Govt removing roadblocks faced by young innovators, says Modi
According to the ministry of education, more than 250 problem statements have been submitted by 54 ministries, departments, state governments, PSUs and industries this year.
The future of the world will be driven by innovation and knowledge and India’s young population is developing a feeling of ownership towards finding solutions for the country’s challenges, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Wednesday during a virtual interaction with over 1,300 students participating in the finale of the seventh edition of the Smart India Hackathon (SIH).
The hackathon, which is taking place across 51 centres nationwide, has drawn participants from diverse sectors, including technology, health, and agriculture, to tackle challenges proposed by ministries, industries, and government departments.
“I have been eagerly waiting for the Grand Finale of Smart India Hackathon,” Modi said, adding that since the inception of the Hackathon, about 1.4 million students had participated in it and had formed 200,000 teams to work on about 3,000 problems. “More than 6,400 institutions have been involved and hundreds of new start-ups have come up, and more than 7,000 ideas were submitted by students in 2017 and 57,000 in 2024.”
Hailing the young innovators, Modi said: “India’s strength is its innovative youth and technology power. We have introduced a new National Education Policy to nurture a scientific mindset. The government is removing roadblocks in the path of the country’s youth by introducing reforms.”
He added: “The future of the world will be driven by innovation and knowledge and India’s youth today is developing a feeling of ownership towards finding solutions for the country’s challenges.”
The seventh edition of the SIH concurrently began at 51 nodal centres nationwide on Wednesday. The Software Edition will run non-stop for 36 hours, while the Hardware Edition will continue from December 11 to 15. During the event, the student teams will work on either the problem statements given by ministries, departments or industries or submit their ideas under the Student Innovation category against any of the 17 themes linked to sectors of national importance. According to the ministry of education, more than 250 problem statements have been submitted by 54 ministries, departments, state governments, PSUs and industries this year.
Modi said that solutions from previous hackathons had been deployed by the government. For instance, in 2022, a team came up with a solution for measuring the intensity of cyclones which has now been integrated with the technology developed by ISRO. Another solution, a Video Geotagging App to collect data, is now being used in space-related research, he said. Another solution for managing blood supplies in real time during a natural is being used by agencies such as NDRF.
The PM also lauded the new National Education Policy, saying that it aimed “to nurture scientific mindset in students”.
Modi said that the government wanted to support the youth in new fields such as digital content creation, animation and gaming. He cited the National Creators Award that the government had given out before the general elections. To be sure, these awards were given to influencers who have always posted pro-government content.
He also talked about the cabinet’s decision to launch the “One Nation One Subscription” scheme, which he said is “unique in the world and has garnered global praise”.
Modi reiterated his earlier announcement of bringing 100,000 youngsters into politics who do not have a familial background in the field. He once again talked about the “Viksit Bharat Young Leaders Dialogue”, which will be held in January 2025. He had first announced it in Mann Ki Baat in November.
During Wednesday’s virtual interaction, one of the teams that engaged with Modi, Mystic Originals from Welingkar Institute of Management Development and Research, Mumbai, said that they were working on a security challenge posed by Bharat Electronics Limited to distinguish between a bird and a drone on the radar as the two look alike on the radar.
This, the team leader said, could cause false alarms and other potential security threats, especially in sensitive areas. The solution used micro doppler signatures, that is, unique patterns generated by different objects, similar to unique fingerprints in human beings. Modi asked if the solution could identify the speed, direction and distance, and the team said that it would soon be possible. A team member, from Rajasthan, said that the number of drone sightings increased after the Pulwama attack.
Another team, Hack Dreamers, based out of IIT Kharagpur, said that they were working on NTRO’s problem statement about rising cyber attacks in India. Their solution is about implementing an antivirus software that works offline and on premise.
Team Code Bro from Gujarat Technical University said that they were working on enhancing the darker images from the South Pole of the moon in response to ISRO’s challenge. Called ‘Chand Vadhani’, the solution enhances images and detects craters and boulders while also performing real-time site selection. In response to Modi’s query, a team member said that the solution could help in lunar exploration.
Big Brains Team from NIT, Srinagar, worked on building a tool called ‘Virtual Reality Friend’ in response to a challenge from the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment. The tool is an AI-based virtual reality solution that helps children on the autism spectrum disorder or with intellectual disability with their daily interactions.
Another team, Nirvana One from New Horizon College of Engineering, Bangalore, worked on reducing river pollution and improving river rejuvenation, focussing on Ganga.
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