Nature India | Indigenus

Rs 500 laptop

So what do you think it’s going to be? The innovation of the century or another government-backed exercise that basks in the limelight for a while and flickers away?

A lot has been written about the 10 dollar laptop. First up, I fail to understand why we should give it a US dollar tag if it is an indigenous product being subsidised by the Indian government? Why not call it the Rs 500 laptop instead like the one lakh rupees car by the Tatas?

As of now, all we know is that the laptop will have a two gigabyte memory and wireless internet capability. A prototype (of a slightly higher cost) has been demonstrated to the Union minister of Human Resource Development but even that sounds like a marvel. The rest will perhaps come from subsidies, but who knows? The government has reportedly earmarked more than 46 billion rupees to develop the low-power gadget to work in rural areas with unreliable power supply and poor internet connectivity.

The laptop, being developed by Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore and Indian Institute of Technology, Madras will be manufactured at the government-owned Semiconductors Complex in Chandigarh. It will reportedly use a cheap microprocessor and do away with the hard disk, CD/DVD drive and other costly and problem-prone components. The wonder machine, being eagerly awaited by rural school administrators, will be a basic keyboard-screen-USB port model.

Let’s wait for the miracle to happen.

Comments

  1. Report this comment

    Megha said:

    There are two concerns which I have about this initiative:

    1. Education software: What type of applications are being developed to run on the laptop? Indeed, are they going to help in education or is this a gizmo kids are just going to draw and check email on?

    2. Connectivity: The OLPC model also has wireless but relies on towers being set up to communicate the signals across rural areas. This tower needs power and maintainence which might be hard to provide in rural areas. If this laptop uses a similar connectivity then upkeep is going to be a major issue. Have they come up with a better model to ensure each laptop is actually connected to the internet?

  2. Report this comment

    Ashok said:

    As far as stating it as a $10 laptop, most consumer products are priced to match the scale of American products. We in India are beginning to live in an ‘American economy’ with Indian salaries. It might be worth stating our salaries in dollars too. At least that might paint a true picture of the fabric of the Indian economy.

  3. Report this comment

    Farah Rahman said:

    There are deeper questions to ask about this hoax than why a dollar amount as opposed to a rupee figure.

    Remember the simputer and all its awards and how many fine IIT minds it took to put that nonsense together.

    These people are wasting taxpayers money as they always have. The only difference is, now the whole world gets to find out about it.

    For similar behavior please check the story in Nature for what the CSIR is trying to do with its “stellar” IP portfolio.

    Miracle? Nature? What?

  4. Report this comment

    Swastik Phulera said:

    Concerns over quality?

    What is a laptop if people don’t enjoy using it. As far as reports go, the quality of the $10 laptop is a serious concern and it merely appears to be an educational device.

    One has to underatand that the major advantage that the laptop can have over books is that kids would have enjoyed using it far more than they enjoy the monotonus books.

  5. Report this comment

    Brij Gupta said:

    Five hundred ruppee laptop seems to be a great idea. It would have ability to transform the face of rural as well as suburban india. Lack of information, i feel, is the major hurdle of individual as well as of society development. With some modifications, I am sure, it would serve its purpose. Let’s be optimistic about that!

  6. Report this comment

    Anil said:

    It is extrememly important that this project succeeds, and lets all be optimistic about it, trying to contribute in the best possible way to support this work. Transforming educational system is the only solution to all problems faced by India today and this project is heading to realise this. It is clear that this laptop is not for the “normal user” to enjoy watching bollywood movies, it is for a nobler purpose!!

  7. Report this comment

    Michael said:

    Everything comes back to dollars doesn’t it? Has anyone else heard anymore about this since spring 2009?

    I will be interested to see if this thing actually works.

  8. Report this comment

    Roger said:

    I would like to appreciate the work of blog author. This is excellent information. Keep it up!

  9. Report this comment

    Anonymous said:

    Many families have now shifted their focus to purchasing their kids computers instead of wasteful video games as they spend more time in the home and less on out door activities. The idea of buying refurbished or used computers was at one time considered a bad idea but in today’s market it is excellent money saving option. Kids in today’s world can put a computer to good use as they are required in many schools.