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Solar Powered Computers Planned for Rural India

Posted by samzenpus on from the heliotropic-keyboards dept.

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."

11 of 184 comments (clear)

  1. who would have thought... by calculadoru · · Score: 4, Insightful

    ...that it was going to be a nation as poor as India that would first try to use technology without damaging the environment? I get this nagging feeling some nations should take notice...

    --
    The power of accurate observation is commonly called cynicism by those who have not got it. -- G.B. Shaw
    1. Re:who would have thought... by Stephen+Samuel · · Score: 3, Insightful
      The fact that it's a "green" energy is really just a nice side effect. India is presumably doing it because it's much cheaper than trying to fix a the massive problems in their power grid.

      That's why places like Indonesia had a strong cell phone culture long before it became as big in North America -- they didn't have a choice.
      It's SOOOO much easier to pop a microwave antenna and a cell tower on a pole somewhere and give everybody a cell phone than it is to run a wire to every house and end up with non-mobile service.

      The only reason why wireline phone service is (was) cheaper than cell phones is that the vast majority of the infrastructure has been in place and paid for for decades. As a (phone company manager) friend of mine once said, once you've paid for the overhead, the rest of the usage is almost pure profit".

      I can see similar effects taking place WRT 'off-grid' power production. If there's no grid to be off of, then it's a no-brainer.

      --
      Free Software: Like love, it grows best when given away.
  2. Wonder why 1000 pounds!? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    According to what I know at least 80% of it will be pocketed by corrupt politicians and other 'officials'.
    That is the way things function in India.

  3. I'm afraid I don't understand... by The+Master+Control+P · · Score: 5, Insightful

    They're buying a thousand, and now another thousand computers and showing the teachers how to use them... but most people are fortunate to have enough electric power to run a light bulb at night? Somehow the logic behind that escapes me...

    I mean, I'm all for computers for the poor, but first things first... clean water and electric power.

    1. Re:I'm afraid I don't understand... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

      What the fsck good is a lightbulb if you are still stuck in the third world? Hmm, a lightbulb at night (which these people have ALWAYS lived without) or my child's education. Tough one.

      Indians know they can make money doing computer work. I've seen companies in the US that were almost exclusively Indian's with visas. We also outsource a ton of stuff over there.

      I tell you right now, if my daughter was starving and I wanted a better way of life for her, I'd give up lightbulbs, sewers, shelter and whatever the fsck else it took to make sure she could afford those things in the future.

    2. Re:I'm afraid I don't understand... by melkorainur · · Score: 5, Insightful
      > I mean, I'm all for computers for the poor, but first things first... clean water and electric power.
      If only things were that easy. You have to remember that building infrastructure is extremely capital intensive. You can only do that if you've got a good budget surplus, and that's something that the Indian government does not have because 1) low tax rate 2) poor tax enforcement quality 3) corruption. Further, very few Indian government officials are altruistic enough to care about development of rural areas [although that has changed significantly due to India's last election results]. I should note that corruption is also decreasing thanks to increasing education standards and knowledge amoung the poor. Also thanks to NGOs that work to address the issue. But there is a tonne more work to be done in that area.

      I think the main idea is to drive the demand for infrastructure by all means possible. You give these rural areas a look at computers, an idea of how they can help. You give the teachers in the rural ideas a view of the future. You let them inspire the children and the parents. The next thing you know, the infrastructure demands will increase and slowly but surely it'll get done.

      So yeah, first things first is fair enough. They're just trying a different approach to solve the problem. Drive rural demand up and these folk may just get there. You've got to remember things are not that simple when you don't have a spare billion dollars that you can throw at the problem.

    3. Re:I'm afraid I don't understand... by kfg · · Score: 3, Insightful

      What the fsck good is a lightbulb if you are still stuck in the third world?

      Being able to see at night and plug a radio into the socket included in the light fixture, just like in the rest of the world.

      Third world doesn't mean stone age, unless, of course, you don't have a lightbulb. It's the lightbulb that makes the difference.

      I've lived in the third world in houses without and without lightbulbs and with and without indoor plumbing. The inclusion of a lightbulb is a far more desirable advancment than indoor plumbing.

      KFG

  4. tools by celeritas_2 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Computers are overrated as an educational tool. I think it would be much more important and helpful to have electric lights than access to sex.com. Overrated this post is. as Yoda would say. But really paying to educating teachers in india more, and providing better facilities would help more than a room full of Apple IIs

    --
    -- Checking emails and kicking cheats `till the day I die.
  5. Whatever you have to do to drag yourself up by gelfling · · Score: 3, Insightful

    This is a good thing because whatever you have to do to rise yourself up out of this shit is good. If you have to bring in solar panels, burn trash, slaughter a chicken, what-the-fuck-ever.

    In 10 years your boss or your senator will be one of these people who absofuckinglutely will not be denied.

  6. Re:Sounds like the US by dark404 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    yeah because a computer is a resource that only has a few functions, so the schools need to have a specific use in mind before they buy them. I mean it's not like they could buy a bunch of them, and place them in some sort of "Lab" where students could use them when they needed them?

  7. Re:Sounds like the US by barzok · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Except they don't just know how to use them with zero instruction. And the schools lack a curriculum for educating them in the use of the computers, or lack any practical applications of them.

    I saw this when I was volunteering at a local school about 18 months ago. We were getting donated PCs cleaned up and usable so that each classroom would have a computer. What did the teachers intend to do with them? "Oh we don't know yet, but we want the computers. We can use PowerPoint to put our lesson plans on the TV in the classroom, right?" The PCs that were already in the school that we were supplementing were all loaded with spyware, games, and other assorted crap that made the machines barely usable (or in some cases, unbootable entirely).

    I'm not expecting the school to have a specific use in mind - but at the very least, have some practical reason for laying out the time and money. You don't buy a car and then say "hmmm....now, what will I do with this thing?" - you identify a need for personal transportation, then purchase the device that helps you achieve that goal.