Communications Minister Arun Shourie today said the Rs 5,000-crore Media Lab Asia project was restructured because the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) could not add value to the project to benefit Indian masses.
He was countering the allegations by Nicholas Negroponte, chairman, MIT Media Lab, that MIT withdrew from the project due to differences with him.
"The agreement with MIT, which lapsed on March 31, was not renewed because researchers in the five Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), who had been given funds for the project, said they could not tell how MIT contributed," Shourie said, reacting to allegations by MIT that he did not believe in rural development.
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An investment of Rs 65 crore was earmarked for the project in the first year. Of this, about Rs 35 crore has already been spent. According to Shourie, a note on the restructuring of the project was considered by the Cabinet and the future course of action would be decided after consultation with Human Resource Development Minister M M Joshi.
The Media Lab Asia project was founded in 2001 to help develop technologies to benefit Indian masses. The goal was to help transform the economically weaker sections of the society with affordable wireless and Internet technology.
A large amount of money was being spent by the government, even when the work was being done by Indian professors, Shourie said, adding that the IITs did not want an exclusive tie up with any agency.
"There should be a choice. Such considerations led to a revamping of the project," Shourie said. It was earlier expected that due to an association of great names with the project, a large amount of private funds would pour in, he added.
However, private entrepreneurs in the project had not contributed anything. So in the end, it was a completely government-funded project, he said.
The minister said there was a demand of $5 million from the government for using the name, Media Lab Asia. "But we have clarified that since it is a company registered in India, we do not have to pay any royalty," Shourie said.
Taking a dig at the allegations made by Negroponte, Shourie said, "Negroponte spends a lot of time in Greece and Switzerland. Therefore, it is obviously a joke that he is interested in the rural development of India."