Aakash 'bites': OLPC India head Satish Jha reviles mother body

There could be more than meets the eye to One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) dissociating itself from the India Foundation's beleaguered chairman, Satish K. Jha, and his tirade against the Indian government policymaking credentials.

Marked out by his vociferous criticism of Aakash for long, Jha recently took part in a televised panel discussion on the low-cost tablet and did what he does best - tearing it apart - and instead, backed to the hilt the cause of OLPC.

In another verbose thrashing of the tablet, in a March 28 article on Live Mint, Jha trained his guns on Indian policymakers and where the low-cost tablet Aakash lacks as a product.

"Aakash is an embarrassment that India did not have to go through but for want of expertise in developing public policies that may help the poor leapfrog to join the times we live in."

He added, "Rather than learning from the world how to create a product, India wanted to teach the world that it could wave a magic wand and there will be a product that America could not imagine or design and China could not manufacture. A bit like a high-school student's claim to go beyond the knowledge of a Nobel laureate who created the discipline that was not yet taught outside of graduate schools."

As it stands, it's not yet clear how much these two incidents spurred OLPC into 'evasive' action. But what did happen was a statement from the global organization issued on Thursday, which is as follows:

In view of certain recent statements, One Laptop Per Child Association, Inc ("OLPC") would like to clarify that Mr Satish Jha has not been affiliated with OLPC since August 31, 2012. Mr Jha does not represent OLPC or any of its affiliated entities and the views expressed by Mr Jha do not represent the views of OLPC or any of its affiliates.

OLPC has always encouraged projects expanding the learning opportunities of children in the developing world including the Aakash initiative in India. OLPC is dedicated to providing the world's children with access to an innovative education. OLPC supports all efforts dedicated to this end and it encourages the makers of the Aakash initiative to continue to explore such educational initiatives. Moreover, OLPC applauds the efforts of the Government of India as it continues to examine new and innovative ways to educate the children of India.

 

OLPC was created to design, manufacture and distribute educational laptop computers to children around the world. Inquiries related to any existing or future OLPC projects should be directed to OLPC, which is based in Miami, Florida.

It is pertinent to note here that OLPC is the brainchild of Nicholas Negroponte of Massachusetts Institute of Technology's (MIT) Media Lab. The project enjoys the support of several global technology organizations and focuses primarily to equip children with $100 laptops, cutting across geographies.Upon enquiring Negroponte about the issue, CyberMedia editorial advisor, Prasanto K. Roy, got a mail response: "No, he is not connected with OLPC. I believe Satish may have incorporated OLPC in India. He was affiliated with us, but is no longer part of us."

He added, "Unfortunately people have appropriated the name OLPC in various parts of the world."

Strange, when OLPC India Foundation website still credits Jha as the chairman. Just that OLPC here stands for One Laplet Per Child. Laplet, and not Laptop.

Incidentally, traces of the rift between Negroponte and Jha could be sensed last August, when the latter was supposed to cease being connected with OLPC.

Back then, Jha openly stated in a Live Mint interview, "I have been supporting OLPC with my savings and borrowing from friends. Negroponte tells me to stop, that India is not ready for real education. But we're starting to see a positive response now. In Manipur, the first pilot with 1,000 OLPCs is properly under way, and we're talking to chief ministers in Haryana and Rajasthan. People want to bring in OLPC, but they don't want to upset the Centre. These kinds of issues are what hold India back."

Cut to present, after the controversy over his affiliation and stand on Aakash, Jha counters Negroponte's statement with "Negroponte himself told me that 'Aakash was such a shame'" and that he is surprised to see Negroponte's statement, even though he has known Negroponte's advice never to question the government.

He also clarifies in a rejoinder that he was appointed president & CEO of OLPC India by invitation from Negroponte and as the organization had financial challenges, he supported OLPC India Foundation with his personal resources. "Negroponte is not an ethical man. He has misbehaved before and misbehaving now," Jha told CIOL.

"OLPCA (the global body) also wanted to scrutinize every statement made by Mr Jha and he declined to accept that and preferred to dissociate with OLPCA's activities," the statement adds.

"Negroponte had a track record of adversity with the Govt of India following Media Lab Asia experience and the Govt of India had openly refused to accept OLPC proposal. Jha persuaded the Govts of Kerala, Manipur, Uttar Pradesh, Himachal, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh to adopt OLPC, but Negroponte's insistence on his own terms deprived India's poor children of the future they may have had and that Negroponte claims to live to serve," it concludes.

Whether the story ends here or is going to get murkier, will become clear in the coming days.

First Published in CIOL http://www.ciol.com/ciol/news/186538/aakash-bites-olpc-india-head-satish-jha-reviles-mother-body/page/1