(a) whether the Union Government has formulated any scheme to distribute the Aakash Tablet to the students in the country including Karnataka and if so, the details thereof;
(b) whether any time-frame has been fixed therefor any if so, the details thereof;
(c) whether there is any proposal to provide the same free of cost to the poor students belonging to Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Minorities and Other Backward Classes; and
(d) if so, the details thereof?
MINISTER OF HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT (SMT. SMRITI ZUBIN IRANI)
(a) to (d) Madam, no scheme has been approved by the Union Government to distribute Aakash Tablet to the students.
However, it is submitted that under the National Mission on Education through Information and Communication Technology (NMEICT) a project with the objective of development of Low Cost Access Device (LCAD) was sanctioned to IIT Rajasthan in September, 2010 with the following stated deliverables:-
1. Procurement and distribution of 1 lakh LCAD
2. Optimization of the hardware and software of the LCAD
3. Testing of LCAD
This project was subsequently transferred to the IIT Bombay in April, 2012. The IIT Bombay had procured 1,00,000 tablets for the purpose of testing in different climatic conditions and teacher empowerment.