The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi interacted with young innovators at the Grand Finale of Smart India Hackathon 2024 today, via video conferencing. Addressing the gathering on the occasion, the Prime Minister reminded about reiterating ‘Sabka Prayas’ from his addresses from the Red Fort. He said that the India of today can progress at a fast pace with ‘sabka prayas’ or everyone’s effort and that today’s occasion is an example. “I have been eagerly waiting for the Grand Finale of Smart India Hackathon”, the Prime Minister said highlighting that he gets an opportunity to learn and understand something new when he is among young innovators. Pointing out his high expectations with the young innovators, the Prime Minister said they have the perspective to look at India of the 21st century differently. Therefore, Shri Modi said, your solutions are also different and when a new challenge arrives, you come up with new and unique solutions. The Prime Minister recalled being part of Hackathons in the past and said that he has never been disappointed with the output. “You have only emboldened my belief”, he said, underlining that the solutions provided in the past are being put to use in various Ministries. Shri Modi expressed eagerness to know more about the participants and began the interaction.
The Prime Minister interacted with Sayeeda from ‘Big Brains Team’ from nodal center NIT, Srinagar who worked on a problem statement of building a tool called ‘Virtual Reality Friend’ from the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, which would cater to children with autism spectrum disorder and intellectual disability. She informed that the children would use the tool as an interactive skills enhancer which will act as ‘friend’ to such Divyangjan who can use it on their smartphones, laptops etc. She added that it is an AI powered Virtual reality solution which would assist them in their day to day activities like learning language or conversing with people etc. Upon enquiring the impact of the tool on social life of Divyang Children by Shri Modi, Ms. Sayeeda said they would be able to learn what is right or wrong during their social interaction and how to approach people with the help of the tool in a simulative environment which could be then applied in real life. Sayeeda informed the Prime Minister that her 6 member team was diverse in terms of technical knowledge and geographical location including a member who is non- Indian. Shri Modi enquired whether any of the team members had interacted with children with special needs to understand their difficulties, to which Sayeeda replied that one of the team member’s relative was suffering from autism and they had also interacted with centers dealing with children affected by autism to address their challenges. Another team member of ‘Big Brains Team’, Mr. Mohammed Ali, a student from Yemen, pursuing his Bachelors in Engineering in Computer Science and Engineering thanked the Prime Minister and the Government for a great initiative like Smart India Hackathon. He further invited international students to be a part of such great initiatives in times to come. The Prime Minister congratulated and thanked the team for understanding the needs and difficulties of Divyang Children and every child had the right to grow and prosper and nobody was left behind in the society. He added that new solutions would be necessary to overcome such challenges and said that their solution would be helpful to lakhs of children and although the solution was being developed locally, it would be needed at Global level too and its impact would be global. Shri Modi highlighted that solutions which would fit the needs of India would suffice the needs of any country in the Globe. He congratulated the entire team for their novel effort.
The team leader of ‘Hack Dreamers’ with their nodal center in IIT Kharagpur informed the Prime Minister about their problem statement of cyber security given by the National Technical Research Organization owing to the rising cyber-attacks in India. She informed that more than 73 million cyber attacks took place in the country in 2023 alone which is the third largest in the world and further briefed the Prime Minister about an innovative and scalable solution. A team member explained that the solution differs from the multiple antivirus engines used in the world and provides an offline architecture design and thread direction by parallelly scanning for viruses in efficient ways by maintaining the system in safe mode. The Prime Minister recalled speaking about cyber fraud in his recent Mann Ki Baat address and stated that a large population is affected by such malice. He also expressed the need to constantly upgrade with the latest technology as cyber threats are constantly evolving at a fast pace. Noting that India is one of the leading digital economies in the world and the nation is digitally connecting on different scales, the Prime Minister said that the threats of cybercrime are constantly on the rise. Therefore, the Prime Minister said, the solutions to cybercrime are crucial for India’s future. He conveyed his best wishes to the participants and said that such solutions can be extremely beneficial to the government as well. Shri Modi also acknowledged the enthusiasm of the team members.
