Indian bureaucrats have backed-out of their previous claim of developing an uber-cheap $10 laptop. And as per latest reports, they are indeed working on such a machine, but it'll cost $100, instead of $10. Currently, research on a such a machine is going on at Bangalore-based Indian Institute of Science and Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Madras. No word on details, but if you ask me, then its an achievable target but for that loads of sacrifices will have to be made in terms of specification. Additionally, I don't think government will be able to give subsidies as laptop is still a far-fetched dream in a land where little children are deprived of primary education. So, if they ever came out with a $100 laptop then it'll be quite similar to recently released Chinese $130 notebook, nothing like OLPC here. Apart from this cheap laptop, India is working on another ambitious project -- the National Knowledge Network. Its a huge networking project which aims to connect all Indian universities, libraries, laboratories, hospitals, and agricultural institutes enabling nationwide sharing of data.
This is a wonderful project which will go a long way in providing quality education in rural areas. Students from rural areas as well as poor backgrounds will be able to get quality education from leading institutes such IITs (India Institute of Technology), and NITs (National Institute of Technology). As per latest reports, the network is in its final stages and will be soon inaugurated by Indian Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh. The PM is taking a personal interest in this project and has already alloted INR 100 crore (approx $25 million) to this project.
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