Gov-TechThon 2020

Organizing Committee | Jury Mentors

Hackathons are the events where software developers, domain experts and programmers come together to collaborate for developing innovative, problem-solving software prototypes. Due to the current Covid-19 pandemic situation, virtual hackathons are held, where participants can collaborate online to provide solutions / prototypes for the problems.

While reviewing the progress of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) on 4th July 2020, the Honorable Prime Minister of India Sri. Narendra Modi asked to leverage information technology to provide information-on-demand to farmers. To boost innovation and use of technology in agriculture and other sectors, the Prime Minister stressed on the need to promote startups and entrepreneurs. Moreover, in order to solve identified problems and design needs for tools and equipment that can reduce drudgery, the Prime Minister asked ICAR to organize biannual hackathons.

Building upon the ideation and guidance from the Prime Minister, IEEE Computer Society, National Informatics Center (NIC) and Oracle have come together for solving some of the high priority challenges through Gov-TechThon 2020.

IEEE Computer Society is organizing a pan India 36 hours virtual Hackathon, Gov-TechThon 2020, for central Government Departments in collaboration with NIC and Oracle India.

Gov-TechThon 2020 Schedule

NIC has collated 5 challenges from Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare, Ministry of Education, and Ministry of Road Transport and Highways in India.

Registration is now closed.

Participants:

The participation is open to students, working professionals, start-ups, freelancers, faculty or any one in India who has ideas or solutions to the problem statements. This virtual hackathon seeks innovative solutions / approaches to defined problem statements.
The participants have to collaborate virtually for solving the problems. The teams can have a maximum of 5 members.

Prizes and Certificates:

Top 3 teams from each application domain are shortlisted for the final round (total of 15 teams). These 15 teams present their designs and solutions to the jury. Top 3 teams from all application domains get prizes (cash and certificates). Remaining 12 teams get Runner-up certificates.

1st Prize : Rs. 2,25,000.00

2nd Prize : Rs. 1,25,000.00

3rd Prize : Rs. 85,000.00

All participants get a certificate of participation.

Mentors and Jury:

The event will have mentors and jury from IEEE, NIC, industry, academic institutions and Government departments that have provided problem statements.

The mentors provide required domain and technical clarification for the participants. Oracle India provides the Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, services, tools and technical support for participants. Mentoring team will be available throughout the hackathon session.
The jury periodically assess the teams based on host of parameters.

About IEEE and Computer Society

IEEE is the world’s largest technical professional organization dedicated to advancing technology for the benefit of humanity. IEEE and its members inspire a global community to innovate for a better tomorrow through its more than 419,000 members in over 160 countries. Further details can be obtained at www.ieee.org

The IEEE Computer Society is the premier source for information, inspiration, and collaboration in computer science and engineering. Connecting members worldwide, the Computer Society empowers the people who advance technology by delivering tools for individuals at all stages of their professional careers. For more details visit www.computer.org

About NIC

National Informatics Centre (NIC) is attached office of Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY). NIC was established in 1976, and has rich experience in providing ICT and eGovernance support to the Government for the last 4 decades and bridge the digital divide. It has emerged as a promoter of digital opportunities for sustainable development. NIC spearheaded “Informatics-Led-Development” by implementing ICT applications in social and public administration and facilitates electronic delivery of services to the government (G2G), business (G2B), citizen (G2C) and government employee (G2E). NIC, through its ICT Network, “NICNET”, has institutional linkages with all the Ministries /Departments of the Central Government, 37 State Governments/ Union Territories, and about 720+ District Administrations of India.

NIC has been closely associated with the Government in different aspects of Governance besides establishing a Nationwide State-of-the-Art ICT Infrastructure, it has also built a large number of digital solutions to support the government at various levels, making the last-mile delivery of government services to the citizens a reality.

