Cheap Laptop from India : Laptop ??

 

The much-touted cheap computing device named “Sakshat” turned out to be a fancy “pen-drive” as The Times of India put it, with some bells and whistles. The details of the product, which are still not available, were unveiled by the Ministry of Human Resource Development at Tirupati recently. 

As for the product, what you get for Rs.500 are the following: 2GB of storage memory, WiFi connectivity, Ethernet port(s) and USB connectivity. This is a far cry from the laptop it was touted to be. For starters, there is no screen on this one — so there goes the computing device mumbo-jumbo. What this means is that for it to display data stored on it, it will need a compatible output device (which could be a laptop!).

The “Sakshat” measures 10″x5″ and will be priced at $10 even though the manufacturing costs had reached almost $30. But then, thanks to a considerable cost cutting endeavor, the cost was finally bought down to $10.

So, will this be a threat to those other wannabe low cost computers some publications in the US had thought of? No way! However, it is important to understand the purpose of the device, which seems to have been nagged by an identity crisis ever since its initial announcement. While the Sakshat does a bad job of being a laptop, it does make sense if you consider the intentions behind the device. The Sakshat has been designed as a pure educational gadget to offer downloadable lessons and make online textbooks easily accessible. The aim was to set up electronic classrooms and make online textbooks freely available for download across 18000 colleges and 4 000 universities across India. That sounds good doesn’t it? However, it was projected as a computing device, which we now know, it hardly is!

The Sakshat will be made available to the student community soon with the first lot reaching the colleges affiliated to The University of Andhra Pradesh soon.

What you get for Rs.500 are the following:

2GB of storage memory, WiFi connectivity, Ethernet port(s) and USB connectivity

 

Ultra low budget laptop???

 

The Ministry of Human Resource Development unveiled here on Tuesday what has been tagged as an “ultra low-cost” computing-cum-access device that can “make wonders” in the dissemination of education to the remotest corners of India.

With talk of the “introduction” of a laptop costing Rs.500 making the rounds, the prototype of the device was introduced to the delegates as well as Union HRD Minister Arjun Singh, Minister of State D. Purandareshwari and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy during the formal launch of the National Mission on Education through Information and Computer Technology on the Sri Venkateswara University campus.

The 10” long and 5” wide hand-held device, resembling a palmtop or a modem, helps e-learners access the Web easily. Priced versions of e-content available on the Net can be accessed through this device.

The cost of the device shot up to between $20 and $30 against the initial plan to peg it at $10, forcing the department to resort to a cost-cutting exercise. R.P. Agarwal, Secretary, Ministry of Higher Education, who displayed the prototype to the delegates, expressed confidence that the cost would be brought down further.

In an elaborate presentation, N.K. Sinha, Joint Secretary, Ministry of HRD, explained that the prototype bore testimony to India’s technological capability, with some of the components developed by engineering students themselves.

He said the aim was to make the device cost something close to that a student would have to spend on textbooks for a year. “If bandwidth charges fall further, the device can work wonders,” he said.

 

India to unveil the Rupees 500 Laptop

 

The credit crunch computer is set to arrive tomorrow in India when officials unveil the 500 rupee (£7.25) laptop. In an attempt to bridge the “digital divide” in the country between rich and poor, the government will show off the prototype, low-cost laptop as the centrepiece of an ambitious e-learning programme to link 18,000 colleges and 400 universities across the country.

India has a reputation for creating ultra-cheap technologies, a trend sparked last year by the Tata Nano, the world’s cheapest car at Rs100,000 (£1,450).

The computer, known as Sakshat, which translates as “before your eyes”, will be launched as part of a new Rs46bn “national mission for education”. This envisages a network of laptops from which students can access lectures, coursework and specialist help from anywhere in India, triggering a revolution in education. A number of publishers have reportedly agreed to upload portions of their textbooks on to the system.

Prabhakar Rao, vice-chancellor of the university in Andhra Pradesh from where the Sakshat will be launched, said that India was “looking to get the hardware and software cheaper. In a developing country, costs have to be kept low so that the maximum number of students will benefit. That means cheap computers and cheap broadband access, so that students get access to ebooks and ejournals.”

