PM Narendra Modi to address Smart India Hackathon
PM Modi Smart India Hackathon 2020 HIGHLIGHTS: Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed the grand finale of the Smart India Hackathon — a nation-wide competition held by All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE). He interacted with students and enquired about their projects ranging from women’s hygiene products to crime detection technologies to water harvesting. This year, over 4.5 lakh entries were received for the competition.
After interacting with students, PM also talked about the New Education Policy (NEP) 2020. He said that the NEP is not just a policy but a compilation of aspirations of all the Indians. It will convert job seekers into job creators. He gave a mantra to students and said, “never stop three things in life – learning, questioning and solving.”
Read | ‘India shifting from burden of school bags to boon of learning’: PM Modi on NEP
The Smart India Hackathon began at 9 am when the HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal inaugurated it. Each winning team across the themes will get Rs 1 lakh. In the hackathon, candidates were to create solutions for real-world problems. The competition will take place virtually this year. It had started in 2017 and this is its fourth edition.
During his address last year, the PM had said, “Innovation has the power to overcome the challenges our world faces.” He had also added, “Governments alone cannot bring about changes. What brings about change is participative governance.”
NEP aims at making your school, college, and university experience fruitful, broad-based, and one that guides you to your natural passions. It works on a new approach. The approach of the 21st century, says PM.
You must have observed around you that even today, students are judged based on the subject in which they do not even have an interest. Often, under the pressure of parents, relatives, and friends - students tend to opt for subjects that others have selected. This approach has resulted in a huge population which is education, has degrees but they still feel underconfident, feel incomplete. The NEP aims to change this approach, says PM.
This Hackathon is not the first problem you have tried to solve. Nor is this the last. I want you, and youngsters like you to not stop doing three things: Learning, Questioning, Solving. When you learn, you get the wisdom to question: PM
The New Education Policy (NEP) will make job seekers, job creators. It will work towards changing our mindsets, reform our approach, says PM
To give a better life and ease of living to the poor and economically weaker section of the society, the youth has played an important rile. I believe that there is no challenge that our youth cannot solve, says PM.
I have always believed in the youth of the country. When the demand for face shields grew suddenly bt exponentially, the youth used 3D printers and fulfilled the need.... India's youth is the energy of the Atma Nirbhar Bharat, says PM.
NEP focuses on local and integrates it with global. Where we talk about boosting our local culture and languages, NEP also allows top foreign institutes to set-up campuses in India. This will help in creating India a global hub, says PM
Focus is on what student wants to learn rather than what society expects from you. In the NEP, flexibility has been given great importance. There are provisions of multiple entries and exits. No one way street for students. Such flexibility was long needed in our education system. I am happy that NEP could work on this aspect, says PM
Do not stop three things - Learn, Question, Solve. Learn so you can question things, question and you will be able to create solutions. When you solve problems and make efforts, with your efforts, you grow and with you, India grows, says PM to students.
21st century is an era of knowledge, It is time to focus on learning, innovation, and knowledge. This is what NEP does. It works to make your school and college experience fruitful, says PM
It took five years to discuss and debate each aspect and then the new education policy (NEP) was released. This policy, in the true sense, has all the aspirations of all the Indians.
Mission of creating institute of eminence, initiatives like smart India hackathon, more scholarships for students - all these initiatives are aimed to ensure our education system becomes modern and and progressive, says PM
A team of students created a data-driven solution to increase the performance of corporates. Students claim that their product would enable more informed investment decisions. The PM enquired whether this would have applications in government also?
I will ask IPS training institute to connect with you and then you give your presentation to these people. You should interact with people on the field and this will help you make your product user friendly and make it better reaching, said Modi to a MLR Institute student who created products to help police.
Can you create a real-time tracking and alert system which can integrate schools, offices with police control rooms to ensure the safety of women, and children?, PM asks a student from MLR institute who created a solution to reduce crime.
Sitting in Ernakulam, you are creating products to solve problems for people in the North East. This gives power to the idea of Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat, says Modi while discussing one of the students who created a solution to improve issues of low connectivity
Awareness about women's hygiene has come really late in India. In the past six years, women are doing efforts towards this. Govt is providing affordable biodegradable pads to women, said Modi while talking about a reusable menstrual hygiene product for women.
Students from MGM College of Engineering and Technology, Ernakulam, Kerala created a virtual assistant which can help patients in incubators. PM congratulated these students and said, with data-driven solutions, healthcare solutions are creating a huge change. Poorest of poor and remotest of areas are getting affordable services because of such technologies and this is our aim under Ayushman Bharat Yojna.
To make our facilities, effective, interactive and people-friendly, Artificial Intelligence can be a huge facilitator, says PM to students
Holding this competition in these circumstances was the first challenge which you have solved. The challenges which you have been working on, I am curious to know about them, says PM
Innovation cell held the competition virtually due to the coronavirus pandemic. This is an evidence of digital India where thousands of students from across the country could participate in the competition despite the difficult time, says HRD Minister.
Since 9 am, over 10,000 students working on their projects, Modi to announce winners. HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal claims the Smart India Hackathon is the largest sug competition in the world.
Essential to know the root of every problem and think about 'out of the box' ways to solve them...Innovation has the power to overcome the challenges our world faces, Modi had said while addressing the previous hackathon.
While addressing one of the previous hackathons, Modi had said, "the biggest assets of any nation are Shram Shakti and Ichcha Shakti. Once people decide to bring about change, everything is possible."
The PM tweeted from his personal handle, “Young India is filled with talent! The grand finale of the Smart India Hackathon 2020 showcases this very spirit of innovation and excellence. On 1st August at 4:30 PM, looking forward to interacting with the finalists of the Hackathon and knowing more about their works.”
In order to promote innovative culture in our country, the HRD Minister said that innovation should start at the school level itself and ATAL tinkering labs should be harnessed for this purpose. A proper linkage should be made between students of schools and engineering college curriculum.
As an outcome of Smart India Hackathons till date, around 331 prototypes have been developed, 71 startups are under formation, 19 startups are successfully registered. Further, 39 solutions have already been deployed at various departments and around 64 potential solutions have been funded for further development, claims the HRD Ministry.
Each Problem Statement carries a prize money of Rs. 1,00, 000 except the student innovation theme which will have three winners, 1st, 2nd and 3rd with prize money of Rs. 1,00,000, Rs. 75,000 and 50,000 respectively.
For SIH 2020, the first level screening of students’ ideas has already taken place in January through a college-level Hackathon and only the winning teams at the college level were made eligible for the national round of SIH. Again at the national level, ideas were screened by Experts and Evaluators and only the shortlisted teams will compete during the Grand Finale.
Grand Finale of the software edition this year is being organized online. More than 10,000 students will be competing to solve 243 problem statements from 37 central government departments, 17 state governments, and 20 industries.
The first edition of Smart India Hackathon 2017 saw the participation of 42000 students which increased to 1 lakh in 2018 and to 2 lakh in 2019. The first round of Smart India Hackathon 2020 saw the participation of more than 4.5 lakh students.
Grand Finale of Smart India Hackathon 2020 (Software) will be held from 1st to 3rd August, 2020. This hackathon is being organized by the Ministry of Human Resources Development, Government of India; All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE)
Smart India Hackathon is an open platform for the innovators or entrepreneurs of tomorrow. Smart India Hackathon is a nationwide initiative to provide students with a platform to solve some of the pressing problems we face in our daily lives, and thus inculcate a culture of product innovation and a mindset of problem-solving.