Hackathon to help tackle challenges ahead of Mahakumbh

In a unique initiative aimed at finding crowd-sourced tech solution for challenges ahead of the mega religious fair of Mahakumbh-2025, the Prayagraj Mela Authority in collaboration with the Indian Institute of Information Technology-Allahabad (IIIT-A) is going to organise ‘Mahakumbh-2025 Hackathon’.

The contest will give an extraordinary opportunity to students of all the institutes of national importance and other renowned institutes and colleges to become part of the efforts to organise the world’s largest religious gathering, said officials of the Prayagraj Mela Authority.

“As part of the competition, the students are being asked to tackle some of the most challenging issues associated with organising an event of this magnitude. This hackathon may ignite their intellect and become their gateway to making a meaningful impact. It may also bring some innovative solutions for more effectively handling various tasks in organising Mahakumbh-2025,” they said.

“For Mahakumbh-2025, the common direction is to blend technology with traditional solutions. Hence this hackathon is being organised to get innovative technological solutions to security, surveillance, mobility, crowd management, extended reality and service level benchmarking challenges that are encountered during Mahakumbh Mela. The accepted solutions will be seed funded and taken further by Prayagraj Mela Authority,” said Vijay Vishwas Pant, divisional commissioner, Prayagraj and chairman of Prayagraj Mela Authority Board.

To begin with, three themes have been identified, ‘Security and Surveillance’, ‘Extended Reality (XR) solutions for Experiential Kumbh’ and ‘Monitoring inventory, facilities and utilities’. Depending upon the response, the plan is to add more themes or organise another round of the hackathon, they explained.

The registration date will soon be announced along with the launch of a website for it. Team size must range between 4 to 6 members, including the team leader. In February 2024, two to three members of the shortlisted teams will have the unique chance to visit the ongoing annual fair of Magh Mela-2024 in Prayagraj to present the idea in physical mode and to collect essential data for effective implementation of their projects. The coding period will kick-off between March 1 and 15 with the final evaluation being held from March 15 to 20.

Each team will be required to choose only one problem to work on for this hackathon. In each theme, a prize of ₹1 Lakh will be awarded to the best team.

The theme and the challenges:

A) Security & Surveillance

Crowd Management & Predictive Analytics: Create a solution that leverages data analytics and predictive modelling to optimize crowd management during the Mahakumbh Mela. The system should be able to predict peak crowd times, identify potential congestion points, and recommend proactive measures for crowd control.

Real-time Anomaly Detection: Develop a system that utilizes advanced computer vision and machine learning algorithms to analyse live surveillance feeds from multiple sources at the Mahakumbh Mela. The system should be capable of detecting and responding to anomalies in crowds, such as sudden stampedes, unusual gatherings, or any suspicious activities.

Drone based emergency response system: Design an autonomous drone-based emergency response system to quickly identify and respond to incidents within the Mahakumbh Mela premises.

Privacy-preserving facial recognition for enhanced security: Create a privacy-preserving facial recognition system that enhances security without compromising individual privacy.

B) Extended Reality (XR) solutions for Experiential Kumbh

(1) Due to the sheer volume of the crowd in the city and at the tourist spots, the pilgrim attending Mahakumbh today may find it difficult to experience all the temples and cultural spots of Prayagraj has to offer even after coming to the city. How can XR be used that can give the pilgrims an immersive experience of what Prayagraj, UP and Kumbh Mela in particular has to offer? How can the entire journey of a tech savvy pilgrim be enhanced or gamified?.

C) Monitoring the inventory, facilities and utilities.

(1) Lack of data capturing through emerging technologies to track asset/inventory movement (in/out of storage), usage, disposal, transfer, etc. The process today for most departments is manual. This can lead to human errors. What can be the possible use cases with Al/data analytics that the Mela Authority can gain insights from and benefit?