Govt will train CSCs in AI, address duplication in State govt efforts: Vaishnaw

Common Service Centres (CSCs) around the country will receive free Artificial Intelligence training, Ashwini Vaishnaw, Minister of Electronics and Information Technology, told a packed gathering of Village Level Entrepreneurs (VLEs) who run the tech centres on Tuesday (July 15, 2025). Mr. Vaishnaw also said that the government would address duplication issues posed by States’ own digital service centres. The Minister was speaking at the annual CSC Diwas, where VLEs from around the country gather.

CSCs are key in making online government services and websites available to people living in remote areas. Lalremruata, 29, a VLE in Lawngtlai, Mizoram had “facilitated business worth over ₹8 crore through his CSC in the financial year 2024–25,” the government said in an award citation. Mr. Lalremruata was felicitated at the event alongside other VLEs working in remote districts. There are over 5.6 lakh CSCs in India, and over four-fifths of them are in rural areas.

Aadhaar buzz

While Mr. Vaishnaw and Minister of State for IT Jitin Prasada spoke, much of the VLEs’ enthusiastic applause went to Bhuvnesh Kumar, who is the chief executive officer of the Aadhaar issuing Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI). CSCs have not been able to perform enrolments and major updates for Aadhaar since 2018, following an order of the Supreme Court.

Still, VLEs hope to regain that business, as Aadhaar enrolment and updates are a potentially high volume business. Mr. Prasada and Mr. Vaishnaw said they would look into the issue, but did not commit themselves to reopening all Aadhaar enrolment and update activities to CSCs just yet (VLEs can only perform address and other “demographic” updates for the moment). 

“Don’t clap until the work is done,” Mr. Prasada said. Mr. Vaishnaw said he would discuss the issue with Mr. Kumar. 

Mr. Prasada pointed to the issue of cybersecurity, and urged VLEs to work with the government on the issue. India has seen major digitisation, he said. “But with such big achievements, there are equally big challenges and those challenges are of cyber security in which you will also play a very important role to equip the people of India,” he said. “All these things are related to the security of the country. We should take care of the people and there should be a constant dialogue.”