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Case Studies on e-Governance in India – 2013 - 2014

SCA Performance Assessment & CSC Survey in Maharashtra

Rajesh Aggarwal, IAS Virendra Singh, IAS

Nikhil Pande

Case Studies on e-Governance in India – 2013 - 2014

SCA Performance Assessment & CSC Survey in Maharashtra

Rajesh Aggarwal, IAS Virendra Singh, IAS Nikhil Pande

Case Studies on e-Governance in India – 2013 - 2014 Page | i

About the Initiative

This publication is a part of the Capacity Building initiative under the National e-Governance

Plan (NeGP) by NeGD with an aim to draw out learnings from various projects implemented

in various States/ UTs and sharing this knowledge, in the form of case studies, with the

decision makers and implementers to benefit them, by way of knowledge creation and skill

building, from these experiences during planning and implementation of various projects

under NeGP.

Conceptualised and overseen by the National e-Governance Division (NeGD) of Media lab

Asia/DeitY these case studies are submitted by e-Governance Practitioners from

Government and Industry/Research Institutions. The cases submitted by the authors are

vetted by experts from outside and within the Government for learning and reference value,

relevance to future project implementers, planners and to those involved in e-governance

capacity Building programs before they are recommended for publication. National Institute

for Smart Government (NISG), working on behalf of this NeGD provided program

management support and interacted with the authors and subject matter experts in

bringing out these published case studies. It is hoped that these case studies drawn from

successful and failed e-Governance projects would help practitioners to understand the

real-time issues involved, typical dilemmas faced by e-Governance project implementers,

and possible solutions to resolve them.

Acknowledgment

NISG sincerely thanks all the authors for documenting and sharing their rich experiences in

terms of challenges and lessons learned and allowing us to publish and use these case

studies in various training programs of NeGD and NISG. NISG also thanks all the external and

internal experts who helped review the submitted cases, providing critical observations and

for helping in articulating and presenting the case studies, both for class room use as well as

a reference article.

Copyright License

This case study submitted by author/s and accepted for publication under the project of

National e-Governance Division (NeGD), Ministry of Communications and Information

Technology, Government of India by NISG, the program management agency, is governed

by the following license of the Creative Commons. For any specific permission/feedback the

publisher may be contacted.

Case Studies on e-Governance in India – 2013 - 2014 Page | ii

(cc) Creative Common License - Attribution-Share Alike 2.5 Generic

The user is therefore free to make derivative works, with credit to the original author.

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5/in/

Disclaimer

This publication is a work product produced by external authors with information sourced

from their own sources as provided under reference in respective articles and is based on

experiences with Projects undertaken directly or as research initiatives closely working with

the project owners or with their consent to publish the findings. The authors have provided

a plagiarism declaration as per project guidelines and National Institute for Smart

Government (NISG) has put in best efforts to validate the authenticity and learning value of

the article submitted. NISG has acted mainly as a content reviewer with support from

identified expert resources. NISG is not responsible for any plagiarism violations or copyright

infringements and respective authors are fully responsible for the same as per respective

declarations provided by them. The case study should not be used as a definite source of

data.

The case studies are meant for use as a background and quick reference on the topic(s) by

e-Governance practitioners, and should not be treated as a guideline and/or instructions for

undertaking the activities covered under any e-Governance project/s. It may also be used in

a classroom for discussion by the participants undergoing e-Governance related training

programs. The document by no means has any commercial intention and is solely developed

for the purpose of knowledge sharing.

NISG-CBKM 103-200/Case Study/05-2014/V1 Printed & Published by

National Institute for Smart Government, www.nisg.org

on behalf of the Department of Electronics & Information Technology,

Government of India

http://www.nisg.org/

Case Studies on e-Governance in India – 2013 - 2014 Page | iii

Table of content

1. Abstract .......................................................................................................................................................... 1

2. Keywords ........................................................................................................................................................ 4

3. Note to the Practitioners/Instructors ............................................................................................................. 5

4. Project Context ............................................................................................................................................... 7

5. Project Overview .......................................................................................................................................... 10

6. Issues and Challenges Faced During Implementation .................................................................................. 24

7. Key Lessons ................................................................................................................................................... 25

a. Corrective Actions ................................................................................................................................... 27

8. Methodology Adopted for Case Writing ...................................................................................................... 30

9. References .................................................................................................................................................... 33

Authors ................................................................................................................................................................. 34

Project Case Fact Sheet ........................................................................................................................................ 35

Case Studies on e-Governance in India – 2013 - 2014 Page | 1

1. Abstract

Government of Maharashtra in its continuous endeavor to ensure that government, private

and social sector services are available to all its citizens near their residences, has

established ~8000 Citizen Service Centers (CSCs) across the state. These centers are called

Maha eSeva Kendras which provide both Government to Citizens (G2C) and Business to

Citizens (B2C) services. These centers are operated by residents of villages called as Village

Level Entrepreneurs (VLEs) and managed by Service Center Agencies (SCAs).

In order to check the quality of service being provided at the CSCs, the largest survey of its

kind in the country was carried out by Directorate of Information Technology (DIT). 300+

centers across the state were covered over a period of 2 months. The survey was performed

from an Android app that enabled the team to gather data and upload the details to the

server in real time. In addition a performance assessment exercise was conducted at the

SCA headquarters where adherence to clauses defined in Master Services Agreement (MSA)

was cross checked.

The results obtained from the surveys have thrown light on the quality of service being

provided to the citizens and also the challenges being faced by the VLEs while delivering the

services.

Some key findings are listed below.

