MEITY, National Jal Jeevan Mission launch ICT Grand Challenge

On September 18, 2020 Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology (MEITY) in partnership with National Jal Jeevan Mission (NJJM), Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation, Ministry of Jal Shakti has launched ICT (Information & Communication Technology) Grand Challenge for Development of ‘Smart Water Supply Measurement & Monitoring System’ to be deployed at the village level.

The ICT grand challenge will invite proposals from Indian Tech start-ups, MSMEs (Micro, Small, Medium Enterprises), Indian Companies for the solution.

Supporting Agencies:

The Challenge is supported by Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC), MEITY Startup Hub & Software Technology Parks of India (STPI) 

‘Smart Water Supply Measurement & Monitoring System’

i.The programme emphasizes on service delivery at household level i.e regular water supply in sufficient quantity and of specified quality using modern technology. 

ii.The modern technology will automatically monitor and capture service delivery data to ensure the quality of services.

Key Points of ICT Grand Challenge:

i.The Grand Challenge aims to make use of the Internet of Things (IoT) technology to create a smart rural water supply ecosystem. It will provide support at ideation stage, prototype development stage and deployment stage. 

ii.The pilot project will be conducted at 100 villages. Incubation and Marketing support will be provided by MEITY & Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM).The Approved solution will be listed in the Government e-Marketplace portal. 

Awards & Recognitions:

The winner will get a prize amount of Rs. 50 Lakh and two Runner-ups will be provided a prize amount of Rs. 20 Lakh Each and funding will be provided for 4 teams at the product deployment stage.

Jal Jeevan Mission:

Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) aims to provide Functional Household Tap Connection (FHTC) to every rural house by 2024. 

Recent Related News:

i.The Ministry of Jal Shakti(MoJS) has launched a new version of the India Water Resources Information System (India-WRIS) with new functions and features. It is open to the public, and accessible through the web portal www.indiawris.gov.in.

ii.On May 29,2020, Ministry of Jal Shakti, a ministry under Government of India (GoI) has approved an amount of Rs 445 crore for the implementation of the Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) in Chhattisgarh during 2020-21.

About Ministry of Jal Shakti:
Ministry of Jal Shakti is a ministry under Government of India which was formed in May 2019 . This was formed by merging of two ministries; Ministry of Water Resources, River Development & Ganga Rejuvenation and Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation.
Union Minister – Gajendra Singh Shekhawat 
Minister of State (MoS) – Rattan Lal Kataria

About Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology (MEITY):
Union Minister –  Ravi Shankar Prasad
Minister of State (MoS) – Sanjay Dhotre