New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday addressed the grand finale of Smart India Hackathon 2022 via video conferencing. Smart India Hackathon (SIH) started in 2017 is a nationwide initiative to provide students with a platform to solve the pressing problems of society, organisations, and government. It aims at inculcating the culture of product innovation, problem-solving and out-of-the-box thinking among students.
The Prime Minister interacted with the participants. A team from Kerala was asked by the Prime Minister about their project of translation of text in ancient temples into Devanagari. The all-girl team described the findings, benefits and process of the project. They said that their work is in response to the Prime Minister’s call from the Red Fort.
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The Prime Minister stressed the need to be self-reliant in the field of medical devices. Master Viraj Vishwanath Marathe Winner of SIH Junior from Gujarat has prepared a mobile game application called HCam for people suffering from dementia after realising that dementia is a global health issue. It involves the discussion of previous events and props such as photographs and videos. The app consists of art therapy, games, music and videos which will help in the cognitive improvement of dementia patients while providing an outlet for self-expression. In response to the Prime Minister’s query about being in touch with a Yoga Institute, Viraj said that he has been in contact with Yoga instructors who have suggested a few asanas for old age.
Animesh Mishra of DataClan from BIT Mesra Ranchi described the use of deep learning in predicting cyclones. Based on satellite images from INSAT, the work can help in better prediction of various aspects of cyclones. The Prime Minister asked about the availability of data for the project to which Animesh said that he has considered the cyclones that hit the Indian coastline after 2014 and the accuracy is close to 89 per cent.
He further added that even though the data that has been collected so far is low, but with his technical ability, he has strived to attain maximum accuracy and output. Priyansh Diwan of Team Sarvagya from West Bengal informed the Prime Minister about his team's work of enabling the transfer of multimedia data securely on the radio set through radio waves without the Internet.
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He said that with this system in place, privacy issues can be completely addressed as the app is made indigenously and the servers are also situated in India. When the Prime Minister asked Priyansh if the system can be deployed by the army in border areas, Priyansh said the transmission is encrypted, which allows it to be used in areas where the threat of signal interception prevails.
The Prime Minister also asked Priyansh if the team is working towards the transmission of video files via this system. Priyansh said that since the transmission medium remains the same, it is possible to transmit videos and the team is working towards transmitting videos in tomorrow’s hackathon. Nitesh Pandey from team IDEAL-BITS Assam told the Prime Minister about the app for grassroots innovators for filing IPR applications.
The app will use AI and other technologies for simplifying the process of filing patent applications. In response to the Prime Minister’s query about how the app will help innovators, Nitish said that the application educates the innovators about patents and how they can be approached. The app provides an end-to-end solution for innovators, who are willing to file a patent.
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The Smart Glove works on the model of the Internet of Medical Things and it helps in monitoring the health vitals like mental health, heart rate, blood pressure, oxygen saturation level, mood detection, tremors in the hand and body temperature. The Prime Minister praised his parents for all their support. Bhagyashree Sanpala of Samidha from Punjab talked about the problem of real-time fuel monitoring of ships through machine learning and satellite technology. Samidha aims to achieve an unmanned maritime monitoring system.
The Prime Minister asked Bhagyashree if the system can be applied to other areas as well. Bhagyashree said that it is possible. Speaking on the occasion, the Prime Minister said that SIH has become an important way of public participation. He said that he is full of confidence in the young generation. “The country is working on big resolutions about how our country will be after 100 years of independence."
You are the innovators, who are the flag bearers of the slogan of 'Jai Anusandhan' for the fulfilment of these resolutions”, he said. Modi underlined the shared trajectory of the success of the young innovators and the success of the country in the next 25 years. “Your innovative mindset will take India to the top in the next 25 years”, he added.
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Referring to his Independence Day proclamation about the aspirational society, the Prime Minister said that this aspirational society will work as a driving force in the coming 25 years. Aspirations, dreams and challenges of this society will bring forth many opportunities for the innovators, he said. The Prime Minister said that In the last 7-8 years, the country is “progressing rapidly through one revolution after another”.
“Infrastructure revolution is happening in India today. The health sector revolution is happening in India today. The digital revolution is happening in India today. The technology revolution is happening in India today. Talent Revolution is happening in India today”, Modi said. Today the focus is on making every sector modern, he said.
The Prime Minister said that every day new areas and challenges are seeking innovative solutions. He told the innovators to find solutions for agriculture-related issues. He asked the young innovators to take full advantage of the initiatives like optical fibre in every village and the launch of 5G, preparation for 6G by the decade's end, and promotion of the gaming ecosystem.
He said that Indian innovations always provide the most competitive, affordable, sustainable, secured and at-scale solutions. That is why the world is looking towards India with hope, he said. The Prime Minister emphasised that to increase the culture of innovation in India, we have to pay constant attention to two things -social support and institutional support.
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Atal Tinkering Labs and i-create are promoting innovation at every level, he said. The Prime Minister remarked that “today's India of the 21st century is moving ahead with full confidence in its youth as a result of which, India's ranking in innovation index has increased today”. The number of patents has increased seven times in the last eight years. The unicorn count has also crossed 100, the Prime Minister added.
The Prime Minister said that today’s young generation is coming forward with fast and smart solutions to the problem. Thinking behind such hackathons is that the young generation should provide the solutions to the problems and this collaborative spirit between the youth, government and private organisations is a great example of ‘Sabka Prayas’, he said.
