India to display Rs 500 laptop on Feb 3

A elite group of Indian students from the Vellore Institute of Technology, scientists from Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore and IIT Madras are coming out with a laptop just for Rs 500 ($10), which can be used globally for educational purposes and revolutionaries the computer market in developing countries.

The Rs 500 laptop, developed by the students and scientists with the help of companies like Semiconductor Complex, will be on display in Tirupati on February 3, at the launch of the National Mission on Education through Information and Communication Technology.

The $10 laptop project has come as 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.

Apart from a very attractive price tag, there is very little information on the specifications of the laptop but according to reports, it comes equipped with 2GB memory, WiFi, Ethernet, expendable memory and consumes a mere 2W of power.

Since there is no information on what operating system it will use, it is assumed that the Rs500 laptop will use the ordinary Linux-based GUI like the Eee PC as running Windows XP will be out of the question as the licence itself will cost more than the laptop.

The National Mission on Education through Information and Communication Technology, with an 11th plan outlay of Rs 4,612 crore, is aimed at making a serious intervention in enhancing the Gross Enrolment Ratio in higher education. The mission has two major components. One, content generation through its portal “Sakshat”, and two, building connectivity along with providing access devices for institutions and learners.

The government is collaborating with Macmillan, Tata McGraw Hill, Prentice-Hall and Vikas Publishing for uploading their textbooks on “Sakshat”, where a small percentage of these books can be accessed for free.

The government will give Rs2.5 lakh per institution for 10 Kbps connection and also 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.

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