One laptop per child

[aabhisheksirohi]

Olpc!!

Well Well Good point raise by fellow member!!

Initially the idea comes to my mind to share with Jatland on One Laptop per Child project but I missed out. As I was actively involved in the launch of OLPC’s first Pilot in India under which school children in a tribal village at Khairat (near Karjat, Maharashtra) have been provided with OLPC XO laptops and teacher training for incorporating the new way of imparting education.

This is just one step ahead in the beginning to bring revolution in Indian Education System. This time Government is prepared with all sorts of backup by domestic corporate sector to promote E-learning, online lecture, knowledge sharing sessions, interactive sessions, counseling and computer literacy. It is still early days for this project so I can’t say how much it will be successful but we got a positive response from most of the children in Khairat School who have never seen a computer before each child got a OLPC laptop. These children are accessing the school based curriculum through wireless connectivity. We are planning to set up WIMAX based at Karjat so that we can cover 18 more municipal schools , NGO’s based schools and Private schools in this area.

During the initially phase few rhymes, video based mathematic solutions and many more stories and interactive video sessions written in local marathi language is incorporated in their school based curriculum. Subsequently a dedicated team from Ministry of HRD is working on future developments. Friends it is absolutely untrue that they are going to scrap all the books and pen immediately or thereafter.

OLPC is a JV project of Central Government and other corporate sector to promote E-learning in India. My company is undertaking the responsibility of providing internet connectivity, network backbone, logistic and support to the OLPC initiative in India where as few other software company is working on building the user friendly school based curriculum.

Keeping in mind that the laptops will be handled by school children, they have been built drop-proof, 45-degrees shock-proof, water proof, and have a longer battery life as compared to regular laptops. Based on the Linux OS, the OLPC (XO) laptop has replaceable keyboards, which can be changed for use with 35 global languages. OLPC's XO laptop includes a 366MHz AMD Geode processor, 128MB of RAM, 512 MB of NAND flash storage, and a long-lasting nickel-metal hydride battery that will allow the XO to operate for anywhere between 6 and 20 hours. No hard drives or CD ROM’s but they have 2 USB points and small in built antenna to access wireless connectivity.

Not only laptops but normal desktop PC will also be supplied to the schools. MTNL will deploy Novatium’s thin client solution netPC in Delhi and Mumbai. The PC will be priced (around $115), and comes bundled all with an Internet connection. We are working for the manufacturing of the cheap laptops in India it will help to bring down the price to 80-90 $ per laptop in future.

 

[dskadyan]

Good we should go for it!!!!!

ITs Good that they will also have PC with them.

Then we will have a Kidz Mobile.
Then we will have Kidz CC.

what about kids will have to work out in MNC.
yes we should do some thing that kidz can be fertile at 4-5 year of age. we have to become a faster species.


Let them play..................dont make them wizard ........... try to offload some pressure..............do some thing that we can get rid of PC not our children also get them.........i want that i will discuss things with people in person but we have to discuss on blogs,forums and on chat . As i am used to it.
we think this way but some time still we may get a feeling that we done a lot of masti and we can do more. "Kash main bachpan main aur bhi masti kar pata". So let our children have some masti. otherwise they will come with no memories or atleat not swaet memories. And PC in school will be ok and it wil keep them away from
------> Information overload.
------------> Patience, we are curious and we get answer in a sec on net. will it keep our childer curious enough.
----------------> let them build thier own personlaity before they will get a lot of view and start sharing on internet.
-----------------------> radiation from screen
----------------------------> aching fingers by typing on key board
----------------------------------> let they besome good calibrator and reading habit.
-----------------------------------------> do some tough calulation their own and learn "PHADE" ek kao ekka.
----------------------------------------------> dont jumkyard of silicon and electronic waste.

 

[biotechs2001]

Misplaced priorities

OLPC project seems an attempt to exploit the governments of poor nations by making them pay for hundreds of millions of machines. Additionally, the price unit does not include the cost of setup, maintenance, training of teachers, or Internet access. Countries adopting the XO must budget for these costs as well.
Money for purchasing laptops could be more favorably spent on libraries and schools. A $2,000 library can serve 400 children, costing just $5 a child to bring access to a wide range of books in the local languages and English; also, a $10,000 school can serve 400–500 children ($20–$25 a child). This could be the more appropriate solutions for education in the poor countries

 

[dndeswal]

.
Firstly, improve the conditions of school buildings in villages, give a desk and table to each student. Provide the schools with basic facilities like safe drinking water, electric supply, free medical check-up of kids in school premises. Then think about providing computers to primary school kids. And why import computers ? Is there no Indian company which can produce a totally indigenous computer in this country of ours which boasts itself to be a software giant? What about hardware - a sector where we are totally dependant on others?

