(a) whether her Ministry has made any announcement for providing Aakash Tablet to students at cheaper price;
(b) if so, the details of tablets distributed under the said scheme, State-wise;
(c) whether the Government is not able to provide enough tablets to meet the increasing demand of the same; and
(d) if so, the details thereof and the steps taken/being taken by the Government to meet the shortage of the said Tablet?
MINISTER OF HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT
(SMT. SMRITI ZUBIN IRANI)
(a) & (b) Under the National Mission on Education through Information and Communication Technology (NMEICT), a project to procure and distribute Low Cost Access Devices (LCAD) for optimization of hardware and software and testing of the said LCAD i.e. Aakash Tablet was sanctioned to IIT Rajasthan. IIT Rajasthan was to procure 1.00 Lakh such devices. When the LCAD (Aakash Tablet) started getting delivered, some commercial and technical disputes arose between IIT Rajasthan (the purchaser) and Datawind (the supplier). IIT Rajasthan wrote to NMEICT and expressed its inability to continue with the project citing “intractable problems”, and requested NMEICT to pass on the project to any other interested institution. The details of the disputes referred above and ‘intractable problems’ are being obtained from IIT Rajasthan. At this time, IIT Bombay came forward to support. The Project Approval Board of the National Mission on Education through ICT (NMEICT) in it’s 23rd meeting held on 28th February 2012 decided to shift the project, on an as-is where-is basis to IIT Bombay under the leadership of
Prof. D. B. Phatak, IIT Bombay had procured 1.00 Lakh such devices, which were distributed for using and testing by the students and the teachers. The State-wise list of distribution is Annexed.
(c) & (d) Since, the procurement of Aakash Tablet was for the purpose of optimization of hardware and software testing, therefore, (c) & (d) do not arise.
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