Laptop for Rs 500: A dream comes true
In a path breaking invention, Vellore Institute of Technology, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore and IIT Madras, with the help of Semiconductor Complex, have developed a prototype laptop, which will cost Rs 500 or $10 only
TECHNOLOGY HAS always stood for the rich. Most commonly, it seen as a tool to enhance the lifestyle of those who can afford it. Though there have been many people who talk about using technology to help and educate the poor and the needy, yet nothing has been done so far.
Even the honcho of the software giant Microsoft, Bill Gates, argues that the new technologies will help the poor become literate, learn how to plant new crops, take care of their health and sell their services over an expanding information marketplace. His view is consistent with many of us, subject to one big question - how will they reach out to this technology? Who will provide them with with the communications systems, hardware, software and training needed.
These worries, to some extent dwindle with the help of a group of Indian students from the Vellore Institute of Technology, scientists in Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore and IIT Madras with the help of PSUs like Semiconductor Complex, who have developed a prototype laptop, which will be costing Rs 500 or $10. The prototype laptop will be on display in Tirupati on February 3, at the launch of the National Mission on Education through Information and Communication Technology.
However, the Secretary of Secondary and Higher Education, RP Agrawal said, “At this stage, the price is working out to be $20 (Rs 1,000) but with mass production it is bound to come down.” The laptop’s exact configuration is yet to be known, it is reported that it will equipped with 2GB memory with both WiFi and Ethernet enable and a power consumption of 2W. As for the operating system, it is likely to use the open source such as Unix based Linux operating system, keeping the cost in mind.
This could be an answer to Nicholas Negroponte’s The Children’s Machine project, which was part of the broader, One Laptop Per Child programme. In November 2005, at the World Summit on the Information Society held in Tunis, he unveiled $100 laptop, which he tried hard sell to India but was rejected by the HRD ministry.
If the mission is successful there will be a wide array open to e-learners, for which the government is well prepared by collaborating with Macmillan, Tata McGraw Hill, Prentice-Hall and Vikas Publishing for uploading their textbooks on ’Sakshat’, an education online portal to function as virtual library. Five per cent of total books in the virtual library would be available for free access.
The 11th plan outlay of Rs 4,612 crore aimed significant intervention in education sector. From which Rs 2.5 lakh per institution will be granted for 10 Kbps bandwidth connection and subsidise 25 per cent of costs for private and state government colleges by providing computer infrastructure and Internet connection to over 18,000 colleges and 400 universities and institutions.
Though, there is pervasive skepticism on the feasibility of the laptop, the effort itself is worthwhile. If able to pull it off, it will benefit large number of people and students in the rural part of the country as well as students from underdeveloped nations.
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