1. There are on an average 38 walk-ins per day in a CSC

2. ~6 supporting documents have to be attached in the main form for a G2C case to be

processed

3. Average of 7 days are taken (end to end) to issue a G2C certificate

4. Performance issues in Mahaonline portal have been encountered by VLEs; support

by government officials in signing certificates also a concern

5. ~44% VLEs prominently display service list with fees which brings in transparency

6. ~45% of citizens availing services at CSCs have monthly income < Rs. 3000/-

7. ~38% of citizens availing services of CSC have education level up to “10+2”

8. ~64% of citizens avail CSC services at least once in 6 months

9. Citizens have to travel 3-6 Kms to reach a CSC center

10. ~1-3 trips required to be made by a citizen to avail a service

11. Avg. charges paid by citizens to avail a service is ~Rs. 47/- ;


12. CSC staff is courteous to citizens in majority of the cases & respond to queries of

citizens in a timely manner (~81%), ~80% citizens satisfied by the overall quality of

service provided by CSCs

13. Word of mouth information through “Neighbours/Relatives” the main source of

awareness about CSC services; promotion through Newspapers & Television low

14. Overall ~31% of VLEs are “Very Satisfied” with the CSC business & majority would

like their family members to continue with operation of CSCs

Further details are provided under section “Project Overview” (Outcomes) and “Key

Lessons”

Analysis of the results (geography wise) is provided in the section “Project Case Fact Sheet”

Data collected through CSC survey and audit at SCAs headquarters has enabled the State to

get a clear picture regarding the reach of CSCs to its citizens.

Rollout Status

Transaction Status

Approximately 2% of CSCs have high number of transactions, 21% Medium and 77% Low

transactions.

# Division Target CSCs Rolled Out CSCs % Roll Out

1 Amravati 2,020 1,137 56%

2 Aurangabad 2,396 2,345 98%

3 Nashik 1,361 942 69%

4 Konkan 1,804 788 44%

5 Pune 1,887 1,171 62%

6 Nagpur 2,354 1,797 76%

Total 11,822 8,180 69%


Transactions (from April-July 2013)

Transaction Category Transaction Range*

Low Transaction 0-120

Medium Transaction 121-1000

High Transaction 1001 and above

* Transaction range considered for a period of 4 months (even if 1 certificate issued by the

VLE per day, 120 transactions should have been recorded)

Based on the results, certain corrective actions have been taken by the Government which

include the following:

Termination of contract of non performing SCAs & VLEs

Gap filling at commercially non-viable regions and blind pockets at government

expenses

Instructions to SCAs to focus on marketing activities & increase visibility of CSCs &

services offered amongst citizens

Directives to software implementation vendor (MahaOnline) to resolve portal

related performance issues on an immediate basis

Issuance of a Government Resolution (GR) where affidavits are no longer required

for G2C services availed by the citizens.

More details in “Corrective Actions”

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Low Txns. Medium Txns. High Txns.


2. Keywords

# Term Description

1 B2C Business to Citizens

2 BC Business/Bank Correspondents

3 CA Chartered Accountant

4 CMMi Capability Maturity Model Integration

5 CSC Citizen Service Centers

6 DIT Directorate of Information Technology

7 DR Disaster Recovery

8 eGov eGovernance

9 FS Financial Statement

10 G2C Government to Citizens

11 GOM Government of Maharashtra

12 HR Human Resource

13 INR Indian Rupees

14 ISO International Organization for Standardization

15 IT Information Technology

16 LD Liquidated Damages

17 MIS Management Information System

18 MOL MahaOnline

19 MSA Master Services Agreement

20 RFP Request for Proposal

21 SCA Service Centre Agencies

22 SDA State Designated Agencies

23 SRS System Requirement Specification


# Term Description

24 TDS Tax Deducted at Source

25 UID Unique Identification (Aadhaar)

26 VLE Village Level Entrepreneur

27 W3C World Wide Web Consortium

28 WCAG Web Content Accessibility Guidelines

3. Note to the Practitioners/Instructors

Practitioners

The objective of the project was to check the quality of services being offered to the citizens

by the CSCs and analyze the impact on the citizens using the services. The findings and

recommendations of the study may be extrapolated and implemented for the entire

population. Regional trends and observation may be used to arrive at suggestion for better

services being offered at the regional CSCs for service delivery. The case study may be

adopted as a standard for doing similar studies across the country and may be instrumental

in coming up with similar recommendation for providing better services – the ultimate aim

of the CSC Mission Mode Project.

In order to avoid bias in results, centers to be covered were chosen based on a random

number generation model. The project also throws light on the importance of Third Party

Audits (TPAs) for on-going e-Governance projects. Team with adequate ‘independence’ and

with least conflict of interest may be selected from a group of co-workers for such exercise.

Instructors

The following questions can be posed by the instructors to the students:

1. What are the relevant questions that can be asked in a survey to the following

stakeholders:

a. Citizens

b. VLEs

c. District Officials

2. Which section of society is most likely to avail the services provided at CSC (low/high

income, educated/illiterate etc.)

3. What kind of support can be provided by district officials to VLEs to reduce the

average time required to issue a G2C certificate

Note: Signature from a designated district official is required on a G2C certificate


4. For centers where total number of transactions in 3 months is less than 100, what

initiatives can be taken up by SCAs to improve the situation?

5. Internet connectivity at district level is a major challenge faced by VLEs. What

options available in the market can be used to ensure 99% uptime

6. Can factors like overall ambience & size of CSCs have an impact on the number of

walk-ins?

7. How can VLEs ensure repeat walk-ins by customers

Hint: Provide B2C services, improve quality of service, publicity etc

8. In addition to basic refresher courses, what kind of support and encouragement can

be given by the SCAs to VLEs?

9. Should SCAs provide Insurance cover to VLEs (cash loss, physical damage to centers)?

Will this be a viable business model for the SCAs?

10. What parameters can be used by the SCAs to track the performance of VLEs (during

surprise visits)?


4. Project Context

CSCs across Maharashtra

The CSC project since its inception in Sep. 2008 in Maharashtra not only provides G2C and

B2C services to its citizens but also promotes rural entrepreneurship amongst the villagers –

also known as Village Level Entrepreneurs (VLEs). The project is currently being executed by

4 Service Center Agencies (SCAs) – CMS, Basix, Spanco and Reliance

CSC Rollout Status

# SCA Division Target CSCs Rolled Out CSCs % Roll Out Total

%

Roll

Out

Rural

CSCs

Urban

CSCs

Total CSCs

Mandated

Rural

CSCs

Urban

CSCs

Total

CSCs

Rolled

Out

Rural

CSCs

Urban

CSCs

Total

CSCs

Rolled

Out

1 CMS Amravati 1,837 183 2,020 920 217 1,137 50% 119% 56% 79%

Aurangabad 2,129 267 2,396 1,914 431 2,345 90% 161% 98%

2 Basix Nashik 1,223 138 1,361 788 154 942 64% 112% 69% 69%

3 Spanco Konkan 1,489 315 1,804 544 244 788 37% 77% 44% 53%

Pune 1,677 210 1,887 853 318 1,171 51% 151% 62%

4 Reliance Nagpur 2,132 222 2,354 1,635 162 1,797 77% 73% 76% 76%

Total 10,487

1,335

11,822 6,654

1,526

8,180 63% 114% 69% 69%

*As of 31st July 2013


CSC Distribution

Legend

Population

Population Category % Distribution Population Range – Per

square Km.

