India is developing a laptop to be sold at ten U.S. dollars, which will target higher education applications, a Minister of the federal government said Tuesday in Delhi. Research on the new low-cost laptop is being carried out at the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore and the Indian Institute of Technology in Chennai. The Minister did not however give the specifications of the ten-U.S. dollar laptop, nor is it clear if the rock-bottom price will be achieved with the help of a government subsidy. The Indian government is planning to use information and communications technology (ICT) to strengthen its current programs for distance learning by making them accessible online. This measure will help raise the quality of higher education in India.

The India government also plans to make available free bandwidth for education purposes to every Indian. It plans to use this bandwidth to build a “knowledge network” between and within institutions of higher learning in the country.