Students from technical institutions will help the government solve technical problems faced by various ministries and departments over the next three months and also be rewarded for it.
On Wednesday, Minister of Human Resource Development Prakash Javadekar will formally launch a hackathon to kickstart the process. Once it is formally launched, technical problems concerning ministries will be put in the public domain and students from all technical institutions will be free to volunteer to provide solutions to any specific problem.
A hackathon is technically defined as an event, often lasting many days, in which many people meet to engage in collaborative computer programming.
Key MinistriesAbout two dozen ministries and departments have already apprised the MHRD of upwards of 400 technical problems they would want solutions for. Sources say the requests have come from crucial ministries like the Ministry of External Affairs, Ministry of Defence, Ministry of Railways, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and Ministry of Rural Development.
“There will be screening of applications and 15 teams with eight members each will be selected to attempt providing a solution to a technical problem. Each team can have six students and two mentors, one from academics and one from industry,” said an official.
