Modi proposes hackathon to find solutions for global warming, climate change

CHENNAI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi proposed a hackathon involving ASEAN nations to find solutions to tackle global warming and climate change.

He was speaking at the conclusion of a coding contest for Indian and Singaporean students at IIT Madras.

“I propose a similar hackathon involving ASEAN countries with support from Government of Singapore and India,” Modi said in his speech, pointing to the growth and adoption of modern technologies such as machine learning, artificial intelligence and blockchain in Indian curriculum.


The hackathon at IIT-madras, conducted over the last weekend, was the second India-Singapore initiative to foster innovation through contests. In November 2018, the Ministry of Human Resource Development and All India Council for Technical Education combined with Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University to organise a 36-hour competition to hammer out solutions for the theme ‘Smart Campus.’

Prime Minister Modi said India is striving to build cost-effective solutions not just for the needy living the country, but elsewhere too.

Arriving in Chennai on Monday morning, Modi addressed a gathering of BJP supporters, claiming that Tamil has become an international talking point after his reference in his recent UNGA address to Sangam era poet and Philospher Kaniyan Poongundranar on his couplets espousing the idea of a global citizen.

In his speech at IIT-Madras on Monday, Modi urged the visiting Singaporeans to take a trip to Mamallapuram, a seaside town near Chennai, for its ancient stone carvings.

Modi is set to host Chinese Premier Xi Jinping between October 11-13 for the second Informal Modi-Xi summit after the first in Wuhan, Hubei, last year.