Scrap Aakash to save the government from embarrassment

A year ago, many newspapers reported that Aakash, Kapil Sibal’s low-cost tablet computer, was a failure but the government was launching Aakash 2. Now, the government has announced its plan to launch Aakash 3 despite the failure of the production of Aakash 2.

After repeatedly promising for more than a year that the tablets would be delivered by “next month,” the vendor now claims to have completed delivery, but many students who paid for the tablet more than a year ago are yet to see the device.

Now, the government has sent mixed signals about the fate of the tablet with HRD minister Pallam Raju first hinting about scrapping the project and then backpedalling after his predecessor Sibal intervened and claimed that the project had succeeded. Raju should follow his instincts and end the project so that market forces can take over this space.

Sibal’s claims about the tablet’s success make him look like an Indian version of ‘Baghdad Bob’ who gained notoriety for his telecasts declaring victory against American troops even as other television broadcasts showed the Iraqi army facing defeat.

This is not the first time the government has failed in the technology industry. During the license-raj era when the government monopolized the telecom sector, it made no new innovation in communication technology but only created waiting lists for its customers.

Instead of learning from these mistakes, Sibal has rushed in with his ill-conceived idea of manufacturing computers and the only new contribution he has made to the computer industry is the waiting list. His device itself has turned out to be nothing more than a working model of an assembled computer.

Business is a brutal field where more than half of all ventures fail within the first five years.

This number is much higher in the technology sector where change is rapid and prices dramatically collapse within days as recent technological advances quickly become obsolete.

In the system of unfettered free enterprise, losses and risks associated with businesses are contained by those who voluntarily take the risks.

In the case of governments, they are socialized and impact everyone. That is why governments must stay away from the field of business. Governments are also less competent than the private sector and it is inherent in their nature to fail. Even in wealthier countries where governments are more efficient than in India, the private sector is even more efficient and provides similar services at lower costs.

Apart from creating inefficiencies, the mixture of politics and business is a recipe for crony capitalism. While crony capitalism is a problem no matter how the mixture is created, the entry of politicians into the field of business causes far greater damage than the case of smart business owners joining politics as politicians tend to inject the country’s politics into the industry.

Raju should scrap the Aakash venture instead of persisting with the failed project. With his experience working in the technology sector, he is probably more realistic than politicians who believe in using the unlimited powers of the government to make new inventions that change the world. Governments never succeed in their efforts but only appoint parliamentary committees to explain their failures by blaming others. Raju must not appoint any commission of inquiry to investigate the failure of the Aakash venture as that would add insult to injury. Instead, he should move on after pulling out of this project and it will enhance his reputation.

The author is an expert on technology and economic issues. Views expressed are personal.