I4 challenge: Ideation at Isolation; Implementation at Institution

Challenge I: Think-Quantum
Problem definition: In the past decade, there has been tremendous progress in the
experimental development of a quantum computer: a machine that would exploit the full
complexity of a many-particle quantum wave-function to solve a computational problem. The
context for the development of quantum computers may be clarified by comparison to a more
familiar quantum technology: the laser. Before the invention of the laser we had technological
advances in making light: fire, the lantern, the light bulb. Until the laser, however, this light
was always ‘incoherent’, meaning that the many electromagnetic waves generated by the
source were emitted at completely random times with respect to each other. Quantum
mechanical effects, however, allow these waves to be generated in phase, and the light source
engineered to exploit this concept was the laser. Lasers are routine devices today, but they do
not replace light bulbs for most applications. Their different kind of light - coherent light - is
useful for thousands of applications from eye surgery to toys for cats, most of which were
unimagined by the first laser physicists. Likewise, a quantum computer will not be a faster,
bigger or smaller version of an ordinary computer. Rather, it will be a different kind of
computer, engineered to control coherent quantum mechanical waves for different applications.
In this student challenge, we would like to encourage students to visualise any application
which could be implemented on a quantum computer. Some of the possible application
domains are listed below.
Application domains:
1. Drug discovery
2. Cyber security
3. Financial markets
4. New application idea
Tasks and deliverables for students: Students should design a poster as a final deliverable.
With the help of visual aids, the poster should explain the following points in a level which
will be understandable to the common people of the country.
1. Quantum superposition and Quantum entanglement
2. Qubits
3. Quantum computer with array of qubits
4. How to solve social problems on a quantum computer

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Challenge II: Time series forecasting of COVID-19 infections in India
Background: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a highly contagious disease, caused
by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). This disease was first
identified in Wuhan of China in December, 2019. Since then it has spread globally, resulting
in COVID-19 pandemic. According to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare of Govt. of
India, the first case of the 2019–20 coronavirus pandemic was reported in India on January 30,
2020. During the initial days, the frequency of COVID-19 infections was relatively low.
However, a steep rise (+256%) was observed on March 4, 2020. As on March 25, 2020, a total
of 606 cases are reported in India. Till this date, India is in Stage II of virus spread, indicating
only local transmission is taking place in the country. Nevertheless, there is a tremendous fear
that India may soon reach to Stage III where the disease transmission would take place
community wise. The last and worst stage of virus spread is Stage IV where the disease takes
a shape of epidemic as it happened in China. Therefore, almost everybody in the country is
eager to know if India will remain in Stage II in the coming months or India will carry on to
Stage III or even Stage IV. Currently, this is perhaps the hottest topic of discussion in the
country. It is therefore extremely important to predict the frequency of COVID-19 infections
in India in the months to come.
Tasks and deliverables for students: In this work, it is expected that the contestants will
collect the time-series data of COVID-19 infections in India. Then, the contestants will need
to analyze the data with an aim to establish the important characters of the underlying time
series process. Afterwards, the contestants will attempt to formulate an appropriate time-series
model and validate the same. Needless to say, the model should offer reliable prediction of
COVID-19 infections in India in the coming months.

Challenge III: Can facemasks protect persons against coronavirus infection?

Background: Worldwide, many healthcare experts have expressed their frustrations at the lack
of science-based information on whether a facemask can protect a person against coronavirus
infection. This is primarily based on the conflicting recommendations by the World Health
Organization (WHO) and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). While
WHO recommends facemask for protection against coronavirus infection, CDC recommends
N95 respirator or a respirator with higher level of protection. Although, the exact mode of
transmission of SARS-COV-2 (the technical name of the virus that causes COVID-19) is not
yet known, but, it is seen as a strong possibility that the transmission takes place primarily by
respiratory droplets and close contact, with the possibility of short range aerosol transmission
in a relatively closed environment for a long time exposure to high concentration of aerosols.
The aerosols were found in two separate size ranges: 0.25 µm to 1 µm and larger than 2.5 µm.
The Wuhan hospital reported the highest concentration of contaminants ranging from 0.25 µm
to 0.50 µm in a place confined with COVID-19 patients with mild symptoms. As known, the
smaller particles (less than 5 µm) remain airborne for many minutes or even hours and the
larger particles (5 µm to 15 µm) do not immediately drop on the ground but remain in the air
for several minutes.

