Friday, February 10, 2012

Aakash or AahKaash :-/


How real are the things at consumer level.Lets take a look at some recent moves and whats in it for us.

I have been following up the Aakash issue since its inception as an idea. The recent move to bring up an all-in-one cheap I-Pad, by Govt. backed by its present manufacturerData-Wind, UK has now be blown up out of proportion in its reach and possibleoutcomes. The design has been tested for more than 2 years now with far less changes inits evolution. How can and How much can you innovate in a 3000 Rs Tablet? You have to compromise! You have use cheaper things! You need to break down the no.of products while assembling.
Until recently everything was going fine, we at NIT were asked for final consent for buying Aakash. Now everything is clung on a thin stick. The Govt. has taken up almost everything into its hand and is now planning to distribute it entirely free to all students across various Universities (…Heard?). The order no. is as high as 15,00,000 and is expected to double up in next phase.
Now the concern is, Why should all this money be paid by TaxPayer, unnecessarily, when a student can easily afford it? and anyways,Its not a must! not everybody requires it.
In my batch strength of 700 students, hardly 5% don't have a laptop and I am sure the no. will be higher in lower batches. This last moment decision is mere procrastination on our Govt.’s part and seemingly touted by Govt.’s Secretaries who fail to understand the gadget’s real requirement by targeting IITs and NITs as priority.
The gadget should be distributed for free in our Primary Education sector and not here. It can be sold under subsidy at Premier Institutions (Alrite Govt. definitely can afford that much). Also there are various gadgets already available, which targets basic education, I recently came across one(www.edutor.in) which provided much better and much needed technical advancement for our basic education needs. The Govt. has also taken entire matter into its own hands and the manufacturer has almost no say in the next and said-to-be the final version of the Tablet. Oh common! They(DW) came to you(Govt.) with this idea, let themhave their say!
As such I am not criticizing the Technical Buildup ofAakash. Its pretty awesome at the price tag it comes up. But the lacklasidalapproach of the govt. towards the bringing it up needs timely criticism by thetech-people.

Hope this rings up some bells and the sound reaches theJanpath.

-Parker