About Oracle

The Oracle Cloud offers a complete suite of integrated applications for Sales, Service, Marketing, Human Resources, Finance, Supply Chain and Manufacturing, plus Highly Automated and Secure Generation 2 Infrastructure featuring the Oracle Autonomous Database. For more information about Oracle (NYSE: ORCL), please visit us at www.oracle.com

PROBLEM STATEMENTS

Listed below are the five challenges NIC is seeking solutions through the Gov-TechThon 2020:

1. AI based Alternate Crop Recommendation

Problem Description: Artificial Intelligence (AI) based Alternate Crop or Crop Rotation proposition is desired for providing suggestions for alternate crops which may increase profitability of the farmers. The system may consider parameters of good agricultural practices. Obtain soil type, water requirement / availability, seasonal parameters (temperature ranges, humidity, etc.) along with location and advise the best crops suitable along with what is required (quality / quantity of seeds, fertilizers, pesticides, labour requirements, animal / machines), duration of cultivation, demand, cost of cultivation and expected revenues / profits.

Minimum Desired Outcome: An application that takes required parameters intelligently or from the database of the location (from the cloud) and provides the list of best crops suited for that land. The application should also be able to collect the outcome after cultivation and apply correction as appropriate for further advisories. The details of the crops for the region and conditions are provided. Applications should be interactive, user friendly for farmers (provide local language support) and should provide support in real time.

2. Seed Certification using Blockchain technology

Problem Description: Seed supply chain is a complex ecosystem involving various stakeholders. Seed quality issues have demanded a need for effective traceability solution. Several important criteria such as origin of the seed, stages in production, conformance to quality standards such as genetic purity, germination rate etc. are to be validated.

Minimum Desired Outcome: Sample seed characteristics and other details will be provided. The details are to be fetched and transparency to be maintained throughout from source (origin) to destination. The application should intelligently support local languages. Participants may use BlockChain technology for solving the problem.

3. Facilitation of Document Upload for Online Applications

Problem Description: As online citizen-centric applications have become ubiquitous, the need for uploading support documents like address proof, ID proof, etc. have become a common requirement. The process of scanning documents, resizing them to specified size, uploading to the online system, etc. are complicated for lay persons. In most cases, they need to waste considerable time, or take help from others, which make the system unfriendly. An application to support these needs to be developed which can be integrated with any Government or Government approved applications.

Minimum Desired Outcome: A mobile / web based application to be developed for scanning, resizing and uploading documents (as required) in a single flow. Should support taking the photo of the applicant instantly, resize as required and upload. The details / documents obtained are stored in the cloud securely. The application should intelligently support local languages. Provision to interface easily with any online application is necessary. The solution has to be highly secure and hack-proof.

4. Unsupervised Test Platform / Tool

Problem Description: Currently, Computer based exams / tests are supervised at designated exam centres. Due to Covid-19 situation, it would be ideal to provide the exams online and with the same degree of integrity

Minimum Desired Outcome: The exams can be taken online from homes, through combination of remote-supervision software and web cam. System should ensure necessary authentication, control, fraud detection and compliance, using appropriate technology. The application should intelligently support local languages.

5. Automation of Vehicle Fitness Test

Problem Description: As per Motor Vehicle act, all commercial vehicles are mandated to undergo fitness test periodically, depending on vehicle age. The vehicles are to be brought to designated fitness centres (which are normally one centre per district in most states) for inspection and certification. There are normally long queues and the process is hassle some. An innovative solution is required to ease this process for all.

Minimum Desired Outcome: Fitness test procedure needs to be automated. The testing is also done transparently. Wherever possible, the parameters are to be tested automatically (obtain the image / video for selected test, analyze and rate the test as pass / fail. For the tests where manual intervention is required (checking the brakes, etc.), the authorized personnel will key-in the details (online). Net results are published only if minimum set of requirements are satisfied. The solution should be self-learning and the participants may use any technology. The application should intelligently support local languages.

EVENT CONTACT INFO: For inquires about the Hackathon and for any clarifications, please contact GovTechThon@computer.org.
 
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