Union Human Resources Development Minister Kapil Sibal has promised the realisation of his brainchild, the low-cost tablet PC Aakash-2 soon.
Delivering the convocation address at the Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS) Pilani, Hyderabad campus, the minister said that distribution of the second-generation tabs had been going on and the official market launch would be conducted soon.
After the launch of the first version of the tablet in October 2011, the ‘dream to empower Indian students’ was shattered as IIT Jodhpur found it insufficient in matching the performance criteria.
The new version features an 800 MHz processor and an enhanced battery life of three hours.
“My dream of providing a cost-effective solution for students resulted in development of Aakash in our country even as other countries considered the task impossible,” said the HRD minister who shied away from mentioning a date for the official launch.
He appealed to the BITS Pilani faculty and students to pioneer the development of applications on the tablet platform.
Chancellor of BITS Pilani and industrialist Kumar Mangalam Birla also addressed the first batch of B.E (Hons.) students who received their degrees at the convocation ceremony. He advised the graduates to use their knowledge in addressing issues of global relevance.
Of the 413 students who received the degrees, 308 B.E graduates and 105 post-graduates received their certificates from the vice- chancellor of the institute, Professor B.N Jain.
A student of B.E (Hons.) computer science Chandralekha Motati was awarded the gold medal for obtaining the highest CGPA. Distinguished alumni awards were given to space communication technologist Surendra Pal and co-founder of Insieme Networks Inc. Prem Jain. State minister for Information technology, Ponnala Lakhsmaiah was present at the event.