IIT Rajasthan loses Aakash deal

The recent spat between the IIT-Rajasthan and Datawind has led the government to take a hasty decision. According to the government, all the future rendering and procurement for Aakash2 tablets have been taken away from IIT Rajasthan. It has been handed over to Public sector undertakings.

A government official under the Ministry of Human Resource Development said that they have realized that education institutes are not capable of handling tenders as it involves large sums of money and public sector are much better equipped for it. If reports are to be believed, the government may consider PSUs such as ITI Ltd or Telecommunications Consultants India Ltd (TCIL) for procurement of Aakash 2 tablets.

The specifications and feature drafts for Aakash 2 tablets have been taken away from IIT Rajasthan and have been handed over to Department of IT, Ministry of Communications and IT.

It is said that the IT ministry will se up a committee that will decide upon the future specifications of Aakash 2, which may include a capacitive touchscreen and 1GHz processor, at the same price of $35. Governments of countries such as Thailand, Panama, Italy has moved with the India's low cost computing campaign. Its mandate lies with the National Mission for Education through ICT, under the Ministry of HRD. With the expiry of the five year plan nearing in March 31st, almost 70% of the fund has been spent.

The new tender is said to be over one million units, and will be divided between two to three vendors.

The argument between Datawind and IIT Rajasthan reached its peak last month when Datawind declined to accept IIT's military level specifications for Aakash. IIT-Rajsthan had recommended a rain and shockproof tablet which Datawind declined stating that it was impossible to build such rugged tablets at $35. There was also a complaint made by a vendor regarding the nonpayment for the supply of 10,000 units.

However the ministry declined to intervene in the matter and said it was a 'commercial dispute' between vendor and procurer. The dispute further delayed the process. Students still haven't received the tablets even after a year of declaration of the tender.

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