IIT responsible for Aakash I failure: Datawind

Six months after ministry of human resource development launched the Aakash tablet, barely a few hundred units have reached students. The manufacturing of the device has been stopped and now the ministry and Datawind, the company responsible for supplying the tablet, are focusing on Aakash 2, an upgraded version of the device.

Datawind concedes Aakash, which is supposed to digitize the way students study in India, has not been a success in its first version. But the company squarely blames IIT-Rajasthan, the nodal agency overseeing the project, for the fiasco. It says the concerns over the tablet's quality and functionality are overblown by the institute in a bid to "favour other firms".

Datawind's CEO, Suneet Singh Tuli, says that after winning the bid to manufacture Aakash, the company supplied 10,000 tablets to IIT-Rajasthan. They were part of an initial order of 1,00,000 tablets that Datawind was supposed to supply to the government at a price of $49.98 per unit. But after a few hundred tablets reached students as part of the pilot project, IIT-Rajasthan started rejecting Aakash tablet, allegedly after reports that the device was failing during pilot testing and did not meet the quality criteria set by the institute.

Tuli, however, disagrees. "IIT-Rajasthan was simply trying to defame us by saying that we could not meet the quality required by it," he says. "When we were awarded the contract, there was only a specification sheet. But when we started supplying the tablets, IIT-Rajasthan started rejecting the tablet based on biased and unscientific testing methodology. "

"IIT Rajasthan put up roadblocks. It jeopardized the whole project. I can say the dirty tricks by the institute put us around six months behind on the project ... they did it because they were favouring other firms... Even now, the institute is trying to sabotage the project," he adds.

There are reports that IIT-Rajasthan has been issued a showcause notice by MHRD last month over the Aakash failure. The notice asks institute to explain why it did not set up a tablet testing facility and procedure in time and why it failed to resolve its dispute with Datawind. Reportedly, the institute also worked with Wishtel, a company that launched a low-cost tablet called Ira last week. TOI tried contacting Prem K Kalra, director of IIT Rajasthan, over the email and phone but he wasn't available.

Datawind says that after the fiasco, it took back the tablets supplied to IIT-Rajasthan. "We have not been paid for a single one of them. But mission is more important to us... we believe in Aakash project," says Tuli.

The company is now working on Aakash 2, an updated version of the original tablet. It will have a capacitive screen instead of resistive and hence support multitouch. It will also have a better processor - based on Cortex A8.

"We are working with IIT Mumbai for Aakash 2 and will start supplying the tablet to government this month. Our original order for 100000 units has been transferred for Aakash 2 now. After the order of 100000 units is met, MHRD will invite bids for more tablets. We will bid again," says Tuli. Kapil Sibal, minister of human resources and development, on Tuesday said that Aakash 2 will be available in May.

Datawind also sells a commercial version of Aakash tablet called Ubislate. Tuli claims the firm has received over 3 million pre-bookings for Ubislate. However, this tablet too has not reached customers. "We are aware of the delay and trying to sort it out. We hope to ship Ubislate to consumer in next 10 days. To compensate for the delay, we will now give them Ubislate+, an upgraded version of the tablet at the same price," says Tuli.

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