Smart India Hackathon: We should innovate more, says PM Narendra Modi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday addressed the Grand Finale of Smart India Hackathon via video conference and stressed on interlinking of rivers.

Modi batted for inter-linking of rivers in the country and insisted that it can help to resolve the issue of imbalance between those with excess water and those facing scarcity of it.

While replying to a question by a student during the ‘Smart India Hackathon’, PM Modi said India has only four per cent of water even after having 17 per cent of the world population.

"Water is limited for our population...There are areas which face floods. Then there are rivers which are dry. If there is inter-linking, the problem can be solved," he said, adding river inter-linking is the vision of the government and will come true one day.

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Addressing over one lakh participants, the Saffron party leader said nobody was blessed with all the knowledge of the world.

"This applies to governments too. The biggest mistake governments make is to think they alone can bring about change. What brings about change is a participatory governance," he said.

He emphasised on tackling every problem and stated that innovation is not just a word.

"Innovation is a continuous process. Questioning is an important aspect of innovation," he said.

The prime minister said IPPP - innovate, patent, produce, and prosper - will take innovation forward in coming days.

"We should innovate more, patent them, make their production easier and take it to the people. This is what brings prosperity," he said.
The hackathon was organised to crowd-source solutions to governance-related problems.