What is a Hackathon??? You may be wondering what a hackathon is. It sounds like a marathon, right? Yes. Hackathon is a competition of computer programming for long hours at a stretch, like we run in marathons. Generally, a problem or a challenge is given to the teams and they have to provide new and disruptive digital technology innovations to solve the problem. It may be for 24 hours to 32 hours.
Why Hackathon in India?? Government of India wants to achieve 100% digital literacy in our country to put the governance within every one’s reach. In order to achieve this dream, AICTE and ministry of human resources and development are collaboratively organizing “SMART INDIA HACKATHON -2017”. This is a computer programming competition accessible for 30 lakh students of engineering colleges across the country. AICTE, MHRD and 29 other ministries identified the problems in India and posted 598 problems on its website to challenge the students to think out of the box and offer innovative ideas to build smart applications which will help address major real time problems in our country. The ministry received ideas from 7531 teams from 2100 engineering colleges across the country. Out of 1531 teams, 1266 teams are shortlisted for the finale. Each team consists of 6 team members and 2 mentors. Winners of this event will get support from the government to convert their ideas into start-ups. The winning teams also will get cash prizes worth of 50 lakh rupees. The government is looking for the smartest solutions from the youth to face the challenges in country.
The Finale - CVR College of Engineering and KL University as hosts Smart India Hackathon may enter "the Guinness Book of World Records” as this is the world’s biggest hackathon that is happening for 36 hours on April-1st and 2nd i.e. tomorrow and day after tomorrow. There are 26 nodal centers across the country to organize this event. CVR College of Engineering and KL University will host this event in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh respectively.
Zumba and Yoga - FUN with Programming Though it is a very responsible and serious competition, there are other interesting events too. The participants will have an interesting menu in their food. Apart from that, there are yoga and Zumba dance in the schedule to energize the participants. Let’s expect we will get a really workable solutions for the progress of our country. Let’s also wish all the best to the participating teams to succeed.
