Tech Meets Grassroots: CSC CSR Conclave 2025 Charts Bold Vision For Rural India's Digital Future
The CSC CSR Conclave 2025 highlighted the transformative role of technology and CSR in empowering rural India through digital inclusion, skilling, and public-private partnerships.
Published : May 3, 2025 at 5:58 PM IST
New Delhi: The CSC CSR Conclave 2025, held here, was a significant stepping stone in India's changing landscape of development, emphasising the role of technology, digital inclusion, and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in the overall development of rural India.
With the theme of 'Empowering Bharat', it demonstrated how the Common Service Centres (CSCs) are helping to narrow the urban-rural gap, laying the groundwork for a technologically capable and self-reliant rural economy.
The Conclave, opened by Atul Kumar Tiwari, Secretary, Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship, brought together people from the government, corporate, and development sectors to have concrete discussions and build alliances to effectively use CSR to mobilise and empower marginal communities.
"CSC represents a radical idea bridging the urban-rural divide through technology," said Tiwari, emphasising how the Government's vision for digital rural empowerment synergises with the mission of CSCs.
Tiwari stressed the vital role of CSC Academy in the national skilling mission, particularly in the delivery of vocational training and digital literacy programs for the rural populace. He complimented the work of the CSC in the implementation of flagship government programs like the PM Vishwakarma Yojana, which encourages traditional artisans and craftsmen.
Hosted by the CSC Academy in partnership with the Indian ESG Network, the conclave brought to the fore the transformational potential of public-private partnerships in the creation and delivery of last-mile digital access, education, healthcare and financial services to the villages of India.
Sanjay Kumar Rakesh, Chairman and Secretary of CSC Academy, described the CSCs as much more than access points to digital technologies, calling them the new nerve centres of rural transformation, operated by village-level entrepreneurs (VLEs) embedded in their own communities.
"CSR is not just a statutory requirement but a strategic driver for inclusive progress," he said.
