SMART INDIA HACKATHON

Ministry of Human Resource Development, Govt. of India organized Smart India Hackathon 2017 at Teen Murti Bhawan on 09th Nov 2016. More than 300 senior faculty members from various colleges across India, Delegates from Media and eminent personality from academia & industry were present for the program. The program was inaugurated by Honorable Minister of Human Resource Development, Govt. of India Mr. Prakash Javadekar. Prof. (Dr.) Jitender Kumar (Academic Administrator), Mrs. Sanghamitra V Arora & Mr. Chain Singh represented Dronacharya College of Engineering, Gurgaon in this program. The agenda of the program was to launch Hackathon 2017, the program started at 3:00 P.M.

Dr. M. S. Manna (Director, AICTE) welcomed all the delegates and gave brief idea about Hackathon 2017. He welcomed the Honorable Minister Mr. Prakash Javadekar and other dignitaries on dies. Prof. Anil Sahasrabudhe (Chairman, AICTE), Prof. Ved Prakash (Chairman, UGC), Mr. R Chandrashekharan (President, NASSCOM), Dr. Vinay Sahasrabuddhe (M.P., Rajya Sabha), Mr. Mrityunjay Singh (President, Persistent Systems) and Dr. Abhay Jere (Program Coordinator, Hackathon 2017) graced the stage.

Dr. Manna informed the gathering of more than 300 people that Hackathon 2017 will be the biggest programming event held till now. AICTE is planning to reach to more than 30 lacs students through this digital programming competition. This event is in convergence with the Prime Minister’s vision of Digital India, Start Up India, Stand Up India and Skill India. This will be a 36 hours continuous programming event in which students will be solving the live problems. 25 Ministries have already given more than 200 live problems to AICTE which needs to be resolved. This event is primarily targeting the students of B.Tech, M.Tech and MCA background. He said that now AICTE is no more a regulatory body but a facilitatory body. Dr. Manna invited Prof. Anil Sahasrabudhe to brief the audience about the Concept of Smart India Hackathon 2016.

Prof. Anil Sahasrabudhe told the audience that the word Hackathon was started in 1999 in USA. It is a programming Marathon which last from 24 Hours to 36 Hours and ‘products with potential’ related with live problems are developed. He said in India we have million problems but we also have Billion minds to solve those problems. He also thanked Honorable Minister for accepting this proposal.

Dr. Abhay Jere from Persistent Systems briefed the audience in detail about Hackathon 2017. He informed that 455 live problems have been received by them till now and first batch of these problems will be inaugurated by Honorable Minister today. He also informed the audience that 25 - 30 Nodal centers will be made across India for Hackathon 2017. College needs to compete with each other to become a nodal center. Nodal Centers have to provide their labs, hostel and other Infrastructure to participants of Hackathon 2017. He also showed a movie of 05 minutes to the audience about what is Hackathon and what are the expectations from it. After his address, Dr. Manna invited Mr. Mrityunjay Singh of Persistent Systems to tell the audience about the Digital Pune Hackathon.

Mr. Mrityunjay shared with the audience that his company was very curious to know about the ‘Smart City’ after this campaign was launched by Govt. of India. They wanted to know the meaning of smart and after having discussion with senior official they reached at the conclusion that smart city is one in which the people know their exact problems and their exist a mechanism to solve these problems systematically. After knowing the concept, they approached the commissioner of Pune and requested him to share the problems they faced in daily life. Problem statements of those problems were made and a Hackathon was organized in Pune where college students proposed the solutions of those problems. He categorically mentioned two problems related with uniform water supply (Consumption per person) and Transport (People Hanging on the doors of roadways buses). He said the solutions provided by the students were eye openers and after that they approached AICTE and Honorable minister to conduct this event on national level.

Mr. Mrityunjay Singh’s talk was followed by the address of Mr. R. Chandrashekharan (President, NASSCOM). He emphasized the importance of nurturing the talent of students and utilizing their disruptive energy in positive ways. He informed that today maximum startups are being started by the people who are in their 20s. NASSCOM through various schemes like 10000 start ups is encouraging young people to apply mind to solve the problem & start their startups. He said Solution of any problem can be found out by applying young talent on that. After His Address, Dr. Manna invited Prof. Ved Prakash (Chairman, UGC) on the dais to address the gathering.

Prof. Ved Prakash started by quoting that necessity is the mother of inventions. He said we need to ask three questions:

1. Whether we are using our Public resources effectively and effectively.

2. Whether our institutions are maintaining excellence in Teaching & Learning.

3. Whether our Institutions are maintaining excellence in research.

He also informed that application like “Hiretaxi” which inspired radio taxi business across the world was invented in a Hackathon organized in Brazil. He also informed that UGC is also emphasizing on skill development through community colleges, Kaushal Vikas Kendra and by running various Vocational courses. He said that UGC will leave no stone unturned to promote culture of Hackathon at University Level. After his address, Dr. Manna invited Honorable Minister of Humana Resource Development, Govt. of India, Mr. Prakash Javadekar on the Dias.

Mr. Prakash Javedekar said that in India, research has become bureaucratic which needs to be stopped. He shared with the audience that the ideas come at young age He said that while sitting in the auditorium only, he had seen a problem that few chairs are empty in between and few people were standing in the end, how to solve this problem can be added in Hackathon.

He said now India is moving towards digitization, OPD of AIIIMS has also become online now. He shared his experience with interacting with Steave Jobs in late 90s where he told him that with a single device all works will be done. He said India is IT super power but still Whatsapp, Facebook, Skype, Windows, Internet Browsers are invented by foreigners as we lack culture of innovation. Now we need to develop this culture in India.

Dr. Vinay Sahasrabuddhe proposed the vote of thanks and thanked minister and AICTE for such a nice initiative. He said, today problem statement is released; the solution statement should now be released in four months. He thanked all the dignitaries on dais and everyone presented in the auditorium. The program ended with the national anthem.

Hackathon 2017 is a great opportunity for the students in which they can showcase their talent and can be a partner in nation’s building.