- 1800 participants, 100 finalist teams present tech-driven river restoration solutions at Amity University hackathon
Amity University, Uttar Pradesh, in association with the National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG), Ministry of Jal Shakti, supported by the World Bank Group, hosted the Grand Finale of Riverathon 1.0, a 36-hour, national-level river hackathon focused on technology-driven solutions for river rejuvenation and sustainable river engineering. The hackathon witnessed participation from around 1,800 participants from various institutions of the country. Out of 320 team registrations, 200 ideas were shortlisted and 100 teams were selected to compete in the Grand Finale. During the Grand Finale, students presented their ideas and innovations to the jury members for assessment and evaluation.
Addressing the students, T. G. Sitharam, Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Science and Former Chairman, AICTE, averred, “This was a truly pioneering national-level hackathon, which aimed to find innovative solutions to the problems of river restoration and rejuvenation. Rivers have been a part of our civilisation since ages, shaping our settlements, agriculture, economy and infrastructure. Application of emerging technologies such as data-driven real-time monitoring, LiDAR technology, and others will significantly help in addressing the challenges of river rejuvenation. All the participants have put in relentless efforts and worked very hard during the hackathon; therefore, all of them are winners.
Nalin Kumar Srivastava, Deputy Director General, National Mission for Clean Ganga, noted, “Riverathon is a flagship initiative aligned with the theme ‘Innovate to Revive, Restore, and Rejuvenate Rivers’ aimed at mobilising young innovators, engineers, researchers, and domain experts, to develop technology-driven, scalable solutions for river rejuvenation. It aligns with the Government’s vision of sustainable water management, river conservation, and community-centric innovation, as envisaged under various initiatives of the Ministry of Jal Shakti. Student projects must be taken from the prototype stage to the policy-making stage, so that the government and organisations can implement the ideas and provide meaningful solutions.”
According to Manoj Kumar Pandey, Director, Amity School of Engineering and Technology (ASET), during the grand finale, the participants’ ideas were converted into actionable, feasible, and impact-driven solutions, supported by multi-round expert evaluation and mentoring from over 50 expert reviewers. The competition covered 10 thematic areas, including biodiversity mapping, climate and environmental monitoring, floodplain mapping and restoration, disaster management, digital twins for urban–river interaction, sediment management, and next-generation flood modelling. With a comprehensive multi-stage evaluation process including 50 expert reviewers, designed to rigorously assess ideas and lead to the final selection of winning teams for the Grand Finale, the competition will prove to be a big game-changer in the area of river rejuvenation.”
Aditya Kumar Sinha, Executive Director, CDAC Mumbai, stated, “Identifying the problem is the most challenging aspect of problem-solving. Once you have identified the problem, it is easy to brainstorm and ideate to find solutions. Supercomputers, AI and IoT are the technologies required for computation of data for river restoration. A collaborative and multi-disciplinary approach is crucial for addressing the challenges of river rejuvenation.”
Carmen Rosa Yee-Batista, Lead Water Specialist, World Bank Group, opined, “It is a great effort by the students from different parts of the country who participated in this intensive competition. River rejuvenation requires a lot of time, hard work and effort and students have done a remarkable job by putting their ideas into actionable solutions.”