Scarce Population 33% 0-600

Moderate Population 34% 601-1400

Dense Population 33% 1401-26000


Transactions (from April-July 2013)

Transaction Category Transaction Range Legend

Low Transaction 0-120

Medium Transaction 121-1000

High Transaction 1001 and above


5. Project Overview

a. Project Description

Government of Maharashtra (GoM) is implementing the Common Service Centers (CSCs)

scheme under the aegis of the National e-Governance Plan (NeGP), funded by

Government of India as one of its Mission Mode Projects for delivery of government,

private & social sector services (G2C/B2C services) to the citizen at a location near

his/her residence. The project was started to develop a platform that can provide

services to the rural population in the remote corners of the country. These centers are

called Maha e Seva Kendras. The Maha eSeva Kendra scheme envisages establishment

of a network of 11,822 IT enabled centers across the State. Of the planned CSCs, 8,180

CSCs have been rolled out across Maharashtra.

In order to check the performance of the SCAs across the state, a Third Part Audit (TPA)

was carried out by Government of Maharashtra (GoM) – the biggest and most

comprehensive exercise ever conducted in the country. The main objective of the survey

was to check the quality of service being provided to the citizens by the VLEs and

identify the areas where it can be improved.

Members of the State eGovernance Mission Team (SeMT) visited 300+ CSCs across the

state – largest survey of centers conducted in India. In order to streamline the survey, a

mobile app was developed and the same was used by the consultants to capture and

upload the data. Details for 85 questions covering 3 key areas namely Village Level

Entrepreneur, CSC Infrastructure & Citizen Services were gathered.

In addition, visits were made to the SCA headquarters to check the conformance to the

clauses as defined in the Master Services Agreement (MSA) and Request for Proposal

(RFP). The SCAs were evaluated across 45 parameters covered across Technical,

Operational & Financial areas.


SCA Performance Assessment

A 5 step evaluation process was undertaken to assess the performance of the SCAs

The SCAs were evaluated across three key areas: Technical, Operational and Financial

• SCA assessment process initiated by DIT

• Evaluation methodology discussed and finalized

• Evaluation to be done on Technical, Operational & Financial parameters (based on RFP & MSA

Stage 1

• Document with evaluation parameters circulated to the SCAs

• Queries from SCAs on documentary evidence received and clarifications provided

Stage 2

• Visits made to each of the SCA headquarters for a period of 1-3 days (based on number of clarifications pending)

• Face to face discussion and clarifications received from SCAs

• CSC center survey started by district consultants

Stage 3

• Final scoring by core team for each assessment area / section

• Presentation of draft SCA assessment (Phase 1) report to key stakeholders

Stage 4

• Feedback received from SCAs & incorporated into report

Stage 5

•Key technical areas covering Connectivity, IT Architecture, Infrastructure, Software, Support Technical

•Spread across operation related sections: Services, Infrastructure Management, Operations Management, Communication Management Capacity Building, HR Management

Operational

•Financial areas covering Roll out of CSC, Submission of FS, Deposit of Government monies, Statutory compliance, Recon and control

Financial


The overall evaluation framework & weights assigned to the categories are listed below:

CSC Survey

300+ centers were selected for the survey based on a random number generator formula.

More details in “Random number generation model”. Three months (Apr-June 13) were

chosen for survey and analysis as the transactions during these 3 months are representative

of both low and high transactions across G2C and B2C categories. E.g.

# Category Apr-13 May-13 Jun-13 Total

1 G2C 7,51,249 7,40,757 16,12,545 31,04,551

2 B2C 1,33,659 86,869 81,427 3,01,955

Total 8,84,908 8,27,626 16,93,972 34,06,506

This was the largest survey of CSCs that has been conducted in the country so far. The

survey was conducted by a team comprising of 35 SeMT district consultants, eDistrict

Project Managers and Mahaonline Coordinators


A 5 step evaluation process was undertaken to assess the performance of the CSCs

• CSC survey assessment process initiated by DIT

• Survey team for each district finalized (district consultants, eDPM and MOL coordinators)

• Questions to be covered in the survey discussed and finalized

• Requirements document prepared and provided to application development team

Stage 1

• App developed and tested and feedback provided to development team

• Tabs required for the survey distributed to the district consultants

• Process of centre selection discussed and finalized (random number generator)

• Selected centre list distributed to district consultants

Stage 2

• Visits made by district consultants to each of the selected CSC to conduct the survey

• Responses taken from VLEs, citizens and district officials

Stage 3

• Data uploaded to the server by the district consultants

• Data extracted from the server by DIT

• Analysis conducted and inferences drawn based on survey data

• Presentation of draft CSC Survey Report (Phase 2) report to SDA

• Report shared with the SCAs

Stage 4

• Presentation of results of the findings to all key stakeholders (SDA and SCAs)

Stage 5


80+ questions were covered as part of the survey were divided into 3 sections: Village Level

Entrepreneur, CSC Infrastructure and Citizen Services

# Category Sub Category No of Questions

1 Village Level Entrepreneur(VLE) 34

1.1 Profile 14

1.2 Service 10

1.3 Feedback 10

2 CSC Infrastructure 12

3 Citizen Services 39

3.1 Profile 10

3.2 Awareness 4

3.3 Services Provided 15

3.4 Service Quality 5

3.5 Governance 5

TOTAL 85

b. Objectives

1. SCA Performance Assessment

The key objective of the project was to check the performance of the SCAs across the

following areas:

a. Technical

i. Connectivity: Whether connectivity available at CSCs, how has last mile

connectivity been achieved?