Team Code Bro from Gujarat Technical University informed the Prime Minister about working on the problem statement provided by ISRO - ‘Enhancing the darker images from the South Pole of the Moon. A team member explained the name of the solution as ‘Chand Vadhani’ which not only enhances images but also comprises a decision-making skill. It detects craters and boulders while also performing real-time site selection. The Prime Minister enquired if the participants got an opportunity to interact with those working in the space technology domain, especially in Ahmedabad which is home to a huge space center. Upon the Prime Minister’s enquiry about getting a better understanding of the Moon’s geological and environmental conditions, a team member replied in the affirmative and said that it would aid the lunar exploration. Another team member further explained the use of a machine learning model consisting of two architectures namely dark net and photo net. The Prime Minister underlined that the world is looking at India’s space journey with hope and said that the inclusion of talented youth further strengthens the belief. He remarked that the young innovators are proof that India would expand its role in the global space technology power and conveyed his best wishes to all participants.
Team leader of Mystic Originals from Wellingkar Institute of Management Development and Research, Mumbai informed about tackling a security challenge provided by Bharat Electronics Limited namely Micro Doppler based target classification which helps in distinguishing if a given object is a bird or a drone. She explained that a bird and a drone appear the same on the radar and can lead to false alarms and other potential security threats, especially in sensitive areas. Another team member delved into the details and explained that the solution makes use of Micro Doppler signatures which are the unique patterns generated by different objects, similar to unique fingerprints in human beings. Upon the Prime Minister’s enquiry if the solution could identify the speed, direction and distance, a team member replied that it would be achieved soon. Noting that drones have various positive uses, the Prime Minister pointed out that some forces are using drones to harm others and this has become a security challenge. Upon the Prime Minister’s enquiry if the solution provided is capable of dealing with such a challenge, a team member explained the process and said that it is a compact solution which could be used on cost-effective devices and is also adaptive to different environments. Another team member who hails from a border area in Rajasthan informed that the frequency of enemy drones in the sky increased rapidly after the Pulwama attack and the anti-drone defence system would be activated any time of the night. He said that this problem statement was chosen as the citizens faced a lot of difficulties. The Prime Minister highlighted the use of drones in various sectors of the country and gave the example of the Namo Drone Didi scheme. He also mentioned the use of drones for the transportation of medicines and essential supplies to remote areas in the country, whereas enemies use them for smuggling firearms and drugs across the border. The Prime Minister expressed happiness that the young innovators are working with extreme seriousness to tackle such issues of national security. He said that their innovation can give new dimensions to the export of defence technology. The Prime Minister conveyed his best wishes and acknowledged that one of the team members who hails from the border areas can understand the issue in detail and the need for solutions. He also urged them to keep updated with the latest technology as those making use of rogue drones are implementing new technology with each passing day. The Prime Minister also praised their efforts.
Team leader of Nirvana One from New Horizon College of Engineering, Bangalore informed the Prime Minister about the problem statement provided by the Ministry of Jal Shakti regarding reducing river pollution and improving river rejuvenation. Another team member said that the river Ganga was chosen for this project due to its cultural and spiritual significance. She informed that the project began as a result of the research carried out on Namami Gange and National Mission for Clean Ganga. She further added that a decision support system was created with the help of available data to aid the lives of the people living on the river bank. The team leader informed that 38 key locations were identified and local models were created with the help of Federated learning which interacts with a mother model, thereby increasing the accuracy. He also mentioned creating an advanced dashboard for every stakeholder. Upon the Prime Minister about how those attending the Mahakumbh could make use of the innovation, the team leader replied that the data analysis would help in performing disinfection at the personal level while also ensuring good health. He informed about providing different portals for industrial effluent monitoring, sewage treatment infrastructure, biodiversity management etc. For the drinking water supply chain, he informed the Prime Minister that a particular spike in pollutants can be backtracked to the industry causing it and keeping a check on grossly polluting industries. The Prime Minister said that the project is extremely critical from an ecological standpoint and expressed happiness that the team is working on such sensitive issues. He conveyed his best wishes to the team.
Thanking all the participants of the SIH, the Prime Minister said it was great to talk to all of them. Shri Modi remarked that the world of the future is going to be driven by knowledge and innovation and youth were India's hope and aspiration in changing situations. He added that their perspective, thinking and energy were different. Stressing that everyone’s aim was the same, the Prime Minister underscored that India should become the most innovative, progressive and prosperous country in the world. He added that the world was acknowledging that India's strength was its youth power who are innovative and India’s tech power. He further added that the strength of India was clearly visible in all of them at the Smart India Hackathon. Shri Modi was pleased that Smart India Hackathon had become an excellent platform to make the youth of India globally the best. He noted that since the inception of Smart India Hackathon, about 14 lakh students had participated and had formed 2 lakh teams and worked on about 3 thousand problems. He further added that more than 6400 institutions were associated with it while hundreds of new start-ups were born because of the hackathon. The Prime Minister noted that more than 7 thousand ideas were submitted by students in 2017 while the number of these ideas had increased to more than 57 thousand this year. This, he said, showed how the youth of India had come forward to solve the challenges of its country.
