IIT Kharagpur’s Undergraduate Students Council has launched KGP Hacks Corona, an initiative for the IIT KGP community to build software and data solutions aimed at tackling various challenges related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The objective as stated by Council representative Santosh T.Y.S.S is not only to engage the students during the isolation period but also create an online space where developers can ideate, experiment and build software solutions. Students can use technologies of their choice in diverse areas to address the thematic areas of the tech challenge.
The thematic areas span over
Health: Address and scale a range of health initiatives, including preventative/hygiene behaviors (especially for at-risk countries and populations), supporting frontline health workers, scaling telemedicine, contact tracing/containment strategies, treatment and diagnosis development.
Vulnerable Populations: The set of problems facing the elderly and the immuno-compromised, such as access to meals and groceries, and supporting those who are losing jobs and income.
Businesses: The set of problems that businesses are facing to stay afloat, collaborate effectively, and move parts of their business online.
Community: Promoting connection to friends, family, and neighbors to combat social isolation and the digitizing of public services for local governments.
Education: Alternative learning environments and tools for students, teachers, and entire school systems.
Entertainment: Alternatives to traditional forms of entertainment that can keep the talent and audiences safe and healthy.
Others as ideated by the students.
On submission of innovative ideas selection would be done on a rolling basis and will be mentored to develop it further.
“Shortlisted solutions would be considered for deployment by scaling it up based on its feasibility. We have made a huge range of COVID references available for online assistance,” said Santosh.
Interested students must join the slack group for KGP hacks Corona: https://bit.ly/3dAmF0V
IIT Kharagpur is hosting the Grand Finale of the Smart India Hackathon 2019, Software Edition on March 2-3, 2019. This year 186 students from various colleges including 6 from IIT Kharagpur will be participating in the event. Another 36 students from the Institute will be participating at other editions of SIH2019 hosted by ISRO, Adani group etc.
Shri Prakash Javadekar, Hon’ble Minister of Human Resources Development will announce the start of the Smart India Hackathon 2019 on March 2. A live interaction session with the Hon’ble Prime Minister of India, Shri Narendra Modi has been scheduled later in the day.
SIH is an initiative of the Ministry of Human Resources Development to provide students with a platform to solve some of pressing problems we face in our daily lives, and thus inculcate a culture of product innovation and a mindset of problem-solving. The last edition of the hackathon saw over 5 million+ students from various engineering colleges compete for the top prize at 35+ locations.
SIH 2019 includes themes such as Smart Communication, Smart Vehicles, Agriculture & Rural Development, Food Technology, Healthcare & Biomedical Devices, Clean Water, Waste Management, Renewable Energy, Robotics and Drones, Security & Surveillance, technology ideas in tertiary sectors like Hospitality, Financial Services, Entertainment, Tourism and Retail.
While the students will compete for a marathon coding event to develop unique solutions in the thematic areas, they will be mentored by professionals from the Ministry.
The participating students would have the opportunity to work on challenges faced within the private sector organisations and create world-class solutions for some of the top companies in the world, thus helping the industries hire the best minds from across the nation.
Student participants can further apply for research internship opportunities at IIT Kharagpur confirmed the program coordinator.
“Smart India Hackathon with its massive scale, reach, mentorship and follow up are building a new culture of innovation in our higher education system which will have far-reaching effects on the future generations. IIT Kharagpur is extremely happy and privileged to be involved in this new paradigm of at all levels from Coordinating the programme in the last two years and hosting the Grand Finale events,” said Prof. P P Chakrabarti, Director, IIT Kharagpur and Chairman of the event.
Incubation facility could be offered to form startups based on the technological and economic feasibility and market acceptance.
Challenges of urban India were the top picks at this year’s Young Innovators Program #YIP2018 organized by IIT Kharagpur. Students in classes VIII-X from schools in India and Singapore who attended the final two rounds of the science and technology competition at IIT Kharagpur, came up with solutions to problem statements in the areas of Clean Energy, Health and cleanliness, Resource management, Hardware Modelling, Product Designing and Disaster Management.