ii. IT Architecture: Is IT architecture blueprint in place for SCA headquarters and

CSCs?

iii. Infrastructure: Is data center and Disaster Recovery (DR) site present. How are

server backups taken?


iv. Software: Is a portal for enabling access to non-government services (B2C)

operational? Is the SCA ISO certified?

v. Support: Are training manuals and user guides made available to the CSC

operators?

b. Operational

i. Services: What has been the contribution of the SCA in G2C and B2C

transactions? Whether UID centers and Business Correspondents (BCs) active?

ii. Infrastructure Management: Are arrangements for physical security made at

the CSC centers by the SCAs? How the compliance to branding/logo/colour

scheme ensured by the SCA at the CSC centers?

iii. Operations Management: Are SLAs for performance evaluation of CSCs being

tracked? Is a performance report submitted to SETU Maharashtra? Is a wallet

recharge mechanism being used by the VLEs to recharge wallets? Are

complaints of citizens being tracked properly?

iv. Communication Management: Is a centralized MIS report available to track

transaction volumes, disputed transaction etc.? Have all statutory clearances

been obtained for providing services (G2C, B2C, B2B) at the CSCs?

v. Capacity Building: Has adequate training been provided by the SCAs to the

VLEs before they start operating the CSC centers? What is the schedule of

refresher courses to be provided to the VLEs?

vi. HR Management: Are agreement copies with VLEs available ( including profit

sharing arrangement, photos, educational qualifications and others)

c. Financial

i. Roll out of CSC: Is there a certificate from SDA/other government body that all

CSC in the allotted division of SCA have been rolled out and operational?

Whether CSCs have been rolled out as per contract terms?

ii. Submission of Financial Statements: Certified financial statement submitted

by the SCAs (quarterly, half yearly and yearly)

iii. Deposit of Government monies: Whether share of SDA is being deposited by

the SCAs on a timely basis?

iv. Statutory compliance: Whether service tax and TDS is being paid to

government as per due date?

v. Reconciliation and Control: Whether account reconciliation is being

performed, whether MIS reports are available


2. CSC Survey

The key objective of the survey was to check the quality of service being provided to

the citizens by the VLEs. Key areas covered were as follows:

a. Village Level Entrepreneur

i. Whether VLEs have identity cards

ii. Whether VLEs have UID/EID

iii. Number of walk-ins per day in the center

iv. Number of printouts required to process a G2C case

v. Key concerns of VLEs

vi. Number of days taken to issue a G2C certificate

vii. Level of satisfaction in conducting the CSC model

b. CSC Infrastructure

i. Ambience of the CSCs

ii. Overall size of the CSCs

iii. Whether service list is prominently displayed at the centers

iv. Type of connection being used by the VLEs

c. Citizens Services

i. Average income of citizens availing services from CSCs

ii. Number of times in a year any service is availed from the CSCs

iii. Distance the citizens have to travel and money they have to spend to reach

the CSCs

iv. Number of trips that have to be made to a center to avail a service

v. Whether working hours are convenient

vi. Mode of publicity through which citizens know of the services

c. Stakeholders

The key stakeholders of the project are:

1. Government of Maharashtra

a. Directorate of Information Technology

b. District officials (Collector, Tehsildars, Talathi)


2. Citizens

3. Service Center Agencies

a. Village Level Entrepreneurs

d. Client / Beneficiaries

The main beneficiaries of the CSC project & the performance assessment exercise are the

citizens of the state of Maharashtra (~5.8 Cr –as per Census 2011) who avail services from

the CSCs. Details in “Project Case Fact Sheet”

e. Governance services offered

G2C

G2C services offered across 12 categories (as of May 2013)

# Service Category

1 7/12 service

2 8A Service

3 Affidavits

4 Certificates

5 Employment Exchange

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Population Distribution Across Districts of MH


6 G2C Applications

7 G2C Licenses

8 Land & Revenue

9 Other G2C Services

10 Ration card

11 Right To Information Act

12 Social welfare schemes

B2C

B2C services offered across 15 categories (as of May 2013)

# Service Category

1 Bus Services

2 DigiTech Services

3 Education services

4 Employment Exchange

5 Health services

6 Insurance Services

7 IRCTC Train Ticket

8 JOBEX

9 Mobile/DTH Recharge

10 MSEDCL

11 NPS Lite Services

12 Other Commercial services


# Service Category

13 Placement Services

14 Sale of Applications

15 UTI-PAN

f. Outcomes

CSC Survey

The survey of CSCs across the state enabled the Government of Maharashtra to cross check

the quality of services being provided by the VLEs to the citizens. The key findings are listed

below:

# Section Findings

1 Village Level

Entrepreneur

~31% of VLEs have identity cards; Basix highest with ~40%, Reliance

lowest

Overall ~89% VLEs have UID/EID; Reliance highest with ~94%

~72% centres being operated by individuals on whose name CSC is

registered

Avg. 38 walk-ins per day; Amravati and Aurangabad > 60 walk-ins

~6 printouts required for a G2C case; highest in Nagpur division with

avg. of 8

Avg. 7 days taken to issue a G2C certificate; Amravati, Nashik &

Nagpur division highest with ~9 days

Performance issues in Mahaonline portal; support from Govt. admin

a key concern

Large section of VLEs (~50%) interested in delivering both G2C & B2C

services

Overall ~31% of VLEs are “Very Satisfied” with the CSC business; VLEs

of Basix and CMS most positive

Majority of VLEs would like their family members to continue with

operation of CSCs

2 CSC

Infrastructure

50% CSCs have overall good ambience; Basix & Spanco CSCs with ~55-

60%


# Section Findings

~31% of CSC have an area between 150-200 sq. ft

~44% VLEs prominently display service list with fees; CMS and

Reliance lowest

Majority of CSCs (~63%) have 1 computer in their premises

74% connections are from BSNL broadband

3 Citizen

Services

~45% of citizens availing services at CSCs have monthly income < Rs.

