Around 4,500 kiosks will open up next month while 10 other states Haryana, West Bengal, Rajasthan, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh and Assam will get the centres in a year.

The kiosks will be similar to cybercafes, with one or more computers, telephone, fax and maybe, a projector. They will, however, go beyond the cybercafe in the services they offer a typical kiosk would have information on crop protection, agriculture tools, pricing and marketing besides possibly, a database on blood banks, doctors, vaccination schedules, even matrimonials. Other applications include providing ration cards, birth and death certificates, licences and grievance redressal.

If things go by plan, there will be one kiosk for every six villages, situated near a bus stop, panchayat ghar or a community place.

While the idea is not new, the Centre is ensuring that this time around, the kiosks are run professionally. Corporate groups will act as franchisers for these kiosks, also bringing in their range of products and services. “Delivering services while maintaining economic sustainability in the long run, is the biggest challenge,” said Asis Sanyal, alternate mission leader for the project in the Department of IT. GodrejAgro, Reliance, Wipro and Hughes have already bid in various states to work on the project.

The IT department will oversee the project which will be handled by Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services (IL&FS), appointed as the National Level Service Agency (NLSA). After four years, the project will be handed over to a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) — a company formed for day-to-day monitoring of the CSCs — much like the Noida toll bridge model, also executed by IL&FS. At the lowest level, the village entrepreneur or franchisee will operate for a cluster of 5-6 villages.

The IL&FS, however, is not taking chances. At its disposal are tested ideas that have brought IT solutions to problems faced in some of India’s most remote villages, ranging from touch screens for mothers-to-be in Andhra Pradesh to identity cards to replace arbitrary documents in Tamil Nadu to putting Kolhapuri chappals online to reach out to a global market. And from the struggler who put together a portal for students to an entrepreneur who began an AIDS helpline on her landline or the man who began a radio station in his backyard, they have all won the Manthan awards from the Digital Empowerment Foundation for their e-initiatives at the grassroots.

IL&FS is looking at integrating some of these ideas at the kiosks in the various states, depending on the requirements. For instance, the firm will ensure that studentindia.com runs in the local language in every centre. So far, DEF has got 100 letters of intent to partner for providing these services.

“Apart from the normal content, we will be focusing on reverse content — something that will help sell what the village manufactures or produce,” said Osama Manzar of DEF. “There is enough dynamism in the telecom sector. We know a solution would be found,” says Aruna Sundarajan, CEO for the CSC project. “The problem is electricity,” she says. “We are working with TERI on solar panels for these areas and low-energy consuming PCs.”

Training is underway for the estimated four lakh people who are likely to be employed in these kiosks. They need not just IT skills but managerial skills too. The total outlay is Rs 5,742 crore of which 793 crore will be provided by the Centre and the equal amount by the states for the next four years. The break-even time is 12-14 months. “This one has to work,” says mission leader Sanyal. “If it doesn’t work in four years, it never will.”