Public investment has created a wide network of rural infrastructure, yet much of it remains underutilised. This challenges a persistent policy assumption that expanding physical infrastructure is the primary route to improving access. In practice, the gap has shifted from creation to utilisation: whether these assets function as spaces people actively use, trust, and return to.
The Digital Samvidhan Ghar (DSG) model emerging from Dholpur district, Rajasthan, offers a governance model that addresses this shift. It reframes rural infrastructure not as static assets, but as active, community-anchored institutions that integrate education, digital access, and civic engagement.
Why Assets Fail Without Institutional Design
In Dholpur, access to quality learning and preparation ecosystems has remained uneven. Despite the expansion of schooling infrastructure, pathways to higher education, employment, and competitive examinations are still spatially concentrated.
For many young people, migration to nearby towns becomes a structural necessity; often not for opportunity, but for access.
DSG reduces this access friction through adaptive reuse: underutilised government buildings are retrofitted into digital libraries and civic learning spaces, equipped with basic infrastructure, digital access, curated resources, and structured programming. The model has scaled to 78 centres, reaching over 50,000 students across 350 schools, with more than 200 trained teachers.
But its significance lies less in scale alone and more in how these centres function.
Local Access Determines Economic Choices
DSGs operate as integrated local platforms. They support competitive exam preparation, enable reintegration of school dropouts through open schooling pathways, and provide awareness on issues such as cyber safety, health, and agriculture. Weekly assessments, peer learning groups, and mentorship from local and retired professionals create a sustained engagement ecosystem, moving beyond access to participation.
Governance is central to how these centres function. They are managed through Gram Panchayats and community committees, ensuring alignment with local needs rather than external programme design.
The model also generates local livelihoods. Samvidhan Mitras and Samvidhan Sakhis, primarily women from Self-Help Groups, manage operations and receive monthly support, linking institutional delivery with income generation. Their role strengthens participation, trust, and inclusivity, while expanding women’s presence in public institutional spaces.
As a result, DSGs reduce access-driven migration pressures, ease financial burdens on households, and retain human capital within local economies.
Designing For Use, Not Just Access
While adaptive reuse minimises capital costs and local governance improves implementation and accountability, two additional design choices are instrumental in shifting the focus from provision to utilisation
First, DSGs incorporate behavioural activation. In many rural contexts, infrastructure remains underutilised due to hesitation or lack of familiarity. Structured schedules, visible participation, and peer-led engagement help normalise usage.
Second, the model relies on convergence: drawing on existing government programmes and community networks to convert infrastructure into functioning institutions rather than isolated facilities..
Policy Has Shifted to Utilisation Gaps
This shift is particularly relevant in the current policy moment. As India advances the implementation of the National Education Policy, the gap between infrastructure availability and actual learning access remains visible. Expansion of digital connectivity has not automatically translated into meaningful participation or outcomes.
At the same time, fiscal constraints limit the scope for large-scale new capital expenditure. The policy question is no longer only how to build more, but how to make existing assets deliver.
DSG offers a pathway aligned with both realities: optimising public infrastructure while expanding access, participation, and local capability. Its integration with Panchayati Raj institutions and alignment with Gram Panchayat Development Plans strengthen its relevance within existing governance systems.
Scaling Depends on Institutional Capacity
The experience of Dholpur suggests that DSG is replicable, but not automatic. Its expansion depends on enabling conditions: the availability of underutilised public buildings, functional Panchayati Raj institutions, and active Self-Help Group networks.
Outcomes are likely to vary with local governance capacity. The quality of facilitation, consistency of programming, and administrative coordination will shape effectiveness. Convergence across departments, while central to the model, requires sustained institutional leadership.
Recognising these constraints is critical as replication is less about copying infrastructure and more about reproducing institutional capability.
From Asset Creation to Institutional Performance
The DSG model shows that rural transformation does not necessarily require new infrastructure or standalone schemes; it requires reorganising how existing public assets are governed, activated, and used. Embedding DSG-like approaches within Panchayat-led planning and state systems can shift rural development from asset creation to institutional performance.
The future of rural development lies in turning public assets into functioning institutions.