3000/-

~38% of citizens availing services of CSC have education level up to

“10+2”

Majority of visitors to the centers are Male (~92%)

~64% of citizens avail CSC services once in 6 months

Citizens have to travel 3-6 Kms to reach a CSC center; highest in

Amravati ~6 Kms

~1-3 trips required to be made by a citizen to avail a service

Avg. charges paid by citizens ~Rs. 47/- ; Pune division avg. highest -

Rs. 65/-

Citizens spend on an average Rs. 20/- on travel to avail CSC services;

Amravati & Pune highest

In Amravati and Pune districts, citizens pay more on travel as

compared to cost of availing services

~78% citizens find working hours of CSCs to be convenient;

Aurangabad, Konkan & Nashik > 90%

CSC staff is courteous to citizens in majority of the cases & respond to

queries of citizens in a timely manner (~81%)

~80% citizens satisfied by the overall quality of service provided by

CSCs

Word of mouth information through “Neighbours/Relatives” the

main source of awareness about CSC services; promotion through

Newspapers & Television low


SCA Performance Assessment

# Section Findings

1 Technical 1. SCAs have portals that are operational which are being used by the

VLEs.

2. Help desks are being maintained by the SCAs and VLEs contact them

to resolve any technical or operational issues

3. There is dependence on private operators (e.g. IDEA, Airtel) for CSCs

to obtain connection in remote areas, as obtaining last mile

connectivity from BSNL is a challenge in remote areas

4. IT architecture blueprint is available for SCAs headquarters,

however details at CSC centre are not available (infrastructure is the

responsibility of the VLE)

5. Details of software’s being used by VLEs are not maintained. No

check is done with respect to authenticity of the software’s

6. Servers and data backups of SCAs are present in other states. This

could be a risk with respect to data security. Disaster Recovery (DR)

is not fully operational in data centres

7. Portals of SCAs have to clear security certifications and also become

eGov standards compliant

8. Training material is not available on the portal maintained by the

SCAs

9. Not all SCAs are ISO certified and CMMi level compliant

2 Operational 1. G2C and B2C services are being delivered to the citizens (16

MahaOnline services through the MOL portal)

2. Rollout of CSCs in the range of ~50-80% has been achieved by the

SCAs. Focus has been more on urban than rural areas. The key

reason for this has been that specific pockets of the state are

commercially non-viable for the SCAs and have technology & power

issues

3. UID centres have been started by the SCAs with 123 centres

operational and 1.48 Lakh enrolments completed so far

4. 95 Business Correspondents from 2 SCAs have started operating in

the districts


# Section Findings

5. Average login by VLEs into the system ~46% (ranges from 17 % to

67% )

6. ~18% VLEs with cumulative transactions >500 for 3 months. (ranges

from 0% - 29%)

7. All SCAs are using accounting software for accounting and

reconciliation

8. MIS reports are available on the SCAs portal to track transactions

9. Monthly progress reports are sent to DIT highlighting the progress &

issues

10. VLE agreement copies are available with the SCAs, however a

master database containing all details of the VLE is not maintained

(agreement date, operational date, refundable and non-refundable

deposit, refund amount)

11. Citizen complaints are not tracked proactively

12. Visits are made by district coordinators, however a formal checklist

is not used in all cases

13. Trainings are conducted on induction and when a new service is

added, however there is no formal training calendar being

maintained

14. There is no standardized mechanism to check the implementation

of logos at the centres

3 Financial 1. SCAs have provided both G2C and B2C services during these 5 years

period of Sep08 to May13. The share in terms of volume of

transactions between G2C and B2C services is 80:20. However this

share is vice-versa when compared in terms of revenue generation

as 30:70.

2. SCAs have managed to cover the sectors while providing B2C

services such as Insurance, Educational, Mobile recharge, Digitech,

Electric Bill payments, Train & Bus tickets, Employment & health.

However, the maximum revenue generated is from Mobile/DTH

recharge services is approx. 60% and MSED bill payment is approx

32%.

3. During the last 5 years from Sep08 to May13, SCAs have done


# Section Findings

approx. 1.51 Cr. number of G2C transactions (excluding transaction

carried through Mahaonline). The revenue generated out of these

G2C transactions is approx. Rs 27.54 Cr. The revenue share between

different stakeholders is approx. – SCA 31%, VLE 46%, SDA & District

20% & others 3%.

4. The SCAs have developed their own portal for delivering the G2C

and B2C services to the citizens across the districts (except for 16

G2C services for which GoM has launched the Mahaonline portal

w.e.f. from Oct-12). Other G2C services are also being brought to

the same platform of Mahaonline portal to bring more transparency

and accessibility to citizens. The SCA will continue to deliver the B2C

and some G2C services through their own platform , however there

are few areas of improvement:

i) The charges for G2C services could be configured in the portal.

This will enable more transparency in the service charges being

paid by the services.

ii) Third parties accounts should be regularly reconciled to ensure

same balances reflect in the books of both the parties.

iii) Transactions report (district, Taluka and months wise) should

be configured properly to ensure there is no balance mismatch

in the reports.

5. SCA has quoted the negative bid money for operating the CSC. This

bid monies are not paid to the Government. The transaction shares

paid by SCA are not consistent every month. The SCA has not

submitted the quarterly and annual financial statement in respect of

CSC services carried out in the 5 years period and the revenue share

of same.

6. Statutory dues are not fully compliant:

i) The commissions paid to VLE are to be paid by SCA after

deducting TDS. It is noted that details of analysing the TDS

liabilities in respect of each VLE are not monitored consistently.

ii) Services rates prior to May-12 are inclusive of service taxes.

These details are not available at each individual service on

monthly basis.


6. Issues and Challenges Faced During Implementation

The key challenges faced during the project were as follows:

Operational

1. Visits to CSCs were made during the monsoons (Jun-July 2103). Accessibility to

centers in remote areas was a key challenge faced by the consultants

2. In specific centers, consultants faced non-cooperation from staff operating the

centers

Technical

3. The survey app has a facility to capture the GPS coordinates at the time data is

captured. In remote locations, there were connectivity related issues reported by

individuals conducting the survey.

