PMINDIA

The talent and ingenuity of our Yuva Shakti is remarkable: PM

150% increase recorded this year in internal hackathons at institute level, making this the largest edition so far

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.