Government of India Unveils Sakshat $10 Tablet PC for Students

[Rakesh95]

lol 100th reply,

How many replies actually have anything to do with the tablet itself.

 

[WhiteLotus]

I would love to get my hands on one of these to be honest.

 

[Rakesh95]

I would love to get my hands on one of these to be honest.

Yeah me too, but I think its only for Indian Students, government is paying for most of it so they would probably keep it on their shores. But only time will tell, I still cant get my head around how they will sell this so damn cheap.

If only all governments were the same haha

 

[WhiteLotus]

Yea probably true there, be very hard to find one of these outside the country. Being made so cheap could be because they are so basic, and they are mass producing them, so costs are kept low.

Kinda has made me interested in buying one though... <goes off to find one>

 

[Rakesh95]

Yea probably true there, be very hard to find one of these outside the country. Being made so cheap could be because they are so basic, and they are mass producing them, so costs are kept low.

Kinda has made me interested in buying one though... <goes off to find one>

Come to think of it, im going to India this November. GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY!! i would review it as well

 

[WhiteLotus]

Come to think of it, im going to India this November. GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY!! i would review it as well

See if you can snag a couple!

 

[Rakesh95]

See if you can snag a couple!

Haha yeah, two gigs of memory is quite large for a device that basic don't you think? What speed would it be???

 

[WhiteLotus]

No idea, but it doesn't need to be fast if all it's doing is showing some words on a little screen.

 

[n-ster]

I wonder if people will sell it on ebay soon!

btw, bta, don't take that debate between you 2 personal! Just chill

 

[DaedalusHelios]

lol the past few posts. If it makes you feel any better, "you won, horray!". I couldn't be bothered anymore about this sub-discussion which descended from talking about a gadget that is intended to make things better, into a blatant "holier than thou" brown-nosing from some armchair-Nobel laureate who thinks he knows how to run a country.

That could be said about anyone who questions a governmental decision. Get nasty with me if you want. I am sure attacking those who don't agree with you is easier than defending your views. I explained in detail my reasoning. You sound like democracy isn't what you believe in. In a democracy, strategy and funding decisions are always discussed by the populous to some degree. Any outside views are welcomed, discussed, and debated to figure out what approach is best. "holier than thou" would be to dismiss all other proposals as a bunch of "armchair-Nobel laureates who think they know how to run a country". Get some perspective.

For those who want to get technical you could substitute the word democracy with republic.

 

[Black Haru]

my 2 cents:

I think this is an excellent idea. I have personal experience with "one to one computing" and I think it's a good concept.

however, I must also add that in my experience, implementing something like this is a momentous task. my school decided to distribute laptops to every senior (12th grade) they chose the HP elite book (and claim to have spent a total of around $1100 on each one; a total of over 600 were bought) this particular computer was a POS. flimsy and slow, there was never a time when at least 2 students PER CLASS had a broken one (classes averaged under 25 students). I admit that this is in large part due to the fact that these are high school students, however, I myself had many issues both with hardware and software (and I know how to treat a computer). cheating was also rampant (eventually the school spent 30,000 to license a security software, it didn't help).

sorry for the rant. in short, decisions are made too far up in the system without consulting those who are actually required to implement them.

 

[btarunr]

That could be said about anyone who questions a governmental decision. Get nasty with me if you want. I am sure attacking those who don't agree with you is easier than defending your views. I explained in detail my reasoning. You sound like democracy isn't what you believe in. In a democracy, strategy and funding decisions are always discussed by the populous to some degree. Any outside views are welcomed, discussed, and debated to figure out what approach is best. "holier than thou" would be to dismiss all other proposals as a bunch of "armchair-Nobel laureates who think they know how to run a country". Get some perspective.)

Likewise, get some perspective. No two socioeconomic systems are alike, and norms and standards of no two systems are comparable, hence your way of thinking cannot be applied here, nor can it be used to approve or disapprove of something perfectly.

Think of inclusive development as a bit-torrent download of multiple files (different parts of the society which need development). The size of each "piece" is constant, think of that as budget allocation. So with the client running, pieces are filling up each of the files in tandem, so by the time certain development targets are reached (download complete), the society is able to function in a meaningful manner with all its resources (files) in place.

Likewise, an inclusive development model ensures that money is allocated to various aspects of social upliftment, so that by the time certain targets are reached, the society is able to function in an optimal manner that propels economic growth. Just as there are programmes that subsidize food and fuel, there are programmes that look after housing, programmes that guarantee employment, programmes which guarantee education, and so on. Sakshat is just a component of one of the countless programmes that are already being executed, so it's not that the government is distributing tablet PCs at the expense of someone who's starving. To the government, in the long run, it's cheaper to maintain the Sakshat infrastructure than printing and distribution of physical books (which are qualitatively and quantitatively limited), and balancing faculty-deficits. This way the government will be uplifting populations (at varied rates), much more effectively than doing things in a more or less serial order (like a Communist state). Meanwhile, those educated will be able to qualify as skilled human resources, which will contribute to the economy much more constructively.

Of course that is a very thin band where there can be differences in perception of effective means for governance. Beyond that band, our systems are identical. India is a federal republic that practices parliamentary democracy.

 

[El_Mayo]

Wait.. how are they able to produce these and sell them at $10?
Surely that's a crazy loss on each one?

