Datawind accuses IIT Rajasthan for Aakash I failure

By Ruchi Shrimali

Datawind had supplied 10,000 Aakash tablets to IIT Rajasthan, the nodal agency heading the project, but only a few hundred reached students. In the pilot testing, IIT Rajasthan claimed that Datawind had failed to meet the quality parameters it had set for the star tablet. However, Datawind accuses that IIT Rajasthan was just exaggerating the entire matter to direct the contract to the firms it favours.

Datawind also accused that IIT Rajasthan was biased and employed unscientific testing techniques. The company alleges that it has not yet received any compensation for the pieces it had supplied to the institute. The Aakash I tablet fiasco has also led to six months delay in the project. MHRD has issued a show cause notice to the IIT Rajasthan asking why it has failed to resolve the issue with Datawind and why it had not set up facilities and procedures to test the tablet in time.

Datawind is selling Aakash commercially by the name of Ubislate and has received 3 million books for it already. It is now working with IIT Mumbai to launch Aakash 2. In the meantime, IIT Rajashtan has worked with Wishtel, the company that launched a low cost tablet called Ira last week. See the details about squabble over Aakash I

Despite the fiascos, IITs continue to move to new breakthroughs and scientific discoveries. IIT Guwahati (IIT-G) is collaborating with the Assam Autism Foundation to design special learning device for autistic children. Though still in early stages, the device will help autistic children to communicate better and is interactive in children.

Recently, the cases of autism are on the rise. From one out of 10,000 children, incidents of autism are now reported as one in 500. In India, it is believed that the incidents can be as high as one in 150 children. Hence, devices to help such children can really help the country handle them better. Read more

IIT Madras is collaborating with Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (Bhel) to research on power generation. It will soon unveil new technologies for supercritical boilers. Bhel-Tiruchy has identified 230 new projects for R&D with IIT-M in next two to three years. This year, the company has filed for 88 patents and copyright applications. The key research areas are nanotechology, and advanced technology for motors, generators, pumps and boiler design. Know more about researches

Other interesting reads:

- Many success stories at IIM-Ranchi placements

- 1500 POs to be hired by IOB