EFYTIMES News Network:Saturday,February 18, 2012.
Does the Government of India, or any state government or any other government organisation own the brand name Aakash ?
It was in October 2011 that union HRD minister Kapil Sibal launched the world's cheapest tablet Aakash amid much fanfare and said, “System of education in India would change dramatically due to access of low-cost tablets to students. The tablet shall help enhance the quality of learning of children.” What promised literally a dream come true for the young generation--its intended beneficiaries--the Aakash tablet has gradually become a distorted reality. Except 650 college students who got the device for trial, the students have not received the much-hyped gadget as yet.
Rakesh Bhatt from Medianama will today be filing the RTI (Right to Information) application before the Central Public Information Officer seeking details about the status of the Aakash tablet, says a report by Dailybhaskar.com. Here is a complete list of questions that the application carries:
Rakesh Bhatt from Medianama will today be filing the RTI (Right to Information) application before the Central Public Information Officer seeking details about the status of the Aakash tablet, says a report by Dailybhaskar.com. Here is a complete list of questions that the application carries:
1. Does the Government of India, or any state government or any other government organisation own the brand name Aakash? If not, who owns the brand name "Aakash"?
2. Does the Government of India, or any state government or any other government organisation own any intellectual property rights relating to the Aakash tablet? If not, who owns the intellectual property rights to the design of Aakash?
3. How many Aakash tablets have so far been delivered to the Ministry of HRD and/or IIT Rajasthan as of 15 February 2012. Please provide us with monthwise information, beginning with the month in which the first Aakash tablet was delivered.
4. The list of educational institutions to which Aakash tablets have been distributed, and the total number of Tablets that have been issued to (or via) each of these institutions.
5. How many students in each educational institution have been issued the Aakash tablet?
6. How much money has so far been allocated to the purchase of the Aakash tablet and how much has been paid to DataWind? Please provide information on the dates on which the payments were made.
7. Please provide us with a copy of the request for proposal (RFP)/tender document for the Aakash tablet.
8. Please provide us with copies of the technical and financial documents submitted by Datawind when applying for the Aakash tablet tender.
9. Please provide us with a list of applicants for the RFP related to the Aakash tablet.
10. Please provide us with a timeline for delivery of Aakash tablets, and information on penalties if deadlines are not met.
11. Information on steps being taken to ensure that students who purchase government-subsidised Aakash tablets do not sell them in the open market.
12. What is the number of pieces of Aakash tablets ordered (and delivered) by the Government till date and the price per tablet at which the order has been placed?
13. What is the number of pieces of Aakash that the Government or Ministry of HRD has contracted to buy in total over time? Please provide details of the number of pieces to be bought in each lot and deadlines for purchase of each lot and the purchase price agreed for each lot.
14. What percentage of the components in the bill of materials of Aakash is manufactured in India and what percentage is manufactured outside India?
15. Is the supplier contractually obliged to manufacture a certain proportion of components within India by a certain time? If so, what percentage and by when?
16. What are the warranty terms that the supplier has agreed including duration of warranty, replacement, repair, parts and labour?
17. Is the supplier required to set up service and support centres across India? If so how many service centres and in which locations and by when?
At the ongoing EFY Design Engineers' Conference in Delhi, Dr Anupam Gupta from IIT Jodhpur, part of the team that has designed the world's cheapest tablet computer Aakash, revealed that the tablet being sold in the market may not be the same as the one designed by the IIT Jodhpur team--only the tech specs are same. He also said that around 12 designs were trashed by the IIT Jodhpur team before the working prototype of Aakash tablet was made.
Monika Bhati, EFYTIMES News Network
At the ongoing EFY Design Engineers' Conference in Delhi, Dr Anupam Gupta from IIT Jodhpur, part of the team that has designed the world's cheapest tablet computer Aakash, revealed that the tablet being sold in the market may not be the same as the one designed by the IIT Jodhpur team--only the tech specs are same. He also said that around 12 designs were trashed by the IIT Jodhpur team before the working prototype of Aakash tablet was made.
Monika Bhati, EFYTIMES News Network
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