Simputer project bags Dewang Mehta award for innovation in IT from Indo-Asian News Service
New Delhi, Apr 12 (IANS) The team that developed the Simputer, a hand-held device aimed at taking the Internet to the rural masses in India, has been conferred the first Dewang Mehta award for innovation in IT, it was announced Friday. The award carries a cash prize of Rs. 500,000. The award, instituted by the department of IT in memory of India's tech evangelist Dewang Mehta who died April 12 last year, recognises innovations that have the potential to make a significant impact on national development. "The Simputer as a concept has the potential to put computing power in the hands of the masses in the true sense of the word. "The Simputer is one innovation that can break barriers that prevent the common man from using computing devices which are not only high priced but also exotic," a statement from the department said. The Simputer -- short for Simple, Inexpensive, Multilingual Computer -- was designed by the not for profit Simputer Trust. It uses the free Linux software operating system. The trust licenses the design to manufacturers. Seven trustees drawn from the faculty of computer science and automation of the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore and Encore Software Ltd. conceived the project. The Simputer is expected to help farmers access commodity prices and other information and will also provide speech recognition in regional languages to help the unlettered use the device. Priced at a little over Rs. 12,000, the Simputer will be three times cheaper than a personal computer and cost about the same as a colour television set - a price level which is expected to help improve computer penetration in India. Ninety-two nominations were received for the first Dewang Mehta award. "A committee of eminent persons was constituted to evaluate the nominations and give its recommendations," the statement added. Mehta, who was president of the National Association of Software and Service Companies (Nasscom) for the last 10 years, died of a massive heart attack in Sydney in April last year. He was attending an IT meet in the city. The dynamic 38-year-old Mehta's name was synonymous with India's booming software industry. He led the industry's global push as the country's software exports zoomed to $6.2 billion in 2000-01 from $734 million in 1995-96. The Geneva-based World Economic Forum identified Mehta as one of the 100 Global Leaders of Tomorrow. "The basic thrust (of the award) was to identify a concept that was not only innovative but whose application would have had an impact on the lives of the common man. "The committee observed that the development of Simputer stands out significantly higher than others and meets the criteria set out," the statement said. --Indo-Asian News Service ------------ ***GKD is solely supported by EDC, an NGO that is a GKP member*** To post a message, send it to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To subscribe or unsubscribe, send a message to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>. In the 1st line of the message type: subscribe gkd OR type: unsubscribe gkd Archives of previous GKD messages can be found at: <http://www.edc.org/GLG/gkd/>