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Tasks and deliverables for students: In this work, the challenge lies in finding a scientific
answer to a question that reads as follows: Can facemasks protect a person against coronavirus
infection? It is expected that the contestants will attempt to find an appropriate answer after a
thorough understanding of the principles, mechanisms, and theories governing the capture of
particles by a fibrous media. It is anticipated that the contestants will apply their theoretical
knowledge for computing the filtration efficiency of the facemasks that are typically being used
for protection against coronavirus. Based on the calculations, the contestants will derive at a
conclusion whether or not the facemasks protect a person against coronavirus infection.

Challenge IV: Grocery Routing Problem

Background: Recently the Government of India has imposed a curfew of 21 days to control
the spread of n-COVID-19. The government wants to take up delivery of groceries and other
essential items so as to prevent people from venturing on the road. In New Delhi, the
government has identified certain areas that can serve as warehouses and from where a set of
delivery agents will take up the delivery and deliver it to individual homes. One such warehouse
is in Hauz Khas and it has its set of delivery agents. Each delivery agent has a motorbike and
it can hold up to a certain capacity of groceries. The demand (homes) is distributed throughout
Hauz Khas. Every morning the supply vehicle comes at around 6AM and groceries are ready
for delivery by 8AM. The groceries have to be delivered to homes by 10 AM. The problem is
to allocate routes for individual vehicles so that the demand allocated to that vehicle is satisfied
and the total demand in Hauz Khas is also satisfied.
Tasks and deliverables for students: This takes the form of a traveling salesman problem,
and the challenge is to develop a user interface that the government or any other stakeholder
can use to (a) assign a set of stops and associated demand to a set of delivery agents, based on
their capacity; (b) develop an optimal route for each delivery agent. The user interface should
be a simple, no-frills one which takes as input (a) the set of delivery agents, with their
associated capacity; (b) the Google Maps locations (in the form of coordinates) of each stop
(including the warehouse), with associated demand. The application should calculate the
distance between each location using Google Maps and then solve the TSP and provide the
load to be carried and optimal route for each delivery agent.
Utilize an existing integer programming formulation of the TSP and use a solver such as
CPLEX (which has APIs for multiple programming languages such as Python, Java, C++, etc.)
to solve the problem.

Challenge V: Allocation of People to Quarantine Facilities

Background: In any city, to quarantine sets of people strongly suspected to be infected with
COVID-19 (identified based on symptoms) and at high risk of infection (contact with people
with confirmed COVID-19 or strongly suspected to have COVID-19), the district
administration has identified a set of quarantine facilities distributed throughout the city. The

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district administration has identified a set of homes where such individuals can be quarantined.
The sets of people (e.g., families) can be of two types: 1) groups (e.g., families) with children
(0 to 17 years of age) and 2) groups of only adults (18 years and above). Each quarantine
facility has a capacity of two types that cannot be changed: (a) ward for confirmed cases and
strongly suspected cases (denoted by Ward 1) and (b) for high risk cases (denoted by Ward 2).
The basic problem is to allocate the groups to quarantine facilities. The constraints are: 1)
families with children are not to be separated (should be housed in the same quarantine facility,
even if in different wards) 2) if one or more members of a group has a confirmed or strongly
suspected case, then they must be allocated to Ward 1, and the remaining members to Ward 2
(note that members of a group with only adults may need not necessarily be in the same
facility).
Tasks and deliverables for students: The challenge is to create a user interface that the
government or other stakeholders can use to allocate a group of strongly suspected and/or high-
risk people (e.g., families) to a quarantine facility based on the current Ward 1 and Ward 2
facilities of each capacity. The user must initialize the program with a set of facilities with
corresponding Ward 1 and Ward 2 capacities, and then take in each group of people, with their
attributes (strongly suspected/high risk) as input for allocation. The interface and program
should provide as input the facility and ward to which each patient is allocated. The interface
should also provide the ability to move a case from one Ward to another as their status changes
(i.e., it should assign each case an ID that should be searchable). One criterion to assign groups
to facilities/wards is distance from their home; that is, assign groups to the closest facility. You
may come up with other reasonable assignment rules as well.

