It is proposed to provide IT literacy to women through the network of Common Services Centers (CSCs) and provide financial support both to these women who undergo training and the Village Level Entrepreneurs (VLEs) who will be providing this training. The Scheme aims to provide "IT literacy training to women" seeks to combine the reach of the CSCs with the objective of empowering rural women. The Scheme for empowering women in Rural India through Digital Literacy envisages training of 25,000 women on the Course of Computer Concepts designed and administered by DOEACC. DOEACC is a society of the Department of Information Technology, Government of India and is responsible for both training and certifying IT manpower. The well known certifications like O level and A Level for IT professionals are awarded by DOEACC. DOEACC is the implementing agency of the Scheme. The Program Management of the Scheme will be carried out by the M/s CSC e- Governance Services Pvt. Ltd

1. Guidelines – for Scheme for Empowering women in Rural
India through Digital Literacy
1 Introduction
1.1 Under the National e-Governance Plan (NeGP) formulated by the Department of
Information Technology, Government of India, over 90,000 Common Service Centres
(CSCs) have been established. Today these CSCs are delivering a wide variety of
services to the citizens. While the rural population is slowly joining this revolution,
women and girls remain generally marginalized and excluded from taking advantage
of ICT knowledge and services.
1.2 CSCs can be an effective vehicle to help women acquire digital literacy skills that
enable them to further their education, gain employment, help start and build their own
businesses, secure their livelihoods and become socially and politically active.
1.3 In view of this it is proposed to provide IT literacy to women through the CSC network
and provide financial support both to these women who undergo training and the VLEs
that will be providing this training.
1.4 Thus the Scheme to provide IT literacy training to women combines the reach of the
CSC with the objective of empowering rural women.
2 Scheme details
2.1 The Scheme for empowering women in Rural India through Digital Literacy envisages
training of 25,000 women on the Course of Computer Concepts designed and
administered by DOEACC. DOEACC is a society of the Department of Information
Technology, Government of India and is responsible for both training and certifying IT
manpower. The well known certifications like O level and A Level for IT professionals
are awarded by DOEACC. DOEACC is the implementing agency of the Scheme.
2.2 The Program Management of the Scheme will be carried out by the M/s CSC e-
Governance Services Pvt. Ltd hereinafter referred to as CSC SPV, which is a
corporate entity created with the equity participation of State Governments, Service
Centre Agencies and Financial Institutions. Government of India has one golden
share.
2.3 The Scheme will be operated in the States of 1) Assam, 2) Bihar, 3) Jammu and
Kashmir, 4) Madhya Pradesh 5) Maharashtra, 6) Rajasthan, 7) Sikkim , 8) Tamil Nadu,
9) Uttar Pradesh and 10) West Bengal. About 2500 women will be trained in each of
the 10 States.
2.4 The training to the women beneficiaries will be imparted by the VLE in the CSC. The
Department of Information Technology, Government of India, has previously approved
a scheme under which the DOEACC Society will train and certify one Lakh Village
Level Entrepreneurs (VLE) of the CSCs on DOEACC’s “Course on Computer
Concepts” (CCC), which the VLEs should utilize to secure the CCC certification.
3 Course on Computer Concepts (CCC)
3.1 The Computer Concepts (CCC) course of DOEACC provides an introduction to
computers. The course will cover the following topics.
a. Introduction to Computer
b. Introduction to GUI based Operating System
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2. c. Elements of Word Processing
d. Spreadsheets
e. Computer Communication and Internet
f. WWW and Web Browsers
g. Communication and Collaboration
h. Making small Presentations
3.2 The above course is of 80 hours duration
3.3 The Course on Computer Concepts is available in English as well as in the following
Indian languages Assamese, Bengali, Hindi, Malayalam, Manipuri, Marathi, Punjabi,
Tamil, Urdu
4 Benefits of undergoing CCC certification
4.1 After completing the 80 hour course, which will be delivered at the CSC, the participant
will be able to use the computer for the following activities:
a) Prepare personal/business documents
b) Manage spreadsheets
c) Create presentations
d) Browse the Internet
e) Communicate via email
4.2 Certification on the CCC course of DOEACC is also likely to benefit the trainees in the
form of better employment prospects include some Government jobs for which CCC
certification is a requirement . Further Government of India is undertaking many e-
Governance programs in Rural India which should create many employment
opportunities for women with CCC certification.
5 Incentives to Beneficiaries
5.1 The Scheme entails payment of Rs. 360/- to the beneficiary, Rs. 360/- to the VLE and
Rs. 360/- to DOEACC towards examination fees. Funds earmarked for VLE and
beneficiary along with the Project Management Fees for CSC SPV will be released to
CSC SPV by DOEACC on demand for the same by the SPV.
