PM Narendra Modi to address finalists of the Smart India Hackathon at 10 PM on 1 April

The Grand Finale of the Smart India Hackathon will be held from 8 AM on 1 April to 8 PM on 2 April. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address the participants of the Hackathon directly via video conferencing at 10 PM on 1 April.

The Smart India Hackathon can be considered to be an extension of the Digital India initiative. The hackathon will be held at 26 different centres across the country and involve over 10,000 students hacking away at problems for 36 hours continuously. The students will be split into teams of 6 and will have 2 mentors for support.

Various ministries have identified 598 problems which the teams will be working on. Out of 7,531 ideas submitted, 1,266 have been shortlisted.

The Ministry of Human Resources and Development (HRD) and the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) have worked together to promote and organise the event. To spread awareness of the hackathon, 26 awareness workshops were held at various locations in the country.

ET reports that the hackathon is dedicated to the Department of Science (DoS) and the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro).

Isro has also announced a prizes of Rs 1 lakh, Rs 75,000 and Rs 50,000 for the top 3 teams. A consolation prize of Rs 10,000 will also be awarded.

Government organisations will be able to use the solutions developed by these students to improve their governance platforms, says a press release on the event.