Challenge VI: Inferring Real Citizen Behavior from Google Search patterns
Background: An unprecedented amount of implicit knowledge about human behavior,
judgments and decisions can be inferred by looking at what people do online. A predominant
activity is searching for information. Google Search is one of the obvious storehouse for such
interests we hone and look for. Google Trends gives aggregate interest of specific search
terms in a time-lined manner, specific to different geographical regions. Can we infer about
real world events before it occurs by looking at such kinds of search patterns on Google (via
trends.google.com)? For example, can you look for specific political election results and co-
relate it with the interest on Google people had shown for that party? Specifically, given the
results of previous political elections (the change in seat share, percentage of votes and final
election results in the different constituencies or cities in a state for Lok Sabha and Rajya
Sabha elections) and interest in those parties as evidenced from search volumes on Google;
what can we infer?
Pick on a state and election results (Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha), download the search data
from Google trends for the leading party and its opposition(s) [primary and secondary] to
draw evidence on what is the relation between what people searched on Google and how they
acted as a group of voters. The results of elections are available on Wikipedia pages or even
on pages by the Election Commission of India. The search data is available from
Trends.google.com (which can be comparative) and downloadable in csv format for a time

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range. Can you find any relations and build a predictive model that help us predict the future
election results solely based on Google search patterns?
https://trends.google.com/trends/?geo=IN
Example page on Wikipedia: 2019 Lok Sabha WB elections
Deliverables:
(1) Data gathered from Trends for a geographical region (state in India) along with key
phrases and categorized based on cities in that state. E.x., West Bengal. Look for data for
Web search, YouTube search. This data is a numerical score of relative interest over time.
(between 0 to 100).
(2) Data gathered about political outcomes for the same region – Actual election results and
Poll results by TV channels (including aggregate poll prediction) for Lok Sabha elections and
for Rajya Sabha Elections for one state (say, West Bengal). Analyze 3 Lok Sabha elections:
2009, 2014, 2019 and 3 Rajya Sabha elections / Assembly elections in 2006, 2011, 2016.
All links available on https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elections_in_West_Bengal
(3) A predictive model that uses (1) to predict some aspects of (2)
Ideally: Use a few states and test the model to predict few other states .
(4) A map of key phrases (related topics) and (related queries) that lead the search interest for
each party in those specific years just before and after the elections.
Here is an example of data about 3 political parties from 2004 to 2020 in West Bengal.

Challenge VII: Figuring out the Algorithms we are living with

Background: Data-driven algorithm solutions are touching our lives economically, socially,
personally in many more ways than we can imagine or think. Do we even know what are they

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and how our behavior is being studied and predicted? Te government agencies have been using
a plethora of algorithms in various sectors from taxation to policing. Many of such AI or
algorithms solutions are fraught with biases. The first step towards having open AI is to be
aware of what those algorithms are. Some countries like New Zealand and a few states in USA
are working towards open and trustworthy interfaces with government agencies that help us
understand what algorithms do.
We need to build a database of which algorithms are being used every day, categorized under
specific sectors. To start with, let us embark on building that public resource the country and
world would need to know. Focus on algorithms being used by government agencies and
figure out what the algorithm intends to do (no need to get access to the code or logic – just
what the algorithm intends to do). As an example, see
https://www.muckrock.com/assignment/predictive-algorithms-big-data-analytics-and-smart-
technologies-deployed-by-governments-in-the-us-241/?flag=null&search=#assignment-
responses
We need to build this for India.
Look for government sources and private companies who are using algorithms to monitor, trace
and predict behavior in various sectors: Mobility and transport (like Uber, fasttag, Air control),
Safety and monitoring, Education, Agriculture, Health Defense. From this build an open access
database for anyone to search a query based. The data should have Sector, What algorithm,
who owns, what it does, other information.
Deliverable:
1. Create such a database on IITD server (you can email me for database access).
2. Create an interface to query this database
3. Create a simple backend interface to add more data to this database.
4. Fetch at least 5 example data points for each sector mentioned above
5. Create an interface to fetch data from other such open databases in other countries like
https://www.muckrock.com/ and https://data.govt.nz/

Challenge VIII: Is home a machine to live?