4. The data captured as part of the survey also had to be synched to the server located

in Mumbai. A 3G connection was the preferable mode of transfer, which was not

available in remote locations. As a result there was a minor delay between the time

the data was captured and uploaded to the server.


7. Key Lessons

The key findings & learning’s of the project are as follows:

# Finding Learning

1 There are on an average 38 walk-ins per

day in a CSC; Amravati and Aurangabad

have the highest (~60 walk-ins)

The walk-ins in a center are dependent

on multiple factors like distance of

center from citizens home, presence of

other CSCs in vicinity, quality of service

provided by VLEs to citizens etc.

2 ~6 supporting documents have to be

attached in the main form for a G2C case

to be processed; highest in Nagpur

division with avg. of 8

Requirement of documents like affidavit

to be attached for processing of a G2C

certificate leads to addition of multiple

pages in a case

3 Average of 7 days are taken (end to end)

to issue a G2C certificate; Amravati,

Nashik & Nagpur division highest with ~9

days

G2C certificates require signature from

district officials, which is a contributing

factor in the delay of issuance

4 Performance issues in Mahaonline portal

have been encountered by VLEs

Connectivity is a major challenge faced

by VLEs in districts

5 ~44% VLEs prominently display service

list with fees which brings in

transparency

Display of service charge list is an

essential component of service delivery

which gives promotes transparency

6 ~45% of citizens availing services at CSCs

have monthly income < Rs. 3000/-

Majority of the citizens availing services

of CSCs belong to the section of society

with low income

7 ~38% of citizens availing services of CSC

have education level up to “10+2”

A large section of society availing

services of CSCs do not possess any

formal education degrees

8 ~64% of citizens avail CSC services at

least once in 6 months

The VLE business model relies on

recurring business to make it a

sustainable one (B2C services a major

contributing factor)


# Finding Learning

9 Citizens have to travel 3-6 Kms to reach a

CSC center; highest in Amravati ~6 Kms

Majority of the CSCs are located in areas

which are accessible by the citizens

10 ~1-3 trips required to be made by a

citizen to avail a service

Multiple follow-ups for a certificate are

required by the citizens (e.g. for cases

where certificates are required to be

sent to district offices for approval)

11 Avg. charges paid by citizens to avail a

service is ~Rs. 47/- ; Pune division avg.

highest - Rs. 65/-

For centers where service charges are

not prominently displayed, there is a

possibility of different rates being

charged by the VLEs to citizens (for same

set of services)

12 CSC staff is courteous to citizens in

majority of the cases & respond to

queries of citizens in a timely manner

(~81%), ~80% citizens satisfied by the

overall quality of service provided by

CSCs

The spirit of entrepreneurship to

successfully run a business is shown by

the VLEs, through good customer service

13 Word of mouth information through

“Neighbours/Relatives” the main source

of awareness about CSC services;

promotion through Newspapers &

Television low

In order to increase awareness amongst

citizens regarding CSC services, efforts

on publicity through print / digital media

have to be put in by SCAs

14 Overall ~31% of VLEs are “Very Satisfied”

with the CSC business & majority would

like their family members to continue

with operation of CSCs

The business model adopted by SCAs is a

viable one, with VLEs willing to continue

to operate


a. Corrective Actions

Based on the findings of the SCA Performance Assessment & CSC survey, the following

decisions have been taken by the Rajya Setu Samiti:

1. Contracts for CMS & Spanco have been extended for the next 2 years from 01st Sep.

2013, based on the performance scores. Contract for Basix is valid for the next 3

years

2. Contract with Reliance has not been renewed and Mahaonline has been mandated

to spearhead the initiatives

3. New contract would have additional clauses to ensure better operations for the

success of the project:

a. IT infrastructure requirement

b. Size and citizen facilities at the centers

4. Gap filling at the commercially non-viable regions and blind pockets (technology and

power issues) will be done at government expenses.

5. VLEs with less than 100 transactions (cumulative of Apr, May and June 2013) under

Spanco and CMS will be given an opportunity to improve their performance during

the period 01st Sep. 2013 – 31st Dec 2013. Minimum of 100 transactions should be

executed in this time period (minimum 50 G2C). If the target is not achieved they will

automatically be removed from the VLE network with effect from 1st Jan 2014.

6. Instructions to SCAs to focus on marketing activities & increase visibility of CSCs

7. Directives to software implementation vendor (MahaOnline) to resolve portal

related performance issues on an immediate basis

8. Based on Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed with CSC SPV, UID and B2C

services will be provided by CSCs

Standardization of Services and Affidavit GR

Government of Maharashtra has initiated eDistrict project implementation in the State of

Maharashtra. eDistrict is a Mission Mode Project (MMP) under National e-Governance Plan

(NeGP) under the aegis of DeiTY, Government of India and aims to provide support to

“District Administration” to deliver Citizen Centric Services (G2C services) to the citizens in

more transparent, objective and user friendly manner.

1. Standardization of Services

67 services from 10 categories like Certificates and licenses, Right to Information, Public

Distribution System, Pensions, Utilities, Land Revenue Dues and Recoveries, Electoral,

Revenue Court etc. are covered under the eDistrict project. Of these, 35 services have been


selected for priority implementation during the first phase of the state wide roll out. The

Business Process reengineering of these services have been completed. Standardization and

regulation of application forms and output formats, timelines and fees for processing of the

services have been covered under the same. Some of the salient features of the

standardised forms that are designed to be used in the CSCs are-

Standardized input forms across all services, comprising of – applicant details,

service specific details, self declaration and a list of documents to be attached

Applicant details so collected to aid in creation and maintaining citizen profile at

CSCs to increase citizen convenience

Digitally signed output certificates and licenses

Output forms to have 2D barcode for authentication and verification of document

offline

Feature for authentication of issued documents through SMS and though

MahaOnline portal

The Directorate of Information Technology is working closely with other departments whose

services are delivered though eDistrict project for preparing and issuing necessary

administrative approvals in the form of Government resolutions and Government orders for

the adoption of the standardization being implemented as part of the project. A GR for the

waiver of affidavits for services delivered through eDistrict has already been issued.

