Asia Bizz: The recent Indian Budget 2012-13 has also made space for the world’s cheapest tablet, Aakash 2. The tablet project has been allocated around Rs. 765 crores and is likely to trigger the second phase of the project which is expected to begin in the month of April 2012.
The addition of the Aakash project in the Budget 2012-13 has been made under the National Mission for Education through ICT of Ministry of Human Resources and Development. Last year, the mission launched the low-cost tablet in the country. Official sources say that the money allocated is sufficient for the second phase of the project. The new Aakash Tablet PC is expected to cost the government about 569 crore for around 50 lakh tablets.
One of the senior government official involved in the project said that most of the money is likely to be utilized for the Aakash Project, while some of it will be utilized for developing e-content. At present, the Indian government plans to procure some 50 lakh tablets in a phased manner at the cost of Rs 2,276 each.
Half the cost of the tablet, which is Rs 1,138, will be subsidized by the central government . The rest of the cost will be borne by the state government, which intends to distribute the tablets in state colleges and institutions.