 

[n-ster]

Yes it is... and atm its 35$

thing is that 35$ is alot for people who do ~1$/ day

 

[WhiteLotus]

Yes it is... and atm its 35$

thing is that 35$ is alot for people who do ~1$/ day

Did read somewhere that eventually the cost will be reduced to £6, yes that's SIX Great British Pounds.

 

[n-ster]

yea 10$, but 10$ is still 1-2 weeks pay xD

but it is just an estimate and timeline is uncertain

 

[Rakesh95]

yea 10$, but 10$ is still 1-2 weeks pay xD

but it is just an estimate and timeline is uncertain

Id like to know if we are speaking true figures or if we are just guessing lol. We have to understand that India is big.. in population. There are many many many (hope you get my point) places that can benefit from this, we don't have to think about just the extremely poor people. There are families in India that live a normal life, school, food, a home, a motor bike, but cant afford to spend their money on a computer... Just broaden your thinking.

 

[DaedalusHelios]

yea 10$, but 10$ is still 1-2 weeks pay xD

but it is just an estimate and timeline is uncertain

I would say about half of their population could afford it without any trouble. That is very roughly 575 million people. Larger than the population of the USA. Those aren't all school age of course, but you see what I am saying. If it works and they continue the program for all children it will be hard to meet the demand TBH.

Most analysis of the program from objective sources say the point of the device is to help build India's growing middle class.

 

[caleb]

50-100 million pieces lol.
I love the numbers in Asia if India and China would start a War vs rest of the world it would be ~50% vs ~50% in population volume

 

[DaedalusHelios]

50-100 million pieces lol.
I love the numbers in Asia if India and China would start a War vs rest of the world it would be ~50% vs ~50% in population volume

Those two are rivals so I would highly doubt it. But if they fought each other it would be quite a spectacle of old military tech.

 

[WhiteLotus]

Those two are rivals so I would highly doubt it. But if they fought each other it would be quite a spectacle of old military tech.

Regardless of "old" tech, it would still be an utter bloodbath.

 

[DaedalusHelios]

Regardless of "old" tech, it would still be an utter bloodbath.

I don't even think the USA would take sides. We have better diplomatic relations with India, yet China is our favored trading partner.

 

[DaMulta]

I-pad ROFL

 

[n-ster]

While people might not know this, there are quite a few "rich" people in India, not everyone is poor. The total AVERAGE salary, whether rich or poor, comes around 60$/month, 66$ according to 2009 figures from some websites. That's about 2$/day, don't forget that the rich get about 5000$+/month and the upper-mid class is about 1000$ +/month ! The middle class ranges from about 200-2000$ and most get about 300$/month
I'm guessing these figures are excluding taxes, not sure how that works

Take all this into account, and realize that most live with salaries between 0.75$ and 1.50$ per day, or 5-15$ /per week, you can easily see that 35$ is still high for most of them, while 10$ is only about 1 week pay so its OK.

to compare, the average Salary in the US exceeds 50K, which means an average of 1000$ per WEEK, so 1 week salary is 1000$, or twice the price of an Ipad, while 35$ would be 3.5x that, around 3500$

Keep in mind this is a faulty comparison, but it gives an idea

 

[cyberindian]

....................................................................................................................................................................
While people might not know this, there are quite a few "rich" people in India, not everyone is poor. The total AVERAGE salary, whether rich or poor, comes around 60$/month, 66$ according to 2009 figures from some websites. That's about 2$/day, don't forget that the rich get about 5000$+/month and the upper-mid class is about 1000$ +/month ! The middle class ranges from about 200-2000$ and most get about 300$/month
I'm guessing these figures are excluding taxes, not sure how that works

Take all this into account, and realize that most live with salaries between 0.75$ and 1.50$ per day, or 5-15$ /per week, you can easily see that 35$ is still high for most of them, while 10$ is only about 1 week pay so its OK.

to compare, the average Salary in the US exceeds 50K, which means an average of 1000$ per WEEK, so 1 week salary is 1000$, or twice the price of an Ipad, while 35$ would be 3.5x that, around 3500$

Keep in mind this is a faulty comparison, but it gives an idea
.......................................................................................................................................................................
hello friends i am Rajesh. Belongs to a lower middle class family with a family earning of 40000 INR or
890$ approx but i am still belons to a lower middle class india is now not the same as you guys are thinking
I am able to purchase a ipad but i dont want i can purchase a xbox. But why should i purchase i dont have time to play with that. I am interested in this gadget only beacuse of its inovation but why should i use that device according to them if they ship this to me with linux or android then why should i use this. I want to buy this only to do some research on this and try to improve this . This is the thinking of a Indian student we never care for money we know how to make that. But what we like is inovation.
and who said that india is not having pure water, good food and all other essential stuffs i belongs to an army background and spent 18 years in different corners of india and till now i have not watched any person sleeping
hungery due to non availability.
If india is poor then their is no question of being a wider car market
India is having the biggest car market in the world after USA and China and may have bigger luxury car market then china and also here someone says that this device is not going to make loops in apple,s ipad.
Right but the reason given is incorrect the correct reason is that apple have not launche its ipad here in India.
I promise that if apple launches ipad in India then it accounts a record sale as India is having enough buyers which can spent money on ipad simultaneously with the sakshat tablet.
and these two devices are very different to each other ipad is a luxury whereas sakshat is must have.
If u peaples are having some difficulties in understanding me then sorry as i know my english is not that strong but i think its understandable to u it nay have many grammatical misstakes as i m not use to with the keyboard