2. Affidavit GR

Today, an affidavit forms an integral part of the citizen’s application to avail G2C services. An

affidavit is a sworn statement voluntarily made by an applicant under an oath or affirmation

administered by a person authorized to do so by law. It is a declaration from the applicant

along with his photograph and signature that the information provided is true as per his

knowledge. Moreover, the applicant is liable for punishment as per sections of Indian Penal

code, if the information provided is found to be false. The affidavits are signed by the

authorized signatories as a proof of validity and are affixed with a court fee stamp of INR5 or

INR10 or INR20 etc.

However, getting an affidavit is in itself an incommodious process. It requires extra effort,

time and money from an applicant. No doubt, affidavits unnecessarily create slag in the

system and increases the processing time of the service delivery.

Government of Maharashtra in its continuous effort in bringing a citizen friendly experience

for applying the various G2C services to the citizens, has taken the landmark decision to

waive off the submission of the Affidavits required along with the application forms for most

of the services offered through the CSCs. The below have been decided:


I. Application form itself as an Affidavit: It is decided that the affidavits shall be done

away and instead applicant shall be asked to file self declaration along with the

application form. The format of the Self Declaration shall be as below:

Self-Declaration (In English)

I _________________son/daughter of __________aged ______ occupation

_______________resident of ________________ hereby declare that the information

provided above is true and correct to the best of my personal knowledge, information and

belief. I fully understand the consequences of giving false information. If the information as

given above is found to be false, I shall be liable for prosecution and punishment under

section 199 and 200 of IPC 1960 and / or any other law applicable thereto.

Place : ______ Applicant Signature : ____________

Date : __ / __ / __ Applicant Name : ____________

I. Doing away with non–judicial stamp paper: The Declaration shall be a part of the

application form and hence requirement of non–judicial stamp paper is done away

with for these services.

The approved GR is already published and is available on the Government of Maharashtra

website. The same can be downloaded from:

https://www.maharashtra.gov.in/Site/Upload/Government%20Resolutions/English/201308

161456082111.pdf

https://www.maharashtra.gov.in/Site/Upload/Government%20Resolutions/English/201308161456082111.pdf



8. Methodology Adopted for Case Writing

Data for the case study was gathered through a combination of both primary and secondary

research.

Primary

A mobile app was developed by Government of Maharashtra and installed on tabs that

were handed over to 35 teams across the state. The tab was then used to capture data and

upload it to the server.

Usage of the mobile app to capture data in real time enabled the SeMT team to complete

the survey of 300+ centers in a short span of time.

# Screen Type Snapshot Description

1 Landing

Screen

1. Options available to a

user once they logged

into the app were as

follows:

Add Survey

Edit Survey

Delete Survey

Server Sync

Settings

Logs & Instructions



2 Survey

Selection

(Live/Demo)

1. Once a new survey was

created, user could

select the mode

“Live/Demo”. Demo

was used for testing

purpose, the Live

version used for actual

survey

2. The GPS coordinates of

the location were

captured by the system

3 Survey

Selection

(Type of

Survey)

1. The app has multiple

surveys and the user

could select the

appropriate survey

type, i.e. “CSC Survey”



4 Questions

1. The questions to be

covered as part of the

survey were traversed

through multiple pages

and responses entered

in the app

5 Server

1. Once the survey was

completed by the

consultants, the details

were uploaded to the

server. (through the

“Server Sync”

functionality in Point 1)

2. The progress of the

surveys was tracked

through the admin

console

3. The survey data for was

taken from the

development team and

inferences were drawn

(post analysis)

Secondary

Government resolutions, letters, Master Services Agreement with vendors, articles on

frameworks to analyze quality of service delivery to citizens were referred to while

compiling data for the case study


9. References

1. GR No. DIT/2012/C.R.152/39 dated 23rd May 2012 (Harmonization of Rates for

Online Government Services):

https://www.maharashtra.gov.in/Site/Upload/Government%20Resolutions/English/

20120523173645545001.pdf

2. GR No. 1/2012/C.R.18/E-1 dated 31st March 2012 (Standardization and Regulation of

Formats given by the Revenue Department):

https://www.maharashtra.gov.in/Site/Upload/Government%20Resolutions/English/

20120417113808480001.pdf

3. Letter No. DIT 2011/CR/257/39 dated 03rd Jan 2013 regarding delivery of G2C

services through Mahaonline portal

4. Letter No. 2012/C.R. 368/39 dated 25th Oct 2012 regarding launch of 16 G2C services

from Mahaonline portal

5. Caste certificate Rajpatra dated 03rd Sep 2012, published by Social Justice

department

6. Master Services Agreement and Request for Proposals for SCAs

7. National eGovernance Policy (NeGP): http://deity.gov.in/content/national-e-

governance-plan

8. E-Governance Policy of Maharashtra

https://www.maharashtra.gov.in/PDF/e_governance_policy.pdf

9. Accountability Framework for eGovernance Initiatives, Subhash Bhatnagar, Honorary

Professor, IIM-AImpact Assessment of e-Governance Projects,

http://www.iimahd.ernet.in/egov/documents/impact-assessment-of-egovernance-

projects.pdf

10. Microsoft Office Help: http://office.microsoft.com





http://deity.gov.in/content/national-e-governance-plan

http://deity.gov.in/content/national-e-governance-plan

https://www.maharashtra.gov.in/PDF/e_governance_policy.pdf

http://www.iimahd.ernet.in/egov/documents/impact-assessment-of-egovernance-projects.pdf

http://www.iimahd.ernet.in/egov/documents/impact-assessment-of-egovernance-projects.pdf


10. Authors

1. Shri Rajesh Aggarwal (IAS), Principal Secretary IT, Government of Maharashtra

Mr. Rajesh Aggarwal, an IAS officer of the 1989 batch, is presently Principal Secretary

IT and Accounts and Treasuries with Govt. of Maharashtra. A B.Tech. in Computer

Science from IIT Delhi (1983-87), he has been a technology enthusiast focusing on a

wide array of aspects including Natural Language Understanding, Algorithms,

Artificial Intelligence, Fuzzy matching and de-duplication of databases, GIS, Analytics

and has the experience of working with very large citizen databases.

