Rs 2,800-cr free laptop scheme rolls out in UP

10,000 students get the gadget in phase I

Uttar Pradesh government today started the roll out of its ambitious free laptop scheme by handing over the gadget to 10,000 students in Lucknow.

The free laptop scheme is meant for students, who had passed their 10+2 exams during the 2011-12 academic session and later enrolled for higher studies.

A total of 1.5 million laptops would be distributed across UP in phases and IT major Hewlett Packard had been given the mammoth contract worth about Rs 2,800 crore after a bidding process.

Addressing the ceremony, chief minister Akhilesh Yadav said the laptop would help the students in their academics even as he flayed the opposition and detractors for making light of the scheme calling it as a bait to consolidate the vote bank.

The government had made a provision of Rs 2,800 crore for distributing free laptops and tablets to students. The tablets would be provided to students, who are pursuing higher studies after clearing 10 th  standard. About 2 million tablets would be distributed after the bidding process is over.

Under the bidding for laptops, HP had quoted the minimum price (including taxes and duties) of Rs 19,058 per unit. Other firms in the fray were HCL, Lenovo and Acer, which had quoted Rs 21,983, Rs 23,919 and Rs 25,199 respectively.

The supply is worth Rs 2,858 crore and the total delivery is likely to materialise in 7 months, while HP would also arrange for the service and training as part of the contract.

The configuration of laptop is 14 inch display, 1 GB internal memory, 500 GB hard disk capacity, webcam, 3 hours battery backup and Bluetooth / Wi-Fi. It comprises 3 USB ports, media card reader, a headphone or speaker out port, DVD writer and supports three languages English, Hindi and Urdu.

It would run on Windows 7 platform with option to run on LINUX in dual boot mode.