The state government has sent a proposal to the Union Human Resources Development (HRD) Ministry in this regard. “Once we get the approval, we will implement the scheme. We are planning to procure 10,000 tablets. Initially, they will be made available to the students in the state universities, engineering and polytechnic colleges,” State Commissioner of Technical Education S Balasubramanyam said. In the next phase, the scheme would be extended to the students of all private colleges in the state, the official said. The Union HRD Ministry is monitoring the implementation of Aakash project. Billed as the world’s cheapest tablet, “Aakash” was launched by the HRD Minister Kapil Sibal in October last year. The tablet has been designed, especially for students with an aim to bridge the “digital divide” between the rich and the poor. Over the next five years, the Centre plans to provide the tablets to 200 million students. “The HRD Ministry had asked the state to submit details about the number of Aakash tablets initially required. We plan to procure 10,000 tablets in the beginning,” Balasubramanyam said. The state government is waiting for the next generation of “Aakash”, which is expected to be released in April. The government also has plans of providing Aakash tablets on rent in college and university libraries for students who cannot afford to buy these tablets. Aakash tablet, with a 7-inch touch screen and a weight of 350 grams, runs on Android operating system. There are reports that the existing Android 2.2 version operating system has a series of faults. There are also complaints regarding its poor battery back-up. Keeping this in view, the manufacturers of the tablet — DataWind — has decided to launch an improved version of Aakash with a 766 MHz processor and a longer battery life. As on January 25 this year, over 2 millions online orders have been placed for the purchase of the world’s cheapest tablet.