See an interesting article which appeared today.

http://in.jagran.yahoo.com/news/local/haryana/4_6_3860636.html

लाखों की लागत से खरीदे गए कम्प्यूटर फांक रहे है धूल
Oct 29, 2007
झज्जर, जागरण संवाद केंद्र

प्रदेश सरकार द्वारा शिक्षा के क्षेत्र को बढ़ावा देने के लिए अनेक आधुनिक प्रकार की सुविधाएं उपलब्ध करवाई जा रही है लेकिन विभाग के अधिकारियों की लापरवाही के चलते स्कूलों में स्थापित किए जाने वाले कम्प्यूटर सिस्टम भी कई स्कूलों में चालू नहीं हो पाए है। जिसकी वजह से विद्यार्थियों को कम्प्यूटर शिक्षा ग्रहण करने में भारी मुसीबतों का सामना करना पड़ रहा है। जिले के गांव मुण्डाहेड़ा के राजकीय वरिष्ठ माध्यमिक विद्यालय में आज तक कम्प्यूटर सिस्टम चालू नहीं किया गया है। विद्यालय में लगभग दो माह पूर्व कम्प्यूटर लाए गए थे लेकिन प्रथम सेमेस्टर परीक्षा होने के बावजूद भी आज तक इस स्कूल में कम्प्यूटर सिस्टम स्थापित नहीं किया गया है। मुण्डाहेडा के कम्प्यूटर सिस्टम को चालू न किए जाने के बारे में विद्यालय के प्राचार्य से इस सम्बन्ध में बात की गई तो उन्होंने बताया कि विद्यालय में कम्प्यूटर सिस्टम की स्थापना के लिए विभाग द्वारा भेजा गया फर्नीचर मुण्डाहेड़ा की बजाय मुण्डाखेड़ा के विद्यालय में चला गया था जिसे लगभग एक पखवाड़े पूर्व ही वहां से स्वयं किराया खर्च कर मंगवाया गया है तथा यूपीएस व बैटरी भी स्कूल में पहुंच गई है। लेकिन आज तक इन कम्प्यूटर सिस्टमों को चालू नहीं किया गया है। जिसके कारण लाखों रुपये की लागत से खरीदे गए कम्प्यूटर धूल फांक रहे है और विद्यार्थियों को समय पर कम्प्यूटर शिक्षा भी उपलब्ध नहीं हो पा रही है। इस सम्बन्ध में अनेकों बार ग्रामीणों द्वारा सम्बन्धित विभाग के अधिकारियों को भी शिकायत की जा चुकी है लेकिन आज तक इस समस्या का कोई समाधान नहीं किया गया है। अभिभावकों का कहना है कि इस सत्र की प्रथम सेमेस्टर प्रणाली की परीक्षाएं भी गत दिनों समाप्त हो चुकी है और उसके बाद दूसरी सेमेस्टर प्रणाली की परीक्षाएं नजदीक आती जा रही है लेकिन मुण्डाहेड़ा विद्यालय के विद्यार्थी कम्प्यूटर शिक्षा से वंचित है । जिसके कारण विद्यार्थियों को कम्प्यूटर शिक्षा ग्रहण करने के लिए छुट्टी के बाद आसपास के शहरों में ही जाने पर मजबूर होना पड़ रहा है। अभिभावकों व विद्यार्थियों की शिक्षा विभाग के उच्चाधिकारियों व जिला प्रशासन से मांग है कि उनके विद्यालय में कम्प्यूटर सिस्टम शीघ्र चालू करवाया जाए ताकि वे अपने गांव में ही कम्प्यूटर शिक्षा प्राप्त कर सकें।
.

 

[trueblueindian]

Well Well Good point raise by fellow member!!

