Imagine for a moment you’re a scientist looking at a stubborn problem—in this case, a mass of a few hundred million poor, uneducated people. To lift them out of poverty, friends who study economics tell you the first thing you ought to do is offer them access to affordable education. And that if you can, you’ll achieve three things. Create a better world; create an incredibly compelling business; and perhaps get a stab at immortality.
There are two ways to go about the problem. The first, you reckon you ought to think through the problem. That means look at the world around you, tinker with ideas, figure what works best, and build a cost-effective solution that eventually helps achieve the objectives stated above.
The second is a pig-headed one. Look at how others around the world are attempting to crack the problem; call in the global media; tell them a tablet-like device with a touch screen can be built and sold at $35; another matter altogether you’ve got no clue how to go about it or why; and then try your damndest best for a stab at glory. In any case, as long as the problem is cracked, who gives a damn?
With the benefit of hindsight, it is now obvious the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) chose the pig-headed option. What else explains the fact that almost two years ago, the ministry announced it is in the middle of developing a low-cost computing device for students that would cost just $35? And that when complete, a global tender for five million units of the device would be floated? The blitz that accompanied the announcement had the world in a tizzy.
A little less than a year later, in February 2011, the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Jodhpur, which had taken upon itself the onus to decide what specifications this animal would run on, put out a global tender to build the first 10,000 units. In return for these services, the institution received Rs 47 crore from the government. DataWind, a 12-year-old Canadian company with subsidiaries in the UK and India won the contract, produced a prototype built to spec, and Kapil Sibal, the minister in charge of MHRD, unveiled Aakash, the world’s cheapest computing device.
To put it mildly, the prototype was a disaster. Some phones in the market worked faster than this contraption. The battery couldn’t last two hours if a user tried to play video files on it. The touch screen, well, wasn’t “touchy” enough. And things got ugly between IIT Jodhpur and DataWind. Sibal finally stepped in and in early April this year announced that an upgraded version of the device will be made available by May.
As this story goes to press, we’re in the middle of June. Aakash-2 is still being tested by C-DAC in Thiruvananthapuram; IIT Bombay has been appointed the new nodal institution to drive the project and officials there claim 100,000 units will be supplied for pilot tests by October this year.
On its part, DataWind claims the 100,000 units have already been supplied to the institute. Nobody seems to have a clue what the truth is. What we know is this: Similar computing devices with superior capabilities are being brought out of Chinese factories by the thousands; India seems to have lost the plot; and what could have been an incredibly compelling story is now a stillborn.
The race to build the world’s cheapest computing device started when the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) project was announced in 2005. Headed by Nicholas Negroponte, best known as the founder of MIT’s Media Labs, it was a non-profit entity and funded by global majors like AMD, Google and Nortel among others. The central theme to this idea was to build a laptop that would cost no more than $100.
But Negroponte was not a pig-headed man. He was clear that while keeping costs low was important, it wasn’t the central objective. Instead, it was to make sure technology and resources could be delivered to schools in the least developed countries. He wasn’t hung up on the $100 number. He knew that costs could go up by $30-40 or even $100. For various reasons though, a laptop at $100 was the number that stuck in the minds of people across the world—including NK Sinha, joint secretary at the MHRD.
While the OLPC project has gone through many ups and downs including funders backing out, NK Sinha proposed the MHRD develop a laptop at $10—one-tenth of the price the OLPC had proposed.
On the back of this proposal, in November 2006, a government release said several institutions, including the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) and IIT Madras, would develop “a very low-cost and low power-consuming access device to address the challenges of providing broadband connectivity for every Indian, preferably free of cost for educational purposes.”
For startups like AllGo Embedded Systems, a six-year old company founded by ex-IISc students, some “enablement” from the ministry (an indication of commitment to procure) would have helped. But they say Sinha insists vendors cannot buy and supply directly. For the product to meet his standards, it’s got to be assembled locally, which in turn drives prices higher.
Correction: This article has been updated with a correction. In our earlier statement on 2nd page's last paragraph "They say when the proposal was originally floated, several startups had queued up before Sinha" the word 'They' has been replaced with 'Experts' to remove any confusion on attribution of the source of the statement.
(This story appears in the 06 July, 2012 issue of Forbes India. To visit our Archives, click here.)
Why IIT Jodhpur was given the responsibility to put the specifications into it when it was still finding its foot to establish itself. IIT Kanpur, Delhi, Mumbai which are more established and the professors there are more experienced should have been given the role at first. There\'s definitely something fishy when IIT Jodhpur was given the responsibility.
on Sep 6, 2012so u wanna tell dat who r not established there shud not be given chance to improve dem selves.....and u keep in mind dat all da professors who r in new iits r da experienced professors of other old iits......so dont write if u dont know da matter properly......
on Nov 23, 2012N K Sinha is additional secretary mhrd not joint
on Aug 8, 2012Find an impractical idea. Find politicians who believe in it. Find dumb taxpayers. Mission accomplished.
on Jul 24, 2012students need good teachers, not tablets and laptops. that is the flaw in the basic assumption. these efforts should have been spent on figuring out how to hire good teachers and make them stay in govt schools. needless to say, the iits are hardly the best place to ask, since you don\'t know if a person got in thru actual merit or quota.
on Jul 15, 2012Story shows a well balanced reasoning of how things have unfolded. Creating media hype without proving value and worth often acts against (even in cases where a genuine effort is being made). Aakash does seem to have been a genuine effort by Sibal. The problem has perhaps been in the way its been handled prematurely. We in India seem to get overboard too soon. Does this mean the death of Aakash dream by Sibal? Perhaps not and it should not be regardless of Aakash or no Aakash. There are others who are doing good work and are creating good devices without creating hype. Offering accessible computing and communication devices is the need of the hour in India.
