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Solar Powered Computers Planned for Rural India
securitas writes "BBC Technology correspondent Ram Dutt Tripathi reports on India's Uttar Pradesh state where authorities plan to use solar energy to power computers in rural village schools. The cost to run the solar panels is anticipated to be £1,000 per school. According to the report, up to 80% of homes have no power and most government-run primary schools have no power at all. In 2003 the Uttar Pradesh state government bought '1,000 computers for selected primary schools in all 70 districts' with another 1000 to be purchased this year, 'but most of these will not work because there is no power available.' The project is similar to a solar-powered school computer lab on the Isle of Wight."
This is a great idea, something similar has been happening in the Paupa New Guinea highlands - link.
Perhaps they could also harness the power of flies?
> I mean, I'm all for computers for the poor, but first things first... clean water and electric power.
... apparently priorities are slightly different :)
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I'm in India and often I see houses with no running water have TV antenna sticking out of it
That aside, if you go to my home state Kerala, and ask a maid servant (who earns about 50 USD per month) where her son is , you'll be surprised to learn he's in college and studying engineering. Government funding and cross subsidisation ensures that education is cheap for the merit students. Unfortunately this phenomenon seems to be isolated to Kerala
What I wanted to say is that this bold and risky investment on the future happens only when the people see a bright future ahead. These computers might bring hope to a few people in India and might urge them to not quit school before they're 14.
Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum videtur
In Kerala, the southwest state of India, everybody has cellphones.. i mean everybody, even the fishermen!!!! When I was on vacation there, I saw numerous cell phone towers on top of buildings, kids, older people, taxi drivers, fishermen, etc all have cell phones. Its much cheaper AND easier to get a mobile phone. To get a land line phone, you had to sumbit a request with your town phone company. It would take anywhere from 1-3 years for you to get approved (heh in Kerala, you can see red commie flags all over, oh and our state gov't is Communist; CPI-M: Communist Party of India: Marxist). I know this because it took 3 years for us to get a phone. Now with mobile phones, its faster and nobody wants the landline phones. Plus, with a strong wind, the telephone poles would fall (and knocking off electricity too) and your landline wont work. O Yeah, the cell phones outside the U.S are wayy cooler. SMS (or text messaging as known in U.S) has been around since 1995 for the World. Its only catching up in the U.S now!
I don't agree with the fact that India is a "poor nation". Most states in India are self sufficient, meaning they have their own farms,cows for milk, crops for vegetables, food, etc. Other goods they can easily buy for cheap. Since these are produced in a farm that you own, they dont factor in the GDP (no exports or imports). That is why India's GDP is #30 or something like that
But if you use the PPP method (purchasing power parity) and count these self-sufficient households, India ranks #5 in the world!!!
I will use Kerala (my state, also National Geographics Top 10 Paradise in the world) as an example. In Kerala, about 99.99% of houses have land adjacent. They have lots of coconut trees, banana plants, vegetable gardens, cows for milk, chicken for eggs. No money is ever used for these products. Hence, they dont calcuate in the GDP.
Not only that, most people in Kerala save their money. They put it ALL in banks. You can see people having satellite dish's on their roofs.. and guess what? its FREE. All you have to do is buy the dish, pay for installation, and then its free to get over 200+ channels! Would such a thing exist in the U.S? No..Electricy: is very cheap. Only about 100 Rs for 2 months (about $2). Why? Kerala uses hydro plants but I dont really know why its cheap. They lose power about 3 times a week (just for 30mins-1hr). I think this , and many other reasons, is why people think India is "poor". People dont really spend money and dont want to give money. I am sure if the gov't wasnt corrupt and enforced income tax violations, charged a monthly fee for satellite dish, had more private competition, India would be very succesfull in the World. Before in India ALL you would see were Ambassador cars.. since India opened up to private cars, you can see Ford, Toyota, Benz, GM, Chevrolet, Opel, Tata on the roads (even though the roads suck!!!!)
Money cannot be "made" if people save it and not use it.. in the U.S people make money.. but they also spend so much for taxes, buying, etc. Hence, money is "recylced". No such thing in India.
Heck, the recent Indian elections were ALL electronic.. and the U.S cant even count paper ballots (re: Florida!)
Enough ranting.. =)