India it will help to bring down the price to 80-90 $ per laptop in future.

well firstof all i would like to say that i think on the same lines as abhishek ....

well according to my knowlidge DST/CSIR is also working on this project to provide under 10K .... the efforts are going in from past 4 years and this is something i know from the horses mouth ... i mean from top ministry official and it is a very good step indeed ...

coming back to the topic .... i am not able to see any strong reasons why some members are up against this project ...

well everyone has a diffrent angle to orsee a situation and i respect that ...

lastly my take on this subject ----

1. yes other infrastructural activities are to be there but whats the harm in taking a leap and going straightout for the very best .. after all we have been complaning again an again that our govt. invests in sytems and tecnology after it is over from int'l platform ... atleast we are acting in synery this time ... looks gud

2. do we have the stastics before debating that at what age computer litreacy is achived in devloped countries and what equipments are available to the toddlers in these countries ... i think the current stastics would be proof eough that our privillaged/under privilagged kids need these gadgets ..

3. according to me fancy things attract children and like in this case if a chld is provided with a Laptop i guess he would be more motivated to play around with the machine .. and woh kehetin hai na if you want to be a master in a trade explore it ... afer all we are not expecting kids to write codes .... the eqquipment i aimed to be a A/V learning aid and online working would indeed result in better monitering of teachers as the DATA would be available at a glane so in turn the other key problem for cuntry like india gets sorted out ... that is --- teachers not doing their duty properly ...

seems to me a very positive move ....

 

[ajaygahlawat]

OLPC project seems an attempt to exploit the governments of poor nations by making them pay for hundreds of millions of machines. Additionally, the price unit does not include the cost of setup, maintenance, training of teachers, or Internet access. Countries adopting the XO must budget for these costs as well.

While I don't discount the conspiracy theory. Well may be it is an attempt to dupe the poor countries. I only hope the good Prof. Negroponte and his team does not read this bit. For they are trying to do something. And the thing they are trying to do has a nice warm feeling about it. Yes the returns may not be apparent to everyone in the very short term. But the returns are apparent to some. And to those some, the returns justify the costs. Also those some are the ones that would not come to the defence of the concept, but would silently go and buy the devices for their kids and families. One is free to want to buy the device or not. The argument that "it is an attempt to dupe countries" hence "we should not buy it" does not hold ground when one considers that there is *no better technological solution at that cost for that problem* . The argument that may hold some ground is perhaps *technology is not an answer to everything, and I am not letting my primary school kids anywhere near technology.* The answer to that would be. Fine. Everyone is free to raise their child the way they want. But so are others.

About the other costs: Absolutely correct. The price unit does not include networking. It does not include electricity either. Yes, anyone considering the solution should consider these additional costs. But this is no more than conventional cost consideration in any solution.

Money for purchasing laptops could be more favorably spent on libraries and schools. A $2,000 library can serve 400 children, costing just $5 a child to bring access to a wide range of books in the local languages and English; also, a $10,000 school can serve 400–500 children ($20–$25 a child). This could be the more appropriate solutions for education in the poor countries

Fair enough! so, let's create a proposal for creating libraries, and send the document to the government of india, and other governments of poor countries. I am happy to volunteer my time into it. Any other takers?

 

[ajaygahlawat]

Firstly, improve the conditions of school buildings in villages, give a desk and table to each student. Provide the schools with basic facilities like safe drinking water, electric supply, free medical check-up of kids in school premises. Then think about providing computers to primary school kids.

Yes, all those things should be done. If some people think that these should be done before the laptop project, they have to group now and make it happen. Because the OLPC itself is making rapid progress, we will need to hurry up.

.
And why import computers ? Is there no Indian company which can produce a totally indigenous computer in this country of ours which boasts itself to be a software giant? What about hardware - a sector where we are totally dependant on others?

Because there is no indian company that can make anything even close. Yes, you might want to consider intel's CMPC project. Wipro, Satyam, and Educomp have signed up for being partners to that project. If you prefer the indian companies that is. These devices are just crippled versions of traditional machines. Cost more than the OLPC, and function less than that. But that is your own conclusion to draw. I am not a marketing/ sales rep for either of them.

Unfortunately, the country missed the bus on hardware. We did not encourage that sector enough. So, no indian comanies I am afraid. Software has survived despite the policies not because of the policies. We did make something called the Simputer. There was a company that got the rights to that technology. I am not sure if they are still in business. But the devices were very unusable is what I have heard.

And please, someone please start manufacturing the OLPC in India. The technology is all open and free to use. And if it matters, I would work for free for them.