on Jul 4, 2012Medianama filed a RTI to get details here is the report http://www.medianama.com/2012/05/223-aakash-tablet-rti-college-datawind/ , OLPC has its own set of issues , no local community support , high cost of import , claims and news inserts which again has no use except creating the initial paraphernalia , what works for some other countries never would work for a country like India . -Satya | Satyaakam.net
on Jun 28, 2012Even the BEL story isn\'t very good. Ask the companies who carried out cast census and they will tell you the gore.
on Jun 27, 2012@Bharat: If you can tell me who these companies are, then I will follow it up. You can either post some names here or mail me at seema.singh@network18online.com
on Jun 27, 2012Biased views right from the begining! what you call a bighead idea is being appreciated by world bank experts too! The fact that the device is in the stage of testing proves that the govt is going very cautiously about it to ensure that the citizens get the best. OLPC has failed, and failed miserably!
on Jun 27, 2012@Ron: The story is not an endorsement of OLPC. Nor is the World Bank's appreciation (which probably only govt officials know) of Aakash an endorsement that all is well with the idea, execution and future of this device. The reason we call it pigheaded (not bigheaded) is that there wasn't any idea worth talking about all these years. Having goofed around for 6 yrs, and then when the prices have naturally crashed, getting hold of a company that can assemble it at the lowest price, isn't a vision. You are missing the larger point of the story- when you embark on a large mission like this - to give every college student a device - you take credible technologists on board and make a transparent case.
on Jun 27, 2012very nice tablet
on Jun 26, 2012Looking at the Twitter feed on your site, I feel sorry that stories like these are buried under Flipkart frenzy. This is an important issue and rarely do bureaucrats get singled out for big messes they create in their tenure. I\'m sure Mr Sinha is entitled for a promotion now. But anyway, it also highlights that newspapers/magazines write what sells and which is why we see coverage of low-hanging fruits in the media. Gone are the days of good investigative stories, at least in mainstream media.
on Jun 26, 2012This is govt\'s own project and will take as much time as the govt, last:...........
on Jun 26, 2012I cannot get over two comments on Aakash: One from a Secretary to the Govt of India: We made public invitation to guests. The guests have arrived. But our kitchen is empty and the cook is nowhere to be found. Sorry, guests!.. Other from Satish Jha of OLPC: MHRD has been prgnant a bit too long with "Sakshaat". Its miscarriage was announced in the birth of Aakash. The second pregnancy has lasted well beyond its term. Someone seems to have forgotten to announce the second miscarriage. N K Sinha should be tried out in an open court and charged with misleading the world for such a long time. Kapil Sibal is a politician who is used to lying day in and day out and surviving to tell another lie the next day. Clearly not a person we can trust our public policy with. It would have been nice if the article was conclusive and had also talked about how Aakash denied India's children an opportunity to use OLPC.
on Jun 25, 2012Saurabh@ Even though the concept of Aakash was inspired, if I can use that term, by OLPC, it was not meant for children; it was for college and university students. At least somewhere down the line it was explicitly announced by MHRD. So I can\'t say that it denied the Indian children the opportunity to use OLPC.
on Jun 25, 2012My sense is that you should be asking the Education Secretaries. Many believed Aakash was for children as well. I know that Anshu Vaish personally told so many chief secretaries NOT to try OLPC because Aakash was coming. And I may know just the tip of the iceberg. Its worth exploring if you still have interest in it. There is a huge scam behind Aakash and someone needs to dig it up. You are one of the few journalists who tried to get the facts but the total picture is a lot uglier.
on Jun 27, 2012After a slow, rather opinionated start, the story gathers steam. You make your point, a fair one at that. But I'd still argue that is it fair to write it off when IIT-B has taken it under its wings? Do you have reasons to believe that things are still going out of hand?
on Jun 25, 2012I think the Aakash tablet is something very diff to adjust with common man, as what the minister is unveiling in the launch show of tablet they haven't cheked for the pros & cons before the launch as it very necessary for the launch. Secondly what the goverment is trying to make some business out of it as it clearly mention in the statement of govt that this is purely non profit based scenario just to improve the education of the country, as poor among poor can take up the current education but the thing is lacking behind is that the person who is unable to have a 2 time meal a day what he ll purchase the cheap tablet for education, as in this is totally back out by the govt. I had read an article where the production has started in banglore and also delhi public school has distributed the tablet to the students of the school and after that govt demand the return of the tablet back to producer as it contains flaws with it, this is totally a weak system govt who dont know what to unveil and when to unveil as its save the money and manufacturing cost, same case happened with TATA NANO
on Jun 25, 2012Currently INDIA need Education and food for Poor people. Not a fancy tablets, TVs, etc. Still peoples in INDIA don't have the basic facilities like water, food, cloth and education.Since all the politicians are rich and full of corruption everywhere,they don't meet poor people those who don't have the basic needs. They have to travel and live along with the people. Then only they solve the problems in INDIA, not by increasing export or by giving cheap tablets and free TV's, laptops.
on Jun 25, 2012Funny how I spoke to Suneet Singh Tuli in November 2011, when he was a speaker at TEDx Mumbai, and he seemed so confident that the press and the world and the thinking public had it wrong, and that he had it right. He rattled off numbers on stage that seemed to indicate that Datawind had indications of interest for volumes that were 10x the size of the current tablet market. I distinctly remember his insistence, on and off stage, that what they were doing was possible, was done, and that they were one step away from delivery. Sad.
on Jun 25, 2012