Informing that many solutions from the last seven hackathons were proving to be very useful for the people of the country today, the Prime Minister stressed that the hackathons had provided solutions to many big problems and cited an example from the 2022 hackathon, where a team of youth had worked on a system to measure the intensity of cyclones, which had now been integrated with the technology developed by ISRO. The PM cited another example where a team had created a Video Geotagging App, ensuring easy collection of data, which was now being used in space-related research. He added that another team worked on a real-time blood managing system that could provide details of the blood banks present there at the time of a natural disaster, which is helping agencies like NDRF a lot today. Citing another success story of Hackathon, Shri Modi said a few years ago, another team created a product for Divyangjans which is proving to be helpful in reducing difficulties in their lives. He added that till date hundreds of such successful case studies serve as an inspiration for youngsters participating in hackathon. The Prime Minister said that hackathons showed how the youth of the country are working with the government for the development of the country to deal with the challenges facing the country. He added that it was giving them a sense of ownership towards solving the problems of the country and the development of the country. Shri Modi expressed confidence that the country is on the right track to become a developed India. He lauded the eagerness and commitment with which the youth were finding innovative solutions to the problems of India.
Stressing the need to think out of the box for every challenge in the country's aspirations in today’s time, Shri Modi emphasized the need to incorporate out-of-the-box thinking in our habits in every sector. Highlighting the speciality of this Hackathon, the PM said its process is important as well as the product. Adding that there was a time when only the government used to claim to solve the country's problems, Shri Modi said, however, today, through such Hackathons, students, teachers and mentors are also being connected to solutions. He stressed that this was India's new governance model and 'Sabka Prayas' is the life force of this model.
Emphasizing that the generation of the next 25 years of the country is the Amrit generation of India, the Prime Minister said that the youth had the responsibility of building a developed India while the Government was committed to providing every needful resource at the right time. Adding that the Government was working on different layers in different age groups, the PM said that the Government had implemented the new National Education Policy to nurture scientific mindset in students and opened more than 10 thousand Atal Tinkering Labs to ensure that the next generation of the country gets resources for innovation in schools. Highlighting that these labs were becoming the center of new experiments now, he said that research was being done by more than one crore children. He added that more than 14 thousand PM Shri Schools were working on 21st Century Skills and the Government had established Incubation Centers at the college level to further improve the innovative thinking of students. Shri Modi remarked that advanced Robotics and AI Labs were also being used for practical learnings, while Jigyasa platform was created to solve the queries of the youth where they had the opportunity to directly connect and talk to scientists.
The Prime Minister underlined that today, apart from training, the youth were also being given financial help through the Startup India campaign and being given tax exemption. He added that Mudra loan of up to Rs 20 lakh was also arranged to set up their business. Shri Modi informed that technology parks and new IT hubs were being built across the country for new companies while the Government has created a research fund of Rs 1 lakh crore. He added that the government was standing with the youth at every stage of their career while working according to their needs. Emphasizing that the Hackathons were not just a formal event but also giving new opportunities to our youth, Shri Modi said that it was the process of evolving into a permanent institution, a part of their Pro-People Governance Model.
Prime Minister Modi emphasized the importance of focusing on emerging sectors to position India as an economic superpower. He highlighted that sectors like digital content creation and gaming, which were not well-developed a decade ago, are now rapidly evolving in India. These sectors are opening up new career paths and giving young people opportunities to explore and experiment. The government is actively supporting the curiosity and conviction of the youth by removing obstacles through reforms. He also mentioned the recent National Creators Award aimed at recognizing the efforts and creativity of content creators. PM Modi pointed out the government's efforts to promote sports as a viable career option with initiatives like Khelo India and the TOPS scheme which are helping athletes prepare for major competitions, from village-level tournaments to the Olympics. Furthermore, the National Centre of Excellence for Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming, Comics, and Extended Reality is already making an impact with gaming emerging as a promising career choice.
