WEB DESK
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said that India has jumped 24 ranks in the global innovation index and in 4 years it is aiming to be in the top 25 ranking.
Addressing the Grand Finale of the Smart India Hackathon (Software) -2019 through video conferencing last night, Mr Modi said, the rank was 81 in 2014 and now India is at 57th position.
He said, India is now the 3rd biggest start up nation and in the last four years 15 thousand start-ups have come up in all towns and districts. He expressed happiness that half of the start ups are in small towns.
The Prime Minister said, Indian economy is running on a new track and India is adding feathers in innovation and start-ups.
He said, under Atal Incubation Mission, Atal Tinkering Labs are functioning in five thousand schools in which students are knowing about future technology. He said, Innovation and Start-Ups will help in building New India.
The Prime Minister also interacted with students who are participating in the event at various centres in the country.
Mr Modi said, crime against women and children is a big challenge today and it is very important to deal with the menace to build a better society.
He asked the students to innovate solution in tacking the problem. He also asked the youngsters to innovate so that street fruit and vegetable sellers can provide services in the doorstep of the people.
The students also shared their innovations related to tax process simplification, malnutrition, fuel efficiency, solution for divyangs and others.
The 36-hour event is being held at 48 different nodal centres across the country simultaneously with participation of 2 lakh students.
Smart India Hackathon is a unique initiative to identify new and disruptive digital technology innovations for solving the challenges faced by the country.
It is a non-stop digital product development competition, where problems are posed to technology students for innovative solutions.
So far, two editions of Hackathon have been conducted by the Human Resource Development Ministry in 2017 and 2018 which were extremely successful in promoting innovation, out-of-the-box thinking in young minds, especially engineering students from across India.