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: Do we need a Nicholas Negroponte to suggest that a cheap computer could help India’s have-nots access technology with ease? At the recent World Economic Forum meet at Davos, Professor Negroponte’s two-year old idea of a $100 (projected price assuming significant volumes) laptop was discussed actively. The professor and founder of the Media Lab at MIT is promoting his ‘One laptop per child’ programme that aims to provide cheap computers to millions of children in poor countries. The plan is ostensibly founded on a strong belief that by improving education levels through computers, you can usher in an economic renaissance in places such as India.
Negroponte may be new to this idea, but low-cost computer initiatives have been toggling about the Indian market since the 1980s. Initially, the government promoted such microcomputers under its Class (Computer literacy and studies in schools) programme. But after a series of hiccups—such as lack of teaching skills, limited applications, and low machine maintenance resources—it was shelved. The next ‘people’s PC’ initiative came from a couple of government entities—ET&T and ESPL. But it was not a commercially viable proposition. Other products kept appearing and disappearing like fireflies. Now, companies like HCL Infosystems and Intel have decided to fool around with the idea of a Rs 10,000 computer. But there’s hardly any visible progress.
What, then, are the main deterrents? Surely, it’s not the affordability factor alone, because there are millions of buyers of mobile phones at over Rs 20,000 apiece, the price of a good computer. But they feel that the phone has more utility than the ‘digiot box’. So there’s poor PC penetration. Thus, it is the utility factor that must make the difference.
In any case, hardware cost alone matters little. Support solutions including software, Internet access, maintenance, and training must also be inexpensive. Power supply in India is another major irritant.
| If thought, resources and a sense of ‘jugaad’ are applied here, we could possibly convert the ‘digiot box’ of popular perception into ...
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