A Research Assignment based on:
‘Laptop Revolution’ by Professor Abdul Bayes
(Published in ‘The Daily Star’ on 10th February, 2010)

Prepared by:
Khosnur Jahan
Asmaul Husna
Madia Sultana
Hasanul Qader Mirza
Hasib Kaisar

Prepared for:
Md. Safayat Hossain
Lecturer
Department of A & IS
University of Dhaka

Group Members:

| Name | ID no. | 01. | Khosnur Jahan | 13092 | 02. | Asmaul Husna | 13093 | 03. | Madia Sultana | 13097 | 04. | Hasanul Qader MIrza | 13099 | 05. | Hasib Kaisar | 13176 |

Introduction:
Bangladesh, a developing country, is not equipped with all the modern infrastructural facilities around its borders. This is because of some lacking in the electricity sector, gas sector and also because of some drawbacks in political decisions implementing procedures.
Laptop computer is one of the electric devices which have made our life easier now-a-days. The diversified use of laptop computers is providing us a hassle free life. But the rural people are not enjoying the benefits of this in a great extent because of the problems mentioned earlier.
We have designed this program to facilitate all the rural people to get connected through laptops and the internet so that they can enjoy the freedom to have access to all the information they need at the appropriate time.

Objectives of the program:
The core objectives of the program are: * To lessen the information gap in the rural areas * Solve social problems at a lower cost * Disseminate information regarding various problems without sector-wise involvement * Providing computer literacy to the rural women so that can help others * Reduce unemployment rate in the villages and in broader sense in Bangladesh, through the employment of people by means of this program * Overcome the problems that other program like this one have. For example : Grameenphone CIC ( Community Information Centre ) * To overcome the limitations “Jeeon” have by working with them to improve the information quality and cover more problems * Connect all the villages of the country through this program

Goal of the program:
The goal that we want to achieve though executing this program is,
“To eliminate the hardship of rural people to access required information at required time”

Target people or people who are going to be benefitted:
Basically the target people of this program will be the unemployed rural woman with some literacy. Besides that we will also try to facilitate unemployed male people later on if the program proves to be a successful one in short-run.

Social problems faced by the rural people:
People in the rural areas are not facilitated with all the modern amenities like the urban people. They face many problems. Especially they suffer a lot because of the communication gap. The social problems that we have identified are: * The lack of information regarding educational purposes * They are not aware of all the scientific methods of agriculture and they are also unaware of the remedies to different problems * Rural people are unaware of sanitation and other health issues * They lack knowledge about human rights * Lack of knowledge on how to react to the natural disasters * They don’t have access to expert opinions in need of emergency medical situations etc.

Advantages which can be gained from the program:
This program can lead to improvements like: * People will have access to the information they need * Employment of rural women will be done * The people who will have the information can disseminate to others * Radical development may be achieved through implementing different phases of the program * This program will help to improve the standard of living of the rural people

Limitations of the program:
This program has some advantages but it will very difficult to run because of some drawbacks. The limitations we have identified are as follows: * Lack of fund to execute such a program * Lower amount of electricity supply in the rural areas * Literacy of the women is an important issue as minimum literacy is required to train up them in laptop computers * Technical aptitude about fixing immediate problems of the laptops is also required * Transportation cost and time management is very important as transportation in rural areas is not as easy as of the urban areas * This program will only provide people with information. It will not provide people with material substances

Budget:
For the 1st year of operation Particulars | Amount (in taka) | Amount (in taka) | Revenues: Service revenuesExpenditures: Purchase of Laptops Training cost Maintenance expense Other expenses Remuneration | (229500000)(1700000)(31875000)(20000000)(344250000) | 1224000000(627325000) | Revenues over expenses | | 596675000 |

Break-down of the Budget: 1. Service revenues:
We are assuming that per month we will give service to approximately 400 people per village and the amount of people served in a year will be 4800. As a result, if 68000 villages are covered almost 326400000 people would be served in a year through the program. But we will serve them in two phases. If we charge Tk. 5 for per solution, the total service revenue for the first year would be Tk. 1224000000. In first 6 month we will work on half of the villages and after that we will cover all of them by the end of the year. 2. Purchase of laptops:
We will purchase one laptop for every 8 villages. So, 8500 laptops will be needed to fulfill the need for our program. We will buy “Asus eee PC” which costs Tk. 29000 per laptop in today’s market. We have talked to the vendors and they can supply these laptops at Tk. 27000 if 8500 laptops are purchased. 3. Training cost:
We will provide one professional to train 100 women. So, 85 professionals will be needed to train those 8500 women. We are assuming to provide this at a cost of Tk. 20000 (for one month).
20000*85 = 1700000 4. Maintenance expense:
We have assumed that the maintenance cost per laptop will be Tk. 5000 per year which leads to a total cost of 31875000 (as half of them will be used after 6 months). 5. Other expenses:
We have assumed that other expenses regarding the program for a year will be in total Tk. 20000000. 6. Remuneration:
We will give a remuneration of Tk. 4500 per month to each employee. It will lead to a yearly expenditure of Tk. 344250000.
Strategies to execute the program successfully:
The strategies we will follow to execute the program are: * We will work in two phases. First we will cover half of the villages and after 6 months of operation we will cover the remaining villages. * We will collaborate with the local authorities and NGO’s to raise awareness about the program and its necessities. * Finding out literate women who will be easy to train in using laptop computers. * Try to design a convenient time schedule for all the employees so that they can maintain their family properly. * Try to come up with more solutions to different problems that people face.

Conclusion:
This is a program which may change the living style of the rural people by mitigating their hardship to travel a long for a simple solution to their problems. It will also prove to be a very profitable investment for the investors in long run as we have indicated in our budget. So, investing in this project has two dimensions. One is to improve the living of rural people and the other one is fulfilling the profit motive of the investors.