DTU-IIF (DTU Innovation and Incubation Foundation) in association with My Friend My Guide has announced the launch of Hackathon: Character On Road. The hackathon aims to explore solutions to the problems faced by all road users (pedestrians, drivers, passengers, rehri wallahs etc.). School, College and University students can share their ideas and concepts with the panel and shortlisted entries will be given a chance to share their concepts and ideas with the DTU and Industry experts. Upon final selection fo the idea, the winning teams will earn handsome cash prizes and an opportunity of initiation of incubation and technological support to set up their business.
There are a wide range of challenges on Indian roads today. Horn honking, wrong side overtaking, Highbeak driving, tail gating, misbehaving with fellow road users etc.. If one starts making a list of the challenges faced on road, it would mean a long list, where all road users are victims of On road misconduct. Do you think you can think of a solution? If yes, Character-on-road hackathon is the right place for you. Your idea is your unique property and we shall honour the originality of the idea on the "First-come-first-served" basis. The round 1 is open till 30 Sep. All entries of round 1 shall be scrutinised and evaluated by the expert panel and shortlisted entries will be invited for an interactive presentation to the panel at Delhi Technological University campus.
The ideas found suitable by the panel will be taken up for incubation and innovation support.
So, if you have unique idea on the stated topic, kindly visit our site www.CharacterOnRoad.com and register for free. Our team shall connect with you and guide you over in the process!
Who knows you could be the Character-On-Road innovation champion that launches your successful startup!
Good luck!
India as a country is evolving with women stepping out of their homes confidently. But as the saying goes, "There is always a scope for improvement", so is the case with us and our country. The conduct on roads is both appreciable and apprehensive in their own ways.
A lady named Suman ji was sitting on driver's seat of an E-rickshaw last Sunday on Samaypur Badli metro station of New Delhi. Slotted third in the queue, she was waiting for her rickshaw to get onboarded with passengers. As soon as she came to the front, a middle aged man boarded the E-rickshaw and asked her if she could ferry him alone, of course by compensating her for the vacant seats. Now, as per a typical Indian male perspective, it was a bit of a challenge for him to be boarding an E-rickshaw with a woman driver, but the educated and open-minded man boarded it without second school of thoughts of the so called 'male ego' getting hurt. Feeling a bit awkward, he got stucked up in a conversation with her regarding how easy/difficult was it for her to take up this profession. She started answering honestly that she starts her day at 10:00 am and end at 11:00 pm, heavy toil indeed! She told, that meanwhile she is out of her home, busy with her profession, her elder daughter used to manage the home. This again, is a quintessential example of maturity and responsibility shown by that little girl. She mentioned that she took up this profession a couple of months ago and was supporting her husband, who drove another rickshaw on the same route. The family of five was supported by the dual income parenting.
As told by her, her challenges on the road were same as those of other drivers and she found that the road and the people around were treating her at par with other drivers and the number of odd instances (women related) were very few, if any. When asked how did society look up to her job, her answer was full of conviction, "Society kya mere bachhon ko paalegi? Agar nahin paal sakti to phir, kyon chinta karna. "Now, starts the apprehensive part of this story. She told that just a few days ago, a guy on scooty crashed with her E-rickshaw. Even though it wasn't her fault , the guy debated and demanded 1000 rupees. Without even being on the wrong side, she, a daily wage earner was forced to pay to the 'so called' independent and strong man who knew well how to dig out money by keeping the pitch high.
Thank God the person on the scooty was a male, be it a woman, she must have stole the stage on social media platforms under the tagline 'papa ki pari'. Suman ji, a modern and independent woman of changing era also gave a very strong lesson about dignity of profession. She told that there are people who taunts her regarding her profession by saying that 'iss kaam m izzat nahi h' but she answered it very honestly 'apna kaam krne m hi izzat h'.
The story of this inpendent woman E-rickshaw driver depicts how our society is evolving. We believe that we shall witness many more such unconventional steps where women come out to break the shackles of the society.
