PM Modi to interact with finalists today

Mysore/Mysuru: A group of six students from city has entered the Grand Finale of Smart India Hackathon-2020, a nationwide initiative to provide students platform to solve some of the problems we face in our daily lives. The intention of the Hackathon is to inculcate a culture of product innovation and a mindset of problem solving.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will interact with the finalists of Smart India via video conferencing from 4.30 pm today. This time, the Hackathon will focus on post COVID world and creating ways for Aatma Nirbhar Bharat. The Hackathon has proved to be extremely successful in promoting out-of-the-box thinking in young minds. 

The six students who are participating in the Hackathon from Mysuru are from Mysore College of Engineering and Management and they are putting forward their ideas to Ministry of Women and Child Development. The team is called HACK ELITES and is led by Umme Sufiya. Other members of the team are I.K. Yeshwanth, Priya M. Dolli, S. Sharath, Samia Shoukath Khan and Afreen Khanum from the Computer Science and Information Science Department. 

The team is building an information management system (software) for NGOs and IMOs (intermediary organisations) so that there will be secured financial support for women in need from the Government. Other aims of the team is to build an exceptional information Management System and effective communi-cation and monitoring system where authorities in New Delhi will have a visibility of how women are being benefitted in the grassroots level.

The team is building a software product called ‘Rashtriya Mahila Seva Kendra’ where loans are given to women by the Ministry of Women and Child Development. The software enables close monitoring of how the money is being channelled and utilised by women. It has a reporting and communication mechanism so that the funds reach the actual beneficiary. Fund usage and benefits garnered by the women is also monitored and reported to the higher echelons of the Government, Umme Sufiya told Star of Mysore. Assistant Professors H.S. Harsha Kumar and R. Roopa are team mentors. 

The Grand Finale of the software edition this year is being organised online by connecting all the participants throughout the nation together over a specially-built advanced platform. More than 10,000 students will be competing to solve 243 problem statements from 37 Central Government departments, 17 State Governments and 20 industries.

“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,” the PM tweeted ahead of his interaction. 

“The Smart India Hackathon has emerged as a vibrant forum to ideate and innovate. Naturally, this time our youth would be focusing on the post-COVID world in their innovations, along with ways to create an Aatma Nirbhar Bharat,” the PM wrote on Twitter 

Hackathon 2017 saw participation of 42,000 students which increased to 1 lakh in 2018 and to 2 lakh in 2019. The first round of Smart India Hackathon 2020 saw participation of more than 4.5 lakh students.