.
See an interesting article which appeared today.

http://in.jagran.yahoo.com/news/local/haryana/4_6_3860636.html

लाखों की लागत से खरीदे गए कम्प्यूटर फांक रहे है धूल
Oct 29, 2007
झज्जर, जागरण संवाद केंद्र

प्रदेश सरकार द्वारा शिक्षा के क्षेत्र को बढ़ावा देने के लिए अनेक आधुनिक प्रकार की सुविधाएं उपलब्ध करवाई जा रही है लेकिन विभाग के अधिकारियों की लापरवाही के चलते स्कूलों में स्थापित किए जाने वाले कम्प्यूटर सिस्टम भी कई स्कूलों में चालू नहीं हो पाए है। जिसकी वजह से विद्यार्थियों को कम्प्यूटर शिक्षा ग्रहण करने में भारी मुसीबतों का सामना करना पड़ रहा है। जिले के गांव मुण्डाहेड़ा के राजकीय वरिष्ठ माध्यमिक विद्यालय में आज तक कम्प्यूटर सिस्टम चालू नहीं किया गया है। विद्यालय में लगभग दो माह पूर्व कम्प्यूटर लाए गए थे लेकिन प्रथम सेमेस्टर परीक्षा होने के बावजूद भी आज तक इस स्कूल में कम्प्यूटर सिस्टम स्थापित नहीं किया गया है। मुण्डाहेडा के कम्प्यूटर सिस्टम को चालू न किए जाने के बारे में विद्यालय के प्राचार्य से इस सम्बन्ध में बात की गई तो उन्होंने बताया कि विद्यालय में कम्प्यूटर सिस्टम की स्थापना के लिए विभाग द्वारा भेजा गया फर्नीचर मुण्डाहेड़ा की बजाय मुण्डाखेड़ा के विद्यालय में चला गया था जिसे लगभग एक पखवाड़े पूर्व ही वहां से स्वयं किराया खर्च कर मंगवाया गया है तथा यूपीएस व बैटरी भी स्कूल में पहुंच गई है। लेकिन आज तक इन कम्प्यूटर सिस्टमों को चालू नहीं किया गया है। जिसके कारण लाखों रुपये की लागत से खरीदे गए कम्प्यूटर धूल फांक रहे है और विद्यार्थियों को समय पर कम्प्यूटर शिक्षा भी उपलब्ध नहीं हो पा रही है। इस सम्बन्ध में अनेकों बार ग्रामीणों द्वारा सम्बन्धित विभाग के अधिकारियों को भी शिकायत की जा चुकी है लेकिन आज तक इस समस्या का कोई समाधान नहीं किया गया है। अभिभावकों का कहना है कि इस सत्र की प्रथम सेमेस्टर प्रणाली की परीक्षाएं भी गत दिनों समाप्त हो चुकी है और उसके बाद दूसरी सेमेस्टर प्रणाली की परीक्षाएं नजदीक आती जा रही है लेकिन मुण्डाहेड़ा विद्यालय के विद्यार्थी कम्प्यूटर शिक्षा से वंचित है । जिसके कारण विद्यार्थियों को कम्प्यूटर शिक्षा ग्रहण करने के लिए छुट्टी के बाद आसपास के शहरों में ही जाने पर मजबूर होना पड़ रहा है। अभिभावकों व विद्यार्थियों की शिक्षा विभाग के उच्चाधिकारियों व जिला प्रशासन से मांग है कि उनके विद्यालय में कम्प्यूटर सिस्टम शीघ्र चालू करवाया जाए ताकि वे अपने गांव में ही कम्प्यूटर शिक्षा प्राप्त कर सकें।
.

Yes, I have personally seen these things, and have tried to move some action. More often than not, the bottleneck in the success of these efforts is laziness. And the lab mode. "don't touch it, you will break it" "no, this is not your computer period" "no, only when the computer bhenji is here" . And the biggest bottleneck is that the computer bhenji may not know everything. I have been to a school computer lab, where a computer is in warranty, and has been dead since arrival (about an year ago). The school administration has not bothered to phone up this "indian company" to get it fixed. In a friendly chat with the teacher later I heard, "Kya jindagi ho gai hai. 4 baje tak school mein pilna padta hai." Believe me to get anything done, one needs to work.

I am extremely worried about the students in this sort of setup. Please let them free. Don't hinder their progress. I am not saying that OLPC is THE solution. All I am saying is "the current solution is not enough". Start saying yes to kids experimental way of learning. Do it any way the country / society feels right. But do it. And also consider if OLPC is able to help you do it.