The Prime Minister highlighted the government's recent decision to launch the One Nation-One Subscription scheme, which has garnered global praise. This initiative provides access to international journals for India’s youth, researchers, and innovators, ensuring that no young person is deprived of valuable information. Under this scheme, the government is subscribing to prestigious journals, enabling widespread access to knowledge. PM Modi emphasized the benefit this will bring to participants in hackathons and the broader goal of empowering Indian youth to compete with the world's best minds. He reiterated that the government's mission aligns with the vision of the youth, ensuring they have all the necessary support and infrastructure to succeed.
Shri Modi reiterated his announcement of bringing one lakh youth in the country's politics who have no history of family members in politics, which he said was imperative for India’s future and added that different ways were being worked out in this direction. Shri Modi announced that "Viksit Bharat Young Leaders Dialogue" would be held in January 2025, where crores of youth from across the country will participate and give their ideas for a developed India. He added that youth and their ideas will be selected and a Young Leaders Dialogue would be organized in New Delhi with them on 11-12 January, on the occasion of Swami Vivekananda's birth anniversary. Announcing that he would also participate in it along with eminent personalities from the country and abroad, Shri Modi urged all the youth connected with SIH to join "Viksit Bharat Young Leaders Dialogue". He added that this would give them another great opportunity to join Nation Building.
Shri Modi encouraged participants in the Smart India Hackathon to see the upcoming time as both an opportunity and a responsibility. He urged teams to not only focus on solving India's challenges but also work on global issues more effectively. PM Modi expressed his hope that by the next hackathon, there would be examples of solutions addressing global crises. He affirmed the nation’s belief and pride in the capabilities of its innovators and problem solvers, wishing them success and extending his gratitude.
Background
The 7th edition of the Smart India Hackathon (SIH) began concurrently at 51 nodal centres nationwide on 11th December 2024. The Software Edition will run nonstop for 36 hours, while the Hardware Edition will continue from 11th to 15th December 2024. Like past editions, the student teams will work on either the problem statements given by Ministries or Departments or Industries or submit their ideas in the Student Innovation Category against any of the 17 themes linked to sectors of national importance. These sectors are - Healthcare, Supply chain and Logistics, Smart Technologies, Heritage and Culture, Sustainability, Education and Skill Development, Water, Agriculture and Food, Emerging Technologies, and Disaster Management.
Some of the interesting problem statements of this year's edition include ‘Enhancing Images of Darker Regions on the Moon’ presented by ISRO, ‘Developing a real-time Ganga Water Quality Monitoring system using AI, satellite data, IoT, and dynamic models’ presented by Ministry of Jal Shakti, and ‘Developing a Smart Yoga Mat integrated with AI’ presented by Ministry of AYUSH.
This year, more than 250 problem statements have been submitted by 54 Ministries, Departments, State Governments, PSUs, and Industries. A 150% increase has been recorded in internal hackathons at the institute level, growing from over 900 in SIH 2023 to around 2,247 in SIH 2024, making this the largest edition so far. More than 86,000 teams have participated in SIH 2024 at the institute level and around 49,000 student teams (each consisting of 6 students and 2 mentors) have been recommended by these institutes for the national level round.
आज दुनिया कह रही है कि भारत की ताकत, हमारी युवाशक्ति है, हमारा innovative youth है, हमारी tech power है: PM @narendramodi
— PMO India (@PMOIndia) December 11, 2024
बीते 7 सालों में जितने भी हैकाथॉन हुए हैं, उनके बहुत सारे Solutions आज देश के लोगों के लिए बहुत उपयोगी सिद्ध हो रहे हैं।
— PMO India (@PMOIndia) December 11, 2024
कई बड़ी समस्याओं का समाधान इन हैकॉथान्स ने दिया है: PM @narendramodi
Students में Scientific Mindset को Nurture करने के लिए हमने नई नेशनल एजुकेशन पॉलिसी लागू की है: PM @narendramodi
— PMO India (@PMOIndia) December 11, 2024
One Nation-One Subscription स्कीम अपने आप में दुनिया की अनूठी स्कीम्स में से एक है।
— PMO India (@PMOIndia) December 11, 2024
जिसके तहत सरकार, प्रतिष्ठित जर्नल्स की सब्स्क्रिप्शन ले रही है, ताकि किसी भी जानकारी से भारत का कोई भी युवा वंचित ना रहे: PM @narendramodi