5.2 The beneficiary would receive an incentive of Rs. 360 only on successfully securing
the CCC certification of DOEACC. In addition to the incentive, the examination fee for
the CCC examination of DOEACC amounting to Rs. 360 is waived for the beneficiaries
as the said examination fee is being directly paid by Department of Information
Technology, Government of India to DOEACC.
5.3 The VLE would obtain Rs. 360 towards training the beneficiary subject to the
beneficiary clearing the CCC examination and obtaining the CCC certification.
5.4 Subject to the trainee successfully obtaining the CCC certificate, the VLE should
submit the request for incentive for both themselves and the beneficiary enclosing the
DOEACC CCC certificate for each trainee to the SCA. The SCA in turn should
consolidate all requests, and submit these requests to the CSC SPV at the following
address
Scheme for Women’s Literacy
M/s CSC e-Governance Services Pvt. Ltd.
NeGD PMU 4th Floor Electronics Niketan
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3. Gate No. 6 CGO Complex, Lodhi Road
New Delhi 110006
Telephone no. 011 32928611
E Mail : digital.literacy@cscegovindia.com
5.5 The CSC e-Governance Services Pvt. Ltd in turn would consolidate requests
examine and transfer the necessary funds to the concerned VLE and the beneficiary
electronically .
6 Selection of VLEs to administer the training
6.1 The SDA of the States covered under the program should 2-3 districts where the
scheme is to be implemented. About 25- 50 VLEs will need to be selected in these
districts by the SDA based on parameters like performance of the VLE on OMT etc.
for imparting training to women. Based on the number of VLEs selected by the State,
the number of the women to be trained by the VLE would be determined. For e.g. if the
State selects 40 VLEs to impart training, given that the total number of women
available to be trained under the program is limited to 2500 per state, the number of
trainees per VLE would be limited to 63 only.
6.2 To enable better monitoring of the Scheme it is proposed that VLEs should be
selected in a cluster of 2-3 neighbouring districts of the State.
6.3 The SDA should send the consolidated list of the selected VLEs to the CSC SPV by
27th April 2011 as per format in Appendix 1.
6.4 As mentioned previously, the VLEs selected for imparting training should have
obtained CCC certification from DOEACC. Further the CSC of the VLE should be
equipped with internet connectivity and should be registered on the Online Monitoring
Tool.
6.5 In case the VLE does not have CCC certification, he should fulfil the following eligibility
criteria
a) Should be a graduate
b) Should have undertaken a 6 month Diploma course on computers.
c) Should obtain DOEACC CCC certification within the next 6 months for which
the VLE can utilize the scheme formalized by DIT to provide DOEACC
training on CCC to VLEs.
7 Selection of beneficiaries – Women Trainees
7.1 The VLE will select the women to be trained under the Scheme in consultation with the
Gram Panchayat where the CSC is located. The beneficiaries may be from the
Panchayat or any of the adjoining Gram Panchayats. The VLE will communicate the
list of beneficiaries along with their bank accounts in the specified format in Appendix
2. However he should send details of the trainees to the District Magistrate / Collector
and the State Designated Agency. Any dispute regarding selection of beneficiaries will
be resolved by the District Magistrate / Collector of the district.
8 Training of Women
The VLE can train the trainees in two modes.
a. Train the women on the E-learning module of CCC course at the DOEACC
site http://elearn.doeacc.edu.in/
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4. b. Downloading the material from the DOEACC site http://www.doeacc.edu.in
and train the women on this material.
The training of the women will be monitored through an online attendance module, created
and managed by the CSC SPV.
9 Certification
9.1 Women who have completed the training on CCC course at the CSC need to submit
the Examination Application form through their VLE and SCA to the DOEACC centre
responsible for their state. The state wise contact details of DOEACC offices is
available in Annexure A.
9.2 The examination is of 90 minutes duration and comprises of objective type questions
of 100 marks and certificate is awarded to those candidates who score a minimum of
50 marks.
9.3 DOEACC will allot an examination centre for the certification exam. It is anticipated
that these examination centres will be located close to the village. At most the trainee
will need to travel to the District Headquarters for the CCC certification examination.
9.4 The CCC examination is held 3 times a year in February, June and October and
women desirous of applying for certification should submit their applications about 60
days prior to the examination schedule.
10 Payment and Fees for Beneficiaries
10.1 The examination fee for the CCC certification is Rs. 360/- however through funding by
DIT, examination fees have been waived for beneficiaries of this scheme.
11 Roles of the Key Stakeholders
11.1 The key enablers for imparting the digital literacy course are the State Governments,
who through the State Designated Agencies (SDAs) will seek to strengthen the
financial viability and credibility of this Scheme by successfully implementing the
Scheme through the SCAs. They are requested to forward a list of the districts where
the scheme is proposed to be implemented and the VLEs that would impart the
training to DIT. The SDA is also requested to coordinate with the District
Administration of the Districts selected to ensure smooth implementation of the
scheme. The SDA will provide details of the VLE in the enclosed format.