 

[biotechs2001]

HRD hopes to make $10 laptops a reality

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/..._10_laptops_a_reality/articleshow/1999828.cms

HRD hopes to make $10 laptops a reality
4 May 2007, 0235 hrs IST,Akshaya Mukul,TNN
Print Save EMail Write to Editor




NEW DELHI: Having rejected Nicholas Negroponte’s offer of $100 laptops for schoolchildren, HRD ministry’s idea to make laptops at $10 is firmly taking shape with two designs already in and public sector undertaking Semiconductor Complex evincing interest to be a part of the project.

So far, the cost of one laptop, after factoring in labour charges, is coming to $47 but the ministry feels the price will come down dramatically considering the fact that the demand would be for one million laptops.

“The cost is encouraging and we are hopeful it would come down to $10. We would also look into the possibility of some Indian company manufacturing the parts,” an official said.

The two designs with the ministry are from a final year engineering student of Vellore Institute of Technology and a researcher from Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore.

Due to reasons of Intellectual Property Rights being insisted by the two designers, the ministry is not parting with the design except giving out some of the major details.

The laptop would be made on a single board which would make it easy to find faults and rectify it, say sources.

A meeting of industry and academia is to take place in IISc, Bangalore, later this month to go through the two designs and invite more suggestions. Simultaneously, HRD ministry has been told by Semiconductor Complex, a Chandigarh-based PSU, that it would like to be part of the project. HRD ministry wants the company to get involved in the fabrication of laptops.

Six anchor groups set up by the ministry to be in touch with experts in critical areas and remove bottlenecks have been meeting regularly. Institutions like IITs and IISc have been identified as anchor institutions for the project and have been entrusted with the task of research and development of cheap laptops.

Sources say it would be another two years before the laptops become a reality.

“We do not want to rush into it. Many issues remain to be resolved like royalty to the designer after the design is patented. Prototyping would also take time. We would even conduct destructive testing and create a proper maintenance network,” said one official.

Ministry sources also say that it has received offers from MNCs, but none of them was adhering to the $10 cost tag.

 

[anilkc]

How many of you have given a laptop to your own school going child or grand child? Why?

 

[ajaygahlawat]

NEW DELHI: Having rejected Nicholas Negroponte’s offer of $100 laptops for schoolchildren, HRD ministry’s idea to make laptops at $10 is firmly taking shape with two designs already in and public sector undertaking Semiconductor Complex evincing interest to be a part of the project.

This is some real good news. Now some of the concerns about swadeshi should go away. And if the cost is as low as projected. I am a very happy person.

 

[ajaygahlawat]

How many of you have given a laptop to your own school going child or grand child? Why?

Corollary: How many of you would have given a laptop to your own school going child or grand child, had they been available for $10 or Rs. 400 ? Why?

 

[ajaygahlawat]

As promised, here is the link http://wiki.laptop.org/go/OLPC_Peru/Arahuay .

This does capture some of the aspects of how people's life changed as an effect of the OLPC laptops. The more important part is how they seem to be ready to change based on the feedback from the actual users.

And here is a link for the similar record of the indian school in khairat near mumbai.

 

[anilkc]

$10 computer is like the Rs10,000 Maruti, if anyone remembers it.

 

[pnauhwar21]

The laptops don't have a built in optical drive. Actually if you noticed they don't have a hard disk either. , or for that matter, any moving part. The two reasons for that are weight and durability. The laptop has 1GB of flash storage, and the rest of the storage will be provided on the school servers from where you could access it whenever you want. because the wireless internet would always work. And these servers also have cd drives and everything attached to them, so that you could take the contents of the CDs and put it there for all to use.

But they do have a fair amount of USB slots where any amount of peripherals can be attached. Including the extra hard disks and printers if you want those as well. The cost of internal and external USB drives is not very different. So why make the 1.5 kg machine into a 2.5 kg one when you could keep those detached.

Cheers,
Ajay

Ajay Bhai,
Laptop should mean mobility..if these laptops don't have any hard drive, don't have a CD drive what use they will be when children take them to home..if they need to connect to a School server to watch that interactive CD which shows human body functions, they better watch it on school desktop..If you need external hard drive to save your homework or store some class notes, this laptop serves no purpose..all this is extra cost not being mentioned anywhere..the target age of children for these laptops is 6-12..at this age the best use of a computer is to show them animated programs of activities they see in books so that they can relate to them more easily..using laptops to type ABCD, write their names or drawing faces is a total loss of money and effort.

