At 36-Hour Smart India Hackathon, Testing Times for 30L Students

The Hackathon will see students come up with solutions to problems assigned to them by ministries.

HRD minister Prakash Javadekar speaking at the Smart India Hackathon 2017 in Mumbai on Saturday. (Photo Courtesy: HRD Ministry)

We all know how big a project Digital India is for the Narendra Modi-led government in India. And to get the digitisation project up and running, the government has roped in bodies like the All-India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) and NASSCOM to encourage the country’s youth to become tech-skilled.

There’s a big push for skilled workforce in the country, notably engineers who know their coding and programming.

As part of the push, the Human Resource and Development (HRD) ministry has organised the Smart India Hackathon 2017, which is taking place across the country on 1 and 2 April.

Spread over 26 centres across the country, the Hackathon is a 36-hour event where 30 lakh BTech students from all corners are engaged together to come up with solutions to problems provided to them by various ministries.

Over 59 colleges are participating at this venue in Noida. (Photo: The Quint)

As highlighted on the ministry website, this Hackathon is seen as a platform for programmers to help around 29 ministries solve their problems.

Ministries Involved in the Hackathon:

• Department of Atomic Energy
• Department of Posts, Ministry of Communications
• Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO)
• Ministry of HRD
• Ministry of Railways
• University Grants Commission (UGC)

Smart India Hackathon 2017 is a computer programming competition which will involve all engineering colleges with a reach to approximately 30 lakh students from across India.

<a href="https://www.mygov.in/group-issue/smart-india-hackathon-2017/">MyGov</a> website

Students taking part in this 36-hour coding session. (Photo: The Quint)

Students participating in the Hackathon range from PHP developers to graphic designers and Android developers, among others. Speaking to a few students at one of the nodal centres got us up close with the excitement and issues being addressed by these students.

The centre that we visited was addressing issues put forward by AICTE, wherein students were either redesigning a website, making it user-friendly and designing apps for all the portals available right now for students as well as members of the faculty.

We’re working on a central database of students, which can be updated whenever required and routed through an Android app.&nbsp;

Student participating in the Hackathon

The prevailing atmosphere at the event was one of chaos mixed with the students’ exuberance. The event also includes a Yoga session that will be held in the morning on 2 April.