Although half of India’s 1 billion people are aged below 25, the country has fallen behind in terms of university places, with only 11% of students enrolled, compared with double that in China. India’s bigger northern neighbour already has 180 million internet users, five times India’s total.

Designed by scientists at the Vellore Institute of Technology, the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore, the Indian Institute of Technology in Madras and the state-controlled Semiconductor Complex, the laptop has 2Gb of Ram and wireless connectivity. In an attempt to keep costs low, experts say it is unlikely to use familiar Microsoft Windows software.

Officials are confident that the Rs500 price tag can be met. RP Agarwal, the top civil servant for Indian higher education, told newspapers last week that “at this stage, the price is working out to be $20 [Rs1,000] but with mass production it is bound to come down.”

The Indian machine would also be considerably cheaper than the “$100 laptop”, the lime-green computer known as the Children’s Machine or XO that was designed by scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the US.

Launched in 2005 in a flurry of praise by Nicholas Negroponte, the former director of MIT’s Media Lab, the XO has failed to take off, partly because it costs $200 (£141) to make. However it has given rise to low-cost computers that save money by getting rid of hard drives and using cheap screens. The Classmate PC made by Intel, the world’s biggest microchip manufacturer, can be bought for $400. Taiwan’s Eee PC costs as little as $200.

However, some experts doubt that a laptop at $20 or $10 is commercially sustainable. Rajesh Jain, managing director of Netcore Solutions and a pioneer of low-cost computing in India, said: “You cannot even [make] a computer screen for $20. And India does not build much computer hardware. So where will the savings come from?”

Some bloggers today saw the new laptop as nothing more than a “souped up calculator”. The sceptism was summed up by Atanu Dey, whose blog read: “If the government could pull-off a near-impossible technological miracle, does it not imply that the entire global computer industry is either totally incompetent or else it is a huge scam which produces stuff at very little cost and sells them at exorbitant prices.”

Officials have been reluctant to talk about the project ahead of the launch, however, one did say that costs have been kept low by using students and researchers to do much of the designing. He said that in 2007 the cost was $47, but further refinements meant it dropped dramatically.

 

Low-cost inventions

• India saw the launch of the $2,000 (£1,410) “people’s car” by the motor company Tata last year.

 

• Wind-up everything. Since Trevor Bayliss invented the wind-up radio in 1989 the technology has spread. Wind-up power is now common in camping equipment and is being installed in African villages to provide lighting.

 

• DIY-adjustable glasses. The brainchild of British inventor Josh Silver, whose aim is to offer the specs to a billion of the world’s poorest by 2020.

 

• In Kenya Equity Bank recently launched mobile banking, which allows customers to deposit, transfer and withdraw cash using a mobile phone.

 

SEBI seeks court’s approval for questioning Raju

A Hyderabad court is hearing the bail petitions of former chairman of Satyam Computer B Ramalinga Raju, his brother and former-CFO Vadlamani Srinivas.

The court will also hear a SEBI petition to interrogate Raju and a CID petition seeking their police custody.

On Thursday, Andhra Pradesh CID officials retrieved crucial information from the laptops, hard-disks and various documents seized during the raids conducted at the offices of Satyam.

The officials took the help of accounting professionals to understand the details of the issue, a senior official probing the case said.

Meanwhile, the CID is likely to quiz a top executive and three directors of the firm’s disbanded Board in a day or two to get further information about the scam. (With PTI inputs)

 

Satyam starts search for new CEO, CFO

The government appointed board of the crisis-ridden Satyam Computer has started looking for a suitable new CEO and a CFO to run the company.

“The board of directors has launched the search to identify candidates for the positions of chief executive officer and chief financial officer in order to fill the vacancies resulting from resignations of Rama Raju, former CEO, and Srinivas Vadlamani, former CFO,” a company statement said here. 

Satyam has plunged into a deep crisis following the founder chairman B Ramalinga Raju’s admission that he fudged the company accounts to the tune of Rs 7,800 crore. 

Rama Raju and Srinivas has since then quit the company and were arrested, and are in judicial custody now. 

Senior employee Ram Mynampati is the interim CEO now. After the startling revelation, the Satyam board was disbanded and the government appointed HDFC chairman Deepak Parekh, IT expert Kiran Karnik and former presiding officer of SAT C Achutan as the new members of the board.

