The Hindu: “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 (5 million) 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. …
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).”
via The Hindu : Sci-Tech / Gadgets : DoT clears distribution of 50 lakh tablet PCs in schools, colleges.
This initiative will help push India further into the information era both in terms of the next generation of knowledge workers as well as in terms of hardware development.
Related page: https://chindia-alert.org/economic-factors/information-technology/
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