NEW DELHI: After the slow pick-up of the $220 One Laptop Per Child Project, and an uncertainty over the $35 laptop called Sakshat, the government is now experimenting with another model—to dole out computers on rent to spread IT literacy in the country.
Under a pilot program to be launched by the ministry of IT & communications, computers specially built for rural areas will be deployed in five locations, and then rented out to citizens. “The cost may vary from 15-20 per day. This model may remove the hindrance of affordability in buying computers . We are talking to various companies like Intel, HCL Infosystems and One Laptop Per Child Project,” a senior official at ministry of IT & communications told ET.
The pilot program would cost the government about 45 lakh. “It will also remove the problem of maintenance and repair which is a common problem in many areas. Besides the person can rent it only for the time power is available,” he added.
In another IT experiment, the government last year had claimed to have launched a $10 computer which actually turned out to be a $10 storage device. This year the ministry of human resource & development launched a $35 laptop called Sakshat. The MHRD plans to bring the cost of this laptop down to $20 and then to $10 ultimately.
But many experts cast a sceptical eye to the Sakshat project. “Any body in the industry having some knowledge of making laptops knows that its impossible to manufacture a laptop for $10,” says Satish Jha, OLPC India president, whose laptop costs about $220 to manufacture. Add about 2,300 as duties and 1,700 as shipment cost, and the price shoots up to nearly the price of a netbook available in the market. But he defends his OLPC laptop saying that none of the netbooks would ever have a shockproof body, solar charging capabilities, and a host of 230 applications. He claims to have deployed about 2,000 OLPC laptops in various parts of India.
He welcomes the government’s new move to rent computers, but admits there is a huge power and maintenance problem which prevents PC buying in rural areas. “It costs about 16,000 for power over five years, to run a desktop PC. For adult education , renting computers for a few hours may be a good idea,” he said.
HCL in 2006 had launched a Community PC with an innovative power management system called RP2 that switches the computer to a power battery. The battery can be charged by using bicycle peddle power. But that computer too failed to see heightened demand in rural India. Clearly, the government needs to create a utility-based demand before it can work out these models for rural areas.
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