As Secretary to Government of Maharashtra over the last few years, he has been

instrumental in successfully leading multiple large initiatives like implementation of

UID and Financial Inclusion, Direct Benefit Transfer, e-Office implementation, e-

Tendering, implementation of State e-Governance Policy, focus on Accessibility and

localization, Training and Capacity building in e-Governance, delivery of e-Services to

citizens, implementation of Common Service Centers to ensure citizen services are

available at the doorsteps of citizens and implementation of Govt. cloud. Under his

leadership, the State Government has been rated as a leader in National e-Readiness

Surveys of Govt. of India and has received more than 60 national and international

awards for e-Governance in the last 2 years, including the prestigious National

Award for Innovation in UID being conferred on him by the Hon. Prime Minister in

2012.

He is also a prolific writer and has written numerous articles and papers on e-

Governance, including the much acclaimed paper titled ‘e-Gov 0.0 – the

fundamentals of e-Governance’.

2. Shri Virendra Singh (IAS), Director IT, Government of Maharashtra

Mr. Virendra Singh, an IAS officer of the 2006 batch, is presently Director IT with

Govt. of Maharashtra. With over 15 years of experience of working with various

Government organizations, he has been instrumental in implementation various

large e-Governance initiatives including e-Office. Earlier, as District Collector

Sindhudurg and CEO Zilla Parishad in Solapur, he had successfully implemented

various e-Governance initiatives including e-Drug Inventory for an entire district,

which is now getting replicated across the State. He has won multiple awards at

national forums for the work done in implementing e-Office, wherein Sindhudurg

became the first district in the country to become paperless.


3. Nikhil Pande, Principal Consultant, State eGovernance Mission Team (SeMT)

Mr. Nikhil Pande is a Principal Consultant with more than 6 years of experience in

working in IT and e-Governance. Presently he is working with

PricewaterhouseCoopers and is associated with Govt. of Maharashtra for an e-

Governance assignment.

11. Project Case Fact Sheet

Centers Covered

# Division District No of centers

(District wise)

No of centers

(Division Wise)

1 Konkan Sindhudurg 9 53

Thane 9

Mumbai Suburban 10

Mumbai City 9

Raigad 9

Ratnagiri 7

2 Pune Pune 9 47

Kolhapur 9

Sangli 11

Solapur 10

Satara 8

3 Nashik Nashik 9 45

Dhule 8

Nandurbar 11

Jalgaon 9


# Division District No of centers

(District wise)

No of centers

(Division Wise)

Ahmednagar 8

4 Aurangabad Aurangabad 10 67

Latur 9

Nanded 9

Beed 9

Parbhani 8

Jalna 7

Hingoli 9

Osmanabad 6

5 Nagpur Nagpur 9 54

Wardha 9

Bhandara 10

Gondia 9

Gadchiroli 6

Chandrapur 11

6 Amravati Amravati 13 52

Yavatmal 11

Washim 10

Akola 9

Buldhana 9

Total 318 318


Random Number Generation Model

In order to avoid bias in selection of samples for the survey, a random number generator

formula was used to select 300+ centers

=INDEX(<Range of CSC Ids>,RANDBETWEEN(1,COUNTA(<Range of CSC Ids>)),1).

Example

# CSC Id

1 MH011700101

2 MH011700102

3 MH011700103

COUNTA (<Range of CSC Ids>) will return 3

RANDBETWEEN (1, COUNTA(<Range of CSC Ids>)) will return an integer number between 1

and 3

INDEX(<CSC Id>,RANDBETWEEN(1,COUNTA(<CSC Id>)),1) will return the CSC id selected

randomly

Details of excel functions can be found in the following links:

INDEX: http://office.microsoft.com/en-in/excel-help/index-function-

HP010069831.aspx

RANBETWEEN: http://office.microsoft.com/en-in/excel-help/randbetween-

HP005209230.aspx

COUNTA: http://office.microsoft.com/en-in/excel-help/counta-function-

HP010062493.aspx

http://office.microsoft.com/en-in/excel-help/index-function-HP010069831.aspx

http://office.microsoft.com/en-in/excel-help/index-function-HP010069831.aspx

http://office.microsoft.com/en-in/excel-help/randbetween-HP005209230.aspx

http://office.microsoft.com/en-in/excel-help/randbetween-HP005209230.aspx


Distribution of Population across the state of Maharashtra (as per Census 2011)

# Division District Total Population-MH

1

Konkan

Mumbai City 17,11,650

Mumbai Suburban 50,25,165

Thane 58,79,387

Raigad 13,48,089

Ratnagiri 7,59,703

Sindhudurg 4,16,695

2

Nashik

Nashik 31,64,261

Dhule 10,55,669

Nandurbar 8,34,866

Jalgaon 21,97,835

Ahmednagar 23,48,802

3

Pune

Pune 49,36,362

Satara 15,12,524

Sangli 14,35,972

Solapur 22,33,778

Kolhapur 19,83,274

4

Aurangabad

Aurangabad 19,28,156

Jalna 10,15,116

Parbhani 9,46,185

Hingoli 6,09,386

Beed 13,52,468


# Division District Total Population-MH

Nanded 17,32,567

Osmanabad 8,64,674

Latur 12,76,262

5

Amravati

Amravati 14,82,845

Buldhana 13,42,152

Akola 9,36,226

Washim 6,21,228

Yavatmal 14,25,593

6

Nagpur

Nagpur 23,88,558

Wardha 6,65,925

Gondia 6,62,524

Bhandara 6,04,371

Chandrapur 11,20,316

Gadchiroli 5,42,813

TOTAL 5,83,61,397


26%

42%

15%

9% 7%

1%

Total G2C Transactions (Apr, May, June) ‘13

Amravati

Aurangabad

Nashik

Konkan

Pune

Nagpur


20%

50%

7%

6%

5%

12%

Total B2C Transactions (Apr, May, June '13)

Amravati

Aurangabad

Nashik

Konkan

Pune

Nagpur


-

500

1,000

1,500

2,000

2,500

3,000

3,500

CMS Basix Spanco Reliance

VLE Transactions (Apr, May, June '13)

>500

301-500

101-300

1-100

0

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