Winning Team
The winner was a low-cost home-made herbal mask to help breathe in a polluted environment (Watch Video). Parineeti Bhura, Manveer Singh from Kaanger Valley Academy, Raipur, Chattisgarh developed this anti-pollution mask project along with a working model. The 1st runner-up was The Crossword School from Guntur, Andhra Pradesh (Watch Video). The students Hemasreevani, Vishnu Teja and Sudhanshu G developed an electronic device for instantly fixing potholes for smooth and safe surface transport which they named Pothole Warrior. The second runner-up was a project on smart management of waste using solar and ultrasonic sensors (Watch Video). Aditi Sahay and Sudipa Bhattacharjee of Tarapore School from Jamshedpur, Jharkhand developed this project for a network connected smart bin drawing their inspiration from the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan.
1st Runner-up2nd Runner-up
Some of the other noteworthy projects were Pollution Biosensor by KIIT International, Train Turbine by BP Vidya Mandir, smart home illumination etc. A total of 24 teams presented their models in the semi-final round which were judged by faculty members and alumni of IIT Kharagpur (Watch Video). Six teams qualified in the final round who were further evaluated on the originality of their projects, societal impact, quality of presentation and overall project idea.
“The Young Innovators Program is an attempt by IIT KGP to nurture an orientation towards scientific and technological innovation among the future generations. The young talents need to be groomed and motivated towards understanding the challenges faced by the world and ideate feasible solutions. In the first edition of the event, we were delighted with the ideas put forward by these greenhorns. The students qualifying for this event are extremely talented and we are glad to offer this platform to encourage their scientific pursuit,” said Prof. Baidurya Bhattacharya, Dean, International Relations.
The number of female participants was astounding this year. “About 35% of the participants were girls and this indicates a change in the scenario of STEM in the coming years,” remarked a senior coordinator of the Branding and Relations Cell, a student body which organized this competition. While the winning and 1st Runner-up team had representation from girl students, the 2nd Runner-up was an all-girls’ team. Several other schools have sent all-girls’ teams or teams with both gender representation.
The accompanying teachers expressed their delight for this unique platform offered by IIT Kharagpur for budding engineers and scientists of tomorrow. The event was also scaled to international level in its second edition this year. Two teams from Singapore made to the semi-final as well. “This is an excellent initiative organized for the second year by IIT Kharagpur. It is very well received and now we have started getting international participation. Even the Office of the President of India has appreciated this initiative and has provided great motivation,” said Prof. P P Chakrabarti, Director, IIT Kharagpur on a social media post.
The students also participated in a quiz competition organized by the students’ quiz society of IIT Kharagpur. A popular choice prize was announced based on video presentations on social media made by the semi-finalists.
The event was generously supported by the alumni. Illustrious alumnus Vinod Gupta sponsored the prize money for the top three awards. Among the others who supported the event were Joy Shankar Das, Sukanta Padhy, Bipul Das, Harish Kumar Gupta. Alumnus Anand Surelia participated as a judge.
The faculty judges from the Institute were Prof. Aditya Bandyopadhyay and Prof. Chirag Deepak Kalelkar from the Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, Prof. Debarati Sen from G S Sanyal School of Telecommunication, Prof. Debdoot Sheet from the Dept. of Electrical Engineering, Prof. Gayatri Mukherjee from School of Medical Science and Technology, Prof. Brajesh Kumar Dubey from Dept. of Civil Engineering and Prof. Plaban Kumar Bhowmick from the Center for Educational Technology.
Prof. Siddhartha Mukhopadhyay, faculty at the Dept. of Electrical Engineering and former Dean, Alumni Affairs & International Relations, who was the Chief Guest for the event inspired the students to be creative in whatsoever path they choose in life and prioritize the personal and professional aspects of their lives accordingly.
Deputy Director Prof. Sriman Kumar Bhattacharyya and Registrar Prof. B N Singh were also present in the inaugural ceremony of the event.
The number of female participants was astounding this year. “About 35% of the participants were girls and this indicates a change in the scenario of STEM in the coming years,” remarked a senior coordinator of the 