 

KPMG, Deloitte replace PwC as Satyam’s auditors

 

Fraud-hit Satyam Computer Services Ltd’s new board has appointed KPMG and Deloitte as the company’s new auditors, replacing PricewaterhouseCoopers.

“Yes, they have been appointed,” said Deepak Parekh, a senior Indian banker, who is one of the newly appointed member said.

Meanwhile, PricewaterhouseCoopers has said that its office in south India had not been raided and it was assisting agencies investigating the outsourcing firm.

“There is no raid at the Pricewaterhouse Hyderabad office. We are in discussion with different agencies for providing information requested by them,” a statement from the firm said.

“We are fully cooperating with the agencies and providing whatever information/documents/materials that have been asked for.”

The government dissolved Satyam’s board and installed a three-man board on Sunday as it rushed to contain a fallout from India’s biggest corporate scandal, after Satyam’s founder last week revealed massive accounting fraud and quit.

 

Satyam boss Raju quits admitting fraud

Hyderabad, Jan 07: Satyam Computer plunged into a deep crisis on Wednesday after its chairman B Ramalinga Raju resigned after admitting to major financial wrong-doings and saying his last-ditch efforts to fill the “fictitious assets with real ones” through Maytas acquisition failed.
“It was like riding a tiger, not knowing how to get off without being eaten,” Ramalinga Raju said in a letter to Satyam’s board of directors, wherein he listed major financial wrong-doings over the years to inflate the profits.

Raju in a letter to the company’s board accepted that the balance sheets were manipulated to show fictious balance of Rs 5040 crore. Notably, no board member had any knowledge of the real situation of the books. Raju added that the attempts to eliminate manipulations have failed.

Following is the text of the letter Raju wrote to the Satyam board:

1) “It is with deep regret and tremendous burden that I am carrying on my conscience, that I would like to bring the following facts to your notice:

The Balance Sheet carries as of September 30, 2008, a) Inflated (non-existent) cash and bank balances of Rs 5,040 crore (as against Rs 5,361 crore reflected in the books);

b) An accrued interest of Rs 376 crore, which is non-existent

c) An understated liability of Rs 1,230 crore on account of funds arranged by me;

d) An overstated debtors’ position of Rs 490 crore (as against Rs 2,651 reflected in the books);

2. For the September quarter(Q2) we reported a revenue of Rs 2,700 crore and an operating margin of Rs 649 crore(24 per cent of revenue) as against the actual revenues of Rs 2,112 crore and an actual operating margin of Rs 61 crore (3 per cent of revenues). This has resulted in artificial cash and bank balances going up by Rs 588 crore in Q2 alone.

Legal experts say Raju could face up to 10 years imprisonment for the fraud. Listed at New York Stock Exchange, the company could face regulatory action in the US, analysts said.

Meanwhile, Ram Mynampati will act as an interim CEO

“Under the circumstances I am tendering my resignation as the chairman of Satyam and shall continue in this position only till such time the current board is expanded. My continuance is just to ensure enhancement of the board over the next several days or as early as possible”, B Ramalinga Raju said.

Noting that every attempt to eliminate gaps in balance sheet, purely on account of inflated profits over several years, failed, Raju said: “I am now prepared to subject myself to the laws of the land and face consequences thereof.”

Low percentage of promoter equity in the company, where four independent directors resigned in the last two weeks over the acquisition fiasco, could lead to a takeover and expose the gap, he said in the letter, also sent to regulator SEBI. The promoters’ share in Satyam has now dipped to just over 3 per cent that too is pledged with lenders.

Meanwhile, Satyam shares nosedive nearly 54 percent at Rs 83 after resignation of chairman, managing director.

While Raju recommended DSP Merrill Lynch be entrusted the task of “quickly exploring some merger opportunities,” the company has now informed the stock exchanges that the investment banker has terminated its engagement with Satyam.

Satyam, considered a ripe proposition for acquisition, was pushed into crisis after Raju was forced to abandon the acquisition of Maytas Infrastructure and Maytas Properties promoted by his son.

In a regulatory filing the company said Raju would continue to be the chairman till the board is expanded.

The resignations, ahead of January 10 board meeting pushed the company into crisis and paved the way for immediate restructuring of the board and the management.

 

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