SIH- A Vision of #AtmanirbharBharat

A few weeks back I had received a call regarding being a part of the Judging panel for a National Level Hackathon. At that point of time, I had no clue what I was being a part of. The first mail communication regarding an introductory session to the process made me wonder and then finally after a little research opened my eyes regarding that. It was none other than the Smart India Hackathon, a government of India initiative started in 2017.

#ALittleAboutSIH

SIH provides a great platform for students and industries to interact and come out with innovative solutions to the problems pertaining in the system. A huge list of Problem Statements are given in the portal by various Ministries, PSUs and Private Organizations so that optimal solutions can be found for these. It inculcates a culture of product innovation and a mind-set of problem solving among the students. It also gives a very good forum for future employment opportunities.

A total of 353 Problem Statements were selected under 11 Themes, Agriculture and Rural Development, Clean Water, Robotics and Drones to name a few. Around 8640 Students working in 1080 Teams were competing among each other for 3 Days.

#TheFormalIntroduction

My very first step into SIH was the welcome session conducted by Prof. Anand Deshpande Chairman Persistent Systems & Dr. Anil Sahasrabudhe Chairman (AICTE). They took it upon themselves to explain the entire Digital Hackathon process to the participating Jury Members. It was great hearing their thoughts on various innovations and funding young entrepreneurial minds for the development of our country.

#WarmWelcomes

Then began a series of exciting welcomes and mentions from the hosting Colleges. It is a very different feeling when you are on the receiving side of these mementos. In my college days I always wondered why do we give these little items and what meaning will they have, but now I understand that it is not the amount that matters but the gesture itself feels the heart with a small sense of pride.

#TheModiFactor

And finally came my most awaited moment, the speech by Shri Narendra Modi. More to my surprise this had turned out to be an interaction between our PM and the participating students from all parts of India. The confidence of students presenting their ideas in front of the PM and answering his queries was commendable. The way our PM paid interest to each and every idea, asking questions and widening the horizons of each solution was a very big boost to everyone present in this webcast. There were few from Hyderabad in the webcast that had worked on some great ideas for solving problems of Police and identifying Criminals. The PM has promised to workout an interaction for these teams with the young recruits of IPS Training Academy in Hyderabad so that these ideas can be further enhanced by dialogues and can be set in motion.

#TheEvaluationStory

The 3 days evaluation process involves continuous development and feedback. Each team had to present their idea and it's implementation to the jury. Then jury provided feedback on the idea on how it can be improved and made more ready to use for organizations. The team was then given 24 hours until next evaluation so that they can implement those suggestions or provide other alternatives to the questions raised. There were 2 initial evaluations on 1st and 2nd August and the final Evaluation was held on 3rd August. The teams were given marks in each evaluation and their final score came out to be the average of all three evaluations.

The teams were evaluated on the below aspects -

• Solution Appearance - How visually sound the application is.
• Impact - The impact that the presented solution will have in the Organizational Eco System after it's implementation. What percentage of the problem will be solved, how quickly it can be bought into use and other such aspects. How will it make the lives of the people using the solution easy.
• Technology - What Softwares and Architectures have been used to implement the solution. What licensing and other costs are associated with the solution. How easy it will be to implement changes in any component of the software. What design principles have been followed. How easy the software evolution will be. What steps have been used for disaster managements and other aspects of software development have been taken into consideration or not.
• Execution - The execution of the idea in mind to it's implementation in reality. How well the team had managed to present and market it's solution. If any suggestions have been accommodated and how that has been done over such short span of 24 hours. If the team is able to handle cross questions and is open to suggestions and changes.
• User Experience - If the solution is user friendly or not. How much time it will take for it's user to learn all aspects of it's usage. If and how it will decrease the complexity for the user

#TheClosingCeremony

The Valedictory Ceremony was held on 5th of August where the winners were announced based on the scores. The Ceremony was laced with gracious and encouraging words of the Chief Guest Mr. Venkatesh Sarvasiddhi from National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) and other dignitaries.

#MyClosingWords

I feel delighted to be a part of this great initiative and contributing in the betterment and development of the presented ideas. I felt happy to see such enthusiastic participation of the students who took the feedback constructively. I definitely feel that the future of our country lies in the very able and visionary youth. And it gives me happiness to see that I managed to make an impact on our youth. Sharing the thoughts of Rahul Singh, one of the participants in SIH whom I got a chance to mentor.