In a move that will give a big push to broadband
penetration in the country, the Department of Telecommunications (DoT)
has cleared an ambitious plan to distribute 50-lakh tablet PCs (personal
computers) to students in the next financial year (2012-13). A note
containing the nitty-gritty of the ambitious Aakash-2 project is likely
to be placed before the Cabinet soon.
“Telecom
Minister Kapil Sibal, who is also in charge of the Human Resource
Development Ministry, has already held a detailed meeting with all
stakeholders… the Cabinet note is being finalised,” said a senior DoT
official. “We plan to distribute 50-lakh tablet PCs in schools and
colleges across India in the next fiscal.”
The
government wants to initially assemble the tablet PCs through its public
sector undertakings (PSUs) and eventually indigenise it to maintain
cost-competitiveness.
The DoT has declared that the
Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC), the research and
design wing of the Department of Information Technology, will be the
nodal agency for successfully implementing the Aakash-2 project. It will
be assisted by the Indian Institute of Technology-Mumbai. They will be
responsible for finalising specifications, ensuring quality and testing
the tablet PCs. The DoT has decided to rope in two PSUs — Bharat
Electronics Ltd and ITI Ltd — for manufacturing and procuring the tablet
PCs that will be priced between $55 and $70 (around Rs.2,750 and
Rs.3,500).
As the project cost is likely to be around
Rs.1,700 crore, it has also been decided to involve the BEL, the
electronic PSU under the Ministry of Defence with factories around
India. “The BEL is likely to be asked to manufacturer the feature-rich
tablet PCs and take help from ITI Ltd, India's first PSU that
manufactures telecom equipments, to meet the huge orders. It is has also
been decided to source tablet PCs from other companies through the
tendering process if the two PSUs fail to meet the orders,” the official
noted.
Mr. Sibal had unveiled the world's cheapest
tablet PC Aakash last year that cost just $35 (about Rs.1,750),
manufactured by Canadian firm Datawind in close association with
IIT-Jodhpur. Though the government had decided to distribute 1 lakh
Aakash tablets to students in the first phase, quality issues and poor
features forced the government to intervene. Moreover, Datawind also
failed to meet its delivery commitments and has so far only given 10,000
tablets.
