Production snag delays supply of Aakash 2 tablets - Times of India

NEW DELHI: The future of the ambitious low-cost computing device Aakash tablet seems to be running into rough weather as the supply of 1 lakh Aakash 2 tablets by March 31, 2013, the second extended deadline after missing the December 2012 deadline, hangs in balance and the HRD ministry looks non-committal on the next phase. While accepting the "failure" in its production, the HRD minister, Pallam Raju on Friday said the ministry is awaiting a report from a committee headed by Rajendra Pawar reviewing the National Mission on Education through Information and Communication Technology (NMEICT) before taking a call about the prospects of the device. In fact according to HRD officials, till a week back the vendor (Datawind) could manage to supply just 20,000 units of Aakash 2 as against a commitment of 1 lakh units. After missing the December 31, 2012 deadline, a further extension of three months was given. Expressing its concern over the delay, the HRD Ministry has written to IIT Bombay (the executing body) to ensure the vendor meets the terms and conditions and the supply order by March 31 in letter and spirit, failing which action could be initiated against it. "The product is there, but we have not been able to productionise it as per the requirement. Otherwise students would have got it by now," said Raju. But when asked about the future of the product, the minister was non-committal and instead said: "one should not be obsessed with the hardware. Even if the supply of Aaakash is not there as per the requirement, there is enough device is the market catering to the low cost tablet segment." The tablet, in the se cond phase, was promised to be made available to students at a subsidised rate of Rs 1,130. Datawind was asked to supply one lakh pieces initially, which never happened. The proposed third phase was to make 55 lakh tablets available, but the ministry is yet to initiate any tendering process on this. According to HRD officials, the ministry will take a call after the Pawar committee submits its recommendation on whether to to focus on Aakash or on improving the connectivity among educational campuses. Raju, though, maintained that the project has created an environment for similar other devices in the market which a students as well can go for instead of being too "obsessed" with the device. via Technology - Google News http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&fd=R&usg=AFQjCNH-Baz65zDTXVjKhXp92mFlMIDu5Q&url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/tech/tech-news/hardware/Production-snag-delays-supply-of-Aakash-2-tablets/articleshow/19138368.cms

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