Smart India Hackathon

UPSC gave three statements about Smart India Hackathon 2017. You had to pick the correct ones.

What were the statements?

• Statement 1 called it a centrally sponsored scheme to turn every city into a Smart City in a decade.
• Statement 2 called it an initiative to identify new digital technology innovations for solving the country’s problems.
• Statement 3 called it a programme to make all financial transactions in the country digital.

What is the answer?

Only statement 2 is correct. The answer is statement 2 only. PIB describes Smart India Hackathon as a unique initiative to identify new and disruptive digital technology innovations. It is a non-stop product development competition for technology students.

Why are the other two wrong?

Statement 1 mixes it up with a different mission. The Smart Cities Mission was launched on 25 June 2015 and picked 100 cities. Smart India Hackathon builds digital solutions to problems. It does not develop cities. Statement 3 fails too, because Smart India Hackathon has nothing to do with payments.

Smart India Hackathon is a nationwide competition for students. It is not a scheme for cities. Think of it as a very large problem-solving contest.

What problems do students solve?

• Ministries and departments of government post real problems.
• Industries and other organisations also post problems.
• Student teams build digital solutions in a non-stop competition.
• Teams may also send their own idea in the Student Innovation category. In 2024 this category had 17 themes.

How does a team reach the final?

Colleges screen ideas first. In 2020 PIB said only the winning college teams reached the national round. The national finale is the Grand Finale. In 2024 each team had 6 students and 2 mentors.

The first edition began months before its finale.

When did it start?

Smart India Hackathon 2017 was launched on 9 November 2016 in New Delhi. Government departments then posted problems for students to solve.

How big was it?

• 29 ministries and departments identified 598 problems.
• 7,531 teams and about 42,000 students responded.
• The finale ran at 26 locations.

What happened at the finale?

The Grand Finale began at 8 a.m. on 1 April 2017. It ended at 8 p.m. on 2 April 2017. Teams worked non-stop for 36 hours. The top three teams were to win Rs 1 lakh, Rs 75,000 and Rs 50,000. On the evening of 1 April, the Prime Minister spoke to the students by video conference.

Two bodies run it together. One is the Innovation Cell of the Ministry of Education. The other is AICTE, the All India Council for Technical Education.

What was different in 2017?

In 2017 the ministry was named the Ministry of Human Resource Development. PIB said the ministry led the campaign through AICTE as its main anchor. The Human Resource Development Minister, Prakash Javadekar, was the Chief Patron.

Who helped from industry?

• In 2017 the IT industry, especially i4c and Persistent Systems, and NASSCOM led the effort.
• In 2020 PIB named the ministry, AICTE, Persistent Systems and i4c as organisers.

The event has run in most years since 2017. Its scale has changed from one edition to the next.

What do the numbers say?

• 2018: the software finale ran on 30-31 March. PIB announced 28 nodal centres. It had 408 problems, of which 340 were for software.
• 2019: the finale was announced for 48 nodal centres. More than 34,000 teams had sent entries.
• 2020: the finale ran online at 40 virtual nodal centres from 1 to 4 August. It had 243 problem statements.
• 2022: the finale tackled 476 problem statements from 53 Union ministries.
• 2023: the finale had 231 problem statements and was scheduled for 48 nodal centres. It drew entries from 44,000 teams.
• 2024: the seventh edition began on 11 December at 51 centres. It had 254 problem statements.

Was there an edition in 2021?

The official edition list on the Smart India Hackathon website skips 2021. The PIB edition counts agree with that gap.

From 2018 the contest had two tracks. One builds software. The other builds physical hardware.

How did the two tracks start?

PIB describes the 2018 contest as having two sub-editions. The Software edition was a non-stop 36-hour contest held on 30 and 31 March 2018. The Hardware edition was inaugurated on 18 June 2018.

How do the two tracks compare in problem statements?

• 2023: 176 software and 55 hardware problem statements.
• 2024: 186 software and 68 hardware problem statements.

Is there anything for schools?

Yes. In 2022 PIB said a Smart India Hackathon – Junior had been introduced as a pilot for school students.

The government reports results at several points. These are official claims, so each one carries its date.

What did PIB report?

• 2018: ministries agreed to support 56 of the 135 winning teams. Each backed team would get Rs 3 lakh as a grant.
• By 2020: PIB listed 331 prototypes and 19 registered start-ups. It also listed 39 solutions already deployed in departments.
• 2024: PIB said Smart India Hackathon alumni had set up over 100 start-ups.

Why does this matter for exams?

The numbers are not worth memorising. The pattern is. Students solve a ministry’s problem, and the ministry may then adopt the solution.

Exams ask about what the programme is. They also test if you confuse it with a bigger scheme.

Which facts should you hold?

• It is a student competition, not a scheme for cities.
• It began in 2017 and ran as a 36-hour finale on 1-2 April 2017.
• It is run by the Ministry of Education’s Innovation Cell and AICTE.
• Problems come from ministries, departments and industry.
• It has a Software edition and a Hardware edition.

What is the common trap?

The Smart Cities Mission sounds close. It is a different mission, launched on 25 June 2015. Any option about cities or financial transactions points the wrong way.