11.2 DOEACC is the implementing agency of Scheme.
11.3 The CSC SPV is the project management and monitoring agency of the Scheme.
11.4 The Roles of key stakeholders are highlighted below:
1) The DOEACC Society is the implementing agency under this Scheme and is
responsible for:
a) Training and certifying VLEs to impart the CCC course to women in rural India
via the CSCS
b) Testing and certifying women who have undergone the CCC course training
at CSCs
c) Maintaining a record of all participants who appear for the CCC online
examination as well as of all those who pass and receive the CCC
Certification
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5. d) Releasing funds in a consolidated manner to CSC e-governance Services for
the CSC e-governance Services to release it to the beneficiaries.
e) Making payment to the CSC e-governance Services for the Project
Management Fee component.
f) Providing regular progress reports of the scheme, namely training and
certification of beneficiaries as per the format in Appendix 3
2) The CSC SPV will be responsible for the Scheme’s program management,
including:
a) Coordinating with the SCAs, various stakeholders to ensure the successful
Scheme implementation
b) Ensuring the timely implementation of the Scheme
c) Compiling the list of beneficiaries state wise and ensure reelase of funds to
VLEs and beneficiaries in a time bound manner.
d) Distributing the VLE and beneficiary incentives to SCAs for onward transfer to
VLE and the beneficiary.
e) Building awareness of the Scheme, including developing and implementing
the marketing plan and media strategy
f) Cross pollination of best practices among States and VLEs
g) Monitoring project progress and undertaking impact assessment
h) Recommending next steps for nationwide implementation of the Scheme
i) Creating a monitoring mechanism for the Scheme
3) The SCAs will be responsible for:
a) Propose the districts to be selected for the Scheme to the SDA
b) Suggest the VLEs that would provide training to the women beneficiaries and
forward the names to the SDA.
c) Coordinating with the local DOEACC centers to ensure that the VLEs get
trained and certified to impart CCC course training via the CSCs
d) The local implementation of the Scheme in each selected district to ensure
selection of women beneficiaries and that the training is being imparted
regularly and in a quality manner to the women.
e) Consolidating the requests for VLE and beneficiary incentives and passing
them on to the CSC e-Governance services Ltd.
f) Making payments to VLEs and beneficiaries after obtaining the said incentive
from the CSC e-Governance Services Pvt. Ltd.
g) Supporting the VLEs in Scheme awareness building, beneficiary selection
and training activities.
h) Reporting to the CSC SPV on the progress of the project
4) The Village Level Entrepreneurs (VLE) will be responsible for:
a) Getting trained and certified by DOEACC. For this they may utilize the
scheme initiated by DIT for obtaining training and certification on CCC of
DOEACC.
b) Imparting the 80 hour CCC computer training course to women eligible under
the Scheme
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6. c) Selecting the women participants eligible under the Scheme.
d) Keeping a record of all participants that enrol in the course and ensuring that
they appear for the CCC certification exam.
12 Monitoring of Scheme
12.1 The CSC SPV will create an online monitoring mechanism to track the project
implementation, including VLE selection, participant enrolment, participant course
attendance, participant certification status, etc.
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7. Appendix 1
Name of the State
Bank details for Village Level
S Name CSC Village Block Gram Distric State No. of SCA
Entrepreneur
N of VLE ID Name Name Panchaya t Beneficiarie Affiliate
o t s d Bank Name Branc IFSC
A/c of h Code
Numbe Bank
r
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
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8. Appendix 2
APPLICATION FORM @
Date : ……………………………
1) Beneficiary Details
Photograph of Beneficiary
a. Name of Beneficiary - ...…… ………………………………
b. Date of Birth - …….………………………………….
c. Education qualifications - .………………………………………..
d. Village - ….………………………………………
e. Gram Panchayat - …...……………………………………..
f. Block - ….…………………………………......
g. Bank Details (of Beneficiary) :
i. Account Number - ……………………………………………..
ii. Name of Bank - ……………………………………………..
iii. Branch - ……………………………………………..
iv. IFSC Code - ……………………………………………….
2) Name of VLE - ..……………………………………….
3) Affiliated CSC ID - ….……………………………………..
4) Address of VLE
a. Village - ….………………………………………
b. Gram Panchayat - …...……………………………………..
c. Block - ….…………………………………......
d. District - ….……………………………………….
e. State - ….……………………………………….
Signature of Beneficiary Signature of VLE
@ Note State Designated Agency is advised to translate the form in the local language
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9. Appendix 3
DOEACC Reporting Formats
Month
S.NO Name of the No. of No. of No. of
DOEACC Beneficiaries Beneficiaries Certificates
Centre Enrolled Trained Awarded
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