And in one of the links you provided, one major constraint they mentioned was power..there is just not enough power slots in schools and they expect children to power them at home which takes considerable amount of time and battery is over in 2-3 hours..How many villages in India get even 8 hours of electricity? And did you see the pic of Indian village where laptops are provided...they don't even have a bench to sit..so what is of more priority..benches for students to sit, clean drinking water to them and electricity at home n school or laptops for writing ABCD?

 

[ajaygahlawat]

Ajay Bhai,
Laptop should mean mobility..

Yes. And the reason they don't have a lot of the things is precisely mobility. You can do it in 1.5 kg. But not in 3. I mean my shoulder aches at a 3 kg laptop if I have to carry it all day in a conference. (it is a light one)

if these laptops don't have any hard drive, don't have a CD drive what use they will be when children take them to home..

I didn't say they don't have storage. I only said they don't have hard drive. So, they have NAND flash storage. Which is very fast. And they have network attached storage. More below.

if they need to connect to a School server to watch that interactive CD which shows human body functions, they better watch it on school desktop

They don't have to. The idea would be to store the content from the CD on the school server, and let everyone access it any time they want. Instead of only the person in physical possession of the CDs.

If you need external hard drive to save your homework or store some class notes, this laptop serves no purpose

No, you should not. The idea is to keep the data you need actively in the local flash, and the homework would have places on the school server. Where, once it is finished, it can be uploaded. As far as I know that is. And the school server is expected to be available all the time. So, you would typically be always connected to the server.

all this is extra cost not being mentioned anywhere.

Because this extra cost is not stipulated. You should not need to acquire any external things.

the target age of children for these laptops is 6-12..at this age the best use of a computer is to show them animated programs of activities they see in books so that they can relate to them more easily..using laptops to type ABCD, write their names or drawing faces is a total loss of money and effort.

Yes, now we are thinking like the OLPC designers. Not only would you be able to watch the animations. You would also be able to create them using simple point and drag gestures. Try playing around with Etoys some time.

Similarly, you could not only play music, you could also create your own compositions easily. Great for the budding rehmans. All the while building your fundamental skills in logic sequencing and algorithmics without even realizing it.

Similarly, you could not only play videos, you could also record videos with the inbuilt camera. To top it all, you could use this in real time and it will act as a video conference device for you to be able to conference with your teacher or other fellow students.

Well the possibilities to revolutionize the learning scene with the right tools are endless.

Actually, I'll start creating some demos, and start sharing it with the forum.

And in one of the links you provided, one major constraint they mentioned was power..there is just not enough power slots in schools and they expect children to power them at home which takes considerable amount of time and battery is over in 2-3 hours.. How many villages in India get even 8 hours of electricity?

Yes, and that is why a lot of alternative solutions are being worked on. Including: pull a rope with hand or foot for one minute for a charge sufficient for 10 minutes. Or a rehent (old rotary structures for pulling water from the wells) like device to be run by jhotas and baladhs. Or a diesel generator. Or an invertor in the school. The list is endless. If you really like what it offers, there are always going to be ways to power it up. For it only uses 2 watts of power. My regular laptop takes atleat 30 watts when not doing anything. The regular desktops take about 100 watts. So, take your pick.

And did you see the pic of Indian village where laptops are provided...they don't even have a bench to sit..so what is of more priority..benches for students to sit, clean drinking water to them and electricity at home n school or laptops for writing ABCD?

Yes I did. And, my personal choice, though it does not matter much it seems, would be laptops before the desks. But everyone is free to choose. And water is mostly provided for in the parts of the rural india that I can associate with. For proof I look at the shapes of my kakis and tais . While the generation of dadis did a lot of water ferrying, the generation of kakis has been well provided for and has grown a tad bit out of shape. (if you know what I mean). Every village that I know of has water. And those that don't should have. If you know of some that don't, please raise the matter with the local mla / mp. They are supposed to make it work.

Electricity is a totally different discussion. Each one of us can personally help by doing something about nuclear energy, or biogas, or solar energy, or oil farming (read jatropa), etc. Or even solar passive architectures. But that would be too much to discuss on this thread.

And as a knowlege buff, I am really happy that this one thing has beaten the efforts of lazy government in trying to bring basic amenities like water. Three cheers to the spirit of social entrepreneurship. This, I believe, is a capitalistic way to socialism.

I hope to have provided some insights into the other side of the coin. Please do keep asking the questions. To misinterpret the age old saying: "Dubito ergo cogito ergo sum" of Descartes (I doubt therefore I think therefore I am) please don't stop doubting ever. And never stop clearing the doubts. (I know that, it was not the intended interpretation of the original philosopher.)