Does anyone get aakash tablet

At least somewhere down the line it was explicitly announced by MHRD. My sense is that you should be asking the Education Secretaries. Many believed Aakash was for children as well. And I may know just the tip of the iceberg. Its worth exploring if you still have interest in it. There is a huge scam behind Aakash and someone needs to dig it up. You are one of the few journalists who tried to get the facts but the total picture is a lot uglier.

After a slow, rather opinionated start, the story gathers steam. You make your point, a fair one at that. Do you have reasons to believe that things are still going out of hand? Secondly what the goverment is trying to make some business out of it as it clearly mention in the statement of govt that this is purely non profit based scenario just to improve the education of the country, as poor among poor can take up the current education but the thing is lacking behind is that the person who is unable to have a 2 time meal a day what he ll purchase the cheap tablet for education, as in this is totally back out by the govt.

I had read an article where the production has started in banglore and also delhi public school has distributed the tablet to the students of the school and after that govt demand the return of the tablet back to producer as it contains flaws with it, this is totally a weak system govt who dont know what to unveil and when to unveil as its save the money and manufacturing cost, same case happened with TATA NANO.

Not a fancy tablets, TVs, etc. Since all the politicians are rich and full of corruption everywhere,they don't meet poor people those who don't have the basic needs. They have to travel and live along with the people. Funny how I spoke to Suneet Singh Tuli in November , when he was a speaker at TEDx Mumbai, and he seemed so confident that the press and the world and the thinking public had it wrong, and that he had it right.

He rattled off numbers on stage that seemed to indicate that Datawind had indications of interest for volumes that were 10x the size of the current tablet market.

I distinctly remember his insistence, on and off stage, that what they were doing was possible, was done, and that they were one step away from delivery. Falguni Nayar and Nykaa: The beauty and the beast of the market.

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His does not. Kalra, who had agreed to an interview, is suddenly busy. At times, the dodging turns farcical. The morning after my ejection, I return to try to interview Professor Sandeep Kumar Yadav, an assistant professor who also specializes in electrical engineering.

He nods slowly, meeting my gaze as he rises from the swivel chair in his large cubicle. Then he walks past me and vanishes through a door. The next day, I finally meet Prem Kumar Kalra. He could have used a little help from the gods two years ago, after the tender was put out for the production of the Aakash.

The Tulis declined to be interviewed for this story. The problems were immediately evident. Most of those that did either failed the basic drop test, overheated quickly, or saw their screens freeze until the battery ran out. A peek inside the box revealed circuitry and imported components held together by electrical tape. I do find a handful of defenders. I found it to be a magical device, really miraculous. When I begin to ask Kalra for his version of what happened and why, he shuts down, except to say that journalists before me have tried and failed on this quest, as if this story were some sort of reportorial holy grail.

The time will come when they follow you. Kalra acknowledges that the ordeal has tested the limits of his abilities. Kalra says he has no Aakashes on hand. But he does have a motivational thought. I stammer around for the right answer, but he delivers it first. His point seems especially poignant since, by the time I meet him, Kalra no longer leads the Aakash project.

A few weeks earlier, it turns out, the government had sought—and received—his resignation. The request came from Kapil Sibal. An ample man, jowly in an almost Churchillian way, Minister Sibal is finishing up a briefing with education reporters when I walk into his art-filled New Delhi office. When he learns what I am there to discuss, he stiffens.

An aide, Uma Shankar, agrees to talk. The marketplace will deliver on its own. What marketplace, exactly? India has delivered copious amounts of world-class software, but little hardware. I stop to chat with Bimal Jhaveri, who owns Hardtrac Computer Services, a chain of 11 retail stores that sell laptops, desktops, and tablets. Like me many people fell for that cheap tablet name and quick delivery mentioned on their website earlier.

It has been four months and I am tired of calling them. Naveen has a trail of messages and umpteen false promises made by Datawind about the shipment dates to show, wherein Datawind has been saying the device will be received in days from March.

The cheque was cleared long ago with still no sign of the tablet. I wanted to gift it to my brother on his birthday i. Again i decided to gift it to my niece on her birthday i. Now i have no other option other than sending emails as the I cant get through their numbers, they respond on monthly basis with an apology note.

The latest one is that, they will surely deliver it in month of august. The consumer court and other forums are filled with such complaints. And this is what Datawind had to say:. We have received more than 3 million bookings of Ubislate Tablets so far. We have already started deliveries of Ubislate Tablet to the people who had booked online pre-paid. As you are aware that the public interest in the product is huge and we have bookings for more than 3 million units.

Several tens of thousands of tablets have been reached to our customers so far. Heavy demands have delayed the supply, but this is also the success of the product and we are making all our efforts to meet the demand as soon as possible.