New Delhi: As a rebuff to MIT's One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) project, the $10 laptop from National Mission on Education will be introduced. The basic mindset behind the introduction of the low-cost gadget is to extend computer infrastructure and connectivity to over 18,000 colleges in the country.

Apart from questioning the technology of $100 laptops, the main reason for HRD ministry's resistance to MIT's Nicholas Negroponte's OLPC project was the high and the hidden cost that worked out to be $200, report The Economic Times. The ministry has entered into an agreement with four publishers, Macmillan, Tata McGraw Hill, Prentice-Hall and Vikas Publishing to upload their textbooks on 'Sakshat', a government online portal. With an 11th plan outlay of Rs.4,612 crore, the government would give Rs.2.5 lakh per institution for 10 Kbps connection and subsidize 25 percent of costs for private and state government colleges.

Aiming at the common phrase 'cheaper by the dozen' the initial price is worked at $20 (Rs.1000) but with more production the price is expected to come to $10. The $10 gadget with 2 GB RAM capacity has come out of the drawing board stage due to work put in by students of VIT, scientists in Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, IIT-Madras and involvement of PSUs like Semiconductor Complex. The prototype of the laptop will be displayed in Tirupati on 3rd February, 2009, which is aimed at boosting e-literacy in the country.