Context:

• Cabinet approves inclusion of Common Services Centres under MEITY as Enrolment Agency for PM-SYM.

About Pradhan Mantri Shram Yogi Maan-Dhan Yojana:

• PM-SYM is a voluntary and contributory pension scheme that will engage as many as 42 crore workers in the unorganised sector.
• The unorganised sector workers, with income of less than Rs 15,000 per month and who belong to the entry age group of 18-40 years, will be eligible for the scheme.
• Those workers should not be covered under New Pension Scheme (NPS), Employees’ State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) scheme or Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO).
• He or she should not be an income tax payer.
• Each subscriber under the scheme will receive minimum assured pension of Rs 3000 per month after attaining the age of 60 years.
• If the subscriber dies during the receipt of pension, his or her spouse will be entitled to receive 50 percent of the pension as family pension. This family pension is applicable only to spouse.
• If a beneficiary has given regular contribution and dies before attaining the age of 60 years, his or her spouse will be entitled to continue the scheme subsequently by payment of regular contribution or may even exit the scheme.
• The subscriber is required to contribute the prescribed contribution amount from the age of joining the scheme till the age of 60 years.
• The subscriber can contribute to the PM-SYM through ‘auto-debit’ facility from his or her savings bank account or from his or her Jan- Dhan account.
• Under the PM-SYM, the prescribed age-specific contribution by the beneficiary and the matching contribution by the Central Government will be made on a ‘50:50 basis’.

Common Services Centers:

• Common Services Centers (CSCs) are a strategic cornerstone of the Digital India programme. They are the access points for delivery of various electronic services to villages in India, thereby contributing to a digitally and financially inclusive society.
• They are multiple-services-single-point model for providing facilities for multiple transactions at a single geographical location. They are the access points for delivery of essential public utility services, social welfare schemes, healthcare, financial, education and agriculture services, apart from host of B2C services to citizens in rural and remote areas of the country.
• CSCs are more than service delivery points in rural India. They are positioned as change agents, promoting rural entrepreneurship and building rural capacities and livelihoods. They are enablers of community participation and collective action for engendering social change through a bottom-up approach with key focus on the rural citizen.

CSCs enable the three vision areas of the Digital India programme:

1. Digital infrastructure as a core utility to every citizen.
2. Governance and services on demand.
3. Digital empowerment of citizens.

Key facts:

1. The CSC project, which forms a strategic component of the National eGovernance Plan was approved by the Government in May 2006, as part of its commitment in the National Common Minimum Programme to introduce e-governance on a massive scale.
2. It is also one of the approved projects under the Integrated Mission Mode Projects of the National eGovernance Plan.

CSC 2.0 Scheme:

Based on the assessment of CSC scheme, the Government launched the CSC 2.0 scheme in 2015 to expand the outreach of CSCs to all Gram Panchayats across the country. Under CSC 2.0 scheme, at least one CSC will be set up in each of the 2.5 lakh GPs across the country by 2019. CSCs functioning under the existing scheme will also be strengthened and integrated with additional 1.5 lakh CSCs across the country.

Source:PIB