Finals conducted in Capital today
Swachhathon
1.0, the first
ever Swachh
Bharat Hackathon, was organized by the Ministry of Drinking Water and
Sanitation to crowd source solutions to some of the Sanitation and Hygiene
challenges faced in various parts of the country. The Ministry invited
innovators from schools and colleges, institutions, start-ups and others to
come up with exciting, innovative, novel and viable solutions to the following
6 challenges:
a)
Monitoring usage of toilets
b)
Triggering behaviour change
c)
Toilet technologies in Difficult terrains
d)
Working solutions for maintenance and operations of school
toilets.
e)
technological solutions for safe disposal of menstrual
waste
f)
Solution for early decomposition of faecal matter
The
hackathon was open for all (including international entries), and was hosted on
the innovate.mygov.in portal.
The
Hackathon received a massive response from across the country, with 3053
entries received overall with 633 entries in triggering behaviour change, 229
in early decomposition of faecal matter, 750 in monitoring usage of toilets,
552 in maintenance and operations of school toilets, 405 in Technological
solutions for safe disposal of menstrual waste and 484 in Toilet Technologies
in Difficult terrains categories.
The
selected finalists gave a short presentation showcasing their prototype/
strategy before a jury consisting of stalwarts and experts from the Sanitation
sector. The Grand Jury for the final comprised Smt Naina Lal Kidwai, Shri
Bindeshwar Pathak, and the Secretary, Ministry of Drinking Water and
Sanitation, Shri Parameswaran Iyer. The evaluation was based on an evaluation
framework designed by the Ministry that took into account the originality of
the solution, utility, Cost-effectiveness, ease of maintenance, sustainability,
scalability and environment-friendliness.
The
winners of the Swachhathon were awarded by the Ministers of State, Ministry of
Drinking Water and Sanitation, Shri SS Ahluwalia and Shri Ramesh Jigajinagi.
Speaking at the awards ceremony, Shri Ahluwalia, expressed his pleasure at
seeing the young innovators who had participated in the Swachhathon. He said
that the Swachathon was a new concept adopted by the Ministry because linking
government programmes with Technology was the need of the hour. He acknowledged
the good progress made by the Swachh Bharat Mission so far and said that he was
sure that initiatives like the Swachhathon would
go a long way in increasing involvement of innovators and the youth in the
programme. Shri Jigajinagi spoke about the need for innovative approaches
to take the Swachhta movement forward in the country, and congratulated all
participants who contributed ideas to the hackathon. He expressed hope that the
ideas coming out of the Swachhathon would help lend Innovation and renewed
vigour to this citizens’ movement.
Speaking
at the ceremony, Secretary, MDWS, Shri Parameswaran Iyer, spoke about the
progress made by the Swachh Bharat Mission so far. He mentioned that it was
very encouraging that sanitation coverage in the country has gone up from 39%
at the launch of the SBM to 67% today with 2.35 lakh villages having been
declared Open Defecation Free (ODF), and that this progress had been verified
by third-party independent agencies as well. He said that the ideas presented
at Swachhathon would be crucial to help meet some of the special challenges
being faced on the field in some parts of the country. He urged the innovators
who participated in the Swachhathon to share these ideas to the Mashelkar
Committee of the Ministry so that they may be implemented at scale in the
country. He encouraged all participants by reminding them that the logo of
Swachh Bharat Mission itself was a crowdsourced idea, which underscores the
power than an individual’s idea may have in taking the country forward.
Based
on the cumulative assessment by the jury, the winners were announced for each
category earlier today in the Capital. The final event was organized in
collaboration with AICTE and supported by KPMG, Bill and Melinda Gates
Foundation, Water Aid, Rotary India Literacy Mission,
HMEL, Accenture and Dettol Banega Swachh India.
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SNC
