services with the help of an operator. CSCs exist because most government services have moved online, but many citizens cannot navigate these portals themselves. The person running a CSC helps you fill out forms, upload documents, make payments, and complete applications for everything from Aadhaar to scholarships to certificates. CSCs are run by private individuals called Village Level Entrepreneurs (VLEs) who earn commissions on each transaction — the VLE is a private entrepreneur, not a government employee.
If you need to fill a scholarship application, get an Aadhaar update, register on a job portal, apply for a certificate, or access any online government service and cannot do it yourself, the CSC is the most common place to get it done.
- Process scholarship applications through the National Scholarship Portal — form filling, document uploads, status tracking - Provide Aadhaar enrolment and update services (where authorised) - Process certificate applications: caste, income, domicile, birth/death (in states where digitised) - Register citizens on employment portals (National Career Service (NCS)), skill training schemes (Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY)), and apprenticeship portals - Provide banking correspondent services: account opening, deposits, withdrawals for select banks - Facilitate insurance (PMJJBY, PMSBY) and pension (APY) enrolment - Offer Tele-law (free legal advice via video call) and Tele-medicine services - CSC density per area is set by the State/UT. Central CSC 2.0 minimum is 1 CSC per Gram Panchayat with more preferred. In UP under CSC 3.0, two DSPs operate per district, and the mandate is at least 2 CSCs per Gram Panchayat and at least 2 CSCs per 10,000 urban population. - Entrepreneurship and skills training for VLEs is the responsibility of CSC SPV (with on-the-ground training delivered by the DSP in the UP model); CSC Academy is the SPV-affiliated body that runs the online and certificate courses that VLEs and citizens both access through the CSC network.
Portal: locator.csccloud.in — search by state, district, block, or village for all registered CSCs with VLE name and contact Also: Ask at the Block Development Office or panchayat office; in rural areas, ask for the "CSC wala" or "online centre"
For what this looks like in a particular district, start from the district courses or the English reference guide (Hindi).