Area: Design
Background: We are confined to our home. Here is an opportunity to look at home as an
engineering object. The famous architect Le Corbusier – architect of Chandigarh – once said
that home is a machine for living. The challenge is to examine this claim and see if this is an
enabling claim from a design perspective? If not, what could be an alternative description? You
need to explore home as a lived space and also specific objects at home. The nearness and
farness within the house demand a reexamination of the geometrical ideas of space. Some
objects like the dining table gathers together family members while a gas stove might isolate

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the one who cooks – mostly a female. Each object may have a story to tell and the space is
connected by such stories.
Method: carefully observe the way we inhabit every corner of the house and the manner in
which we handle objects and develop adequate descriptions of them from a design perspective.
You may also take data from the depiction of home and domestic objects from cinema, art and
design documents available on the internet.
Deliverable: A documents with descriptions, sketches and photographs which opens up the
domestic space and objects for a creative interpretation and design. This could propose a new
design for any one object like – a chair, grinder or a teacup.

Challenge IX: How SARS-CoV-2 is evolving?

Background: The recent novel coronavirus, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome
Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), outbreak in Wuhan, China has caused a large number of
deaths in China and has spread worldwide now. The current outbreak of novel coronavirus
was first reported in December 2019. Scientists from different countries are constantly
submitting the nucleotide and protein sequences from strains of the new coronavirus to NCBI
and other genomic repositories. Analysis of these sequences can possibly reveal genetic
changes as the outbreak progresses.

As on date (March 27, 2020), 2229 SARS-CoV-2 genome sequences have been shared with
the Global Initiative on Sharing All Influenza Data (GISAID) by different countries (from
different geographic locations and at different times). The National Institute of Virology
(NIV), Pune (India), has also deposited two whole genome sequence of the Indian SARS-
CoV-2 strain.

Deliverable: Mutations in the genome normally make the virus less dangerous or more
virulent. Though the number of sequences in GISAID is quite minuscule, can you perform
mutational analysis of the genomes to identify unique molecular signatures in the Indian
strains? How does it compare with other strains found in other geographical regions? This
could provide insights for studying how the virus is evolving (changing), which is important
for development of novel therapies.

Challenge X: Identify unique pathogenic features of SARS-CoV-2?

Deliverable: SARS-CoV-2 is genetically related to the coronavirus responsible for the
SARS outbreak of 2003. While the two viruses are related, they are different. Identify
unique features that are responsible for the pathogenesis of SARS-CoV-2.

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Challenge XI: Can you screen available drug molecules for treatment/prevention of the
SARS-CoV-2 infection?

Background: There is an urgent and compelling need to understand this new virus and
develop prophylactic and therapeutic drugs. In the absence of complete understanding of the
detailed molecular structure, function, survival and replication of SARS-CoV-2, timely
repurposing of the existing drugs can be adopted as a quick and hopeful track.

Deliverable: SARS-Cov-2 infection is initiated by binding of viral surface glycoprotein

(spike protein-S) to target host membrane. The viral protein is synthesized as a precursor
protein. Its cleavage by host cell proteases is an essential step for virus fusion to the host cell
membrane, infectivity and propagation. Can you screen available drug molecules that could
potentially act as protease inhibitors, which could be tested for treatment/prevention of the
SARS-CoV-2 infection?

Data availability for Challenge IX, X, XI

All data required for the above analysis can be retrieved from the NCBI, GISAID and PDB.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/genbank/sars-cov-2-seqs/#nucleotide-sequences

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/labs/virus/vssi/#/virus?SeqType_s=Nucleotide&VirusLineage
_ss=Severe%20acute%20respiratory%20syndrome%20coronavirus%202,%20taxid:2697049

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/labs/virus/vssi/#/virus?SeqType_s=Nucleotide&VirusLineage
_ss=Wuhan%20seafood%20market%20pneumonia%20virus,%20taxid:2697049&Country_s
=India

https://www.gisaid.org

https://www.rcsb.org

Challenge XII: GrowthWatch

Monitoring the growth of a surface dielectric layer in chemical bath deposition using
interferometry and other optical techniques. Theoretical study + coding (python or Fortran
2008 preferred). Needs basic understanding of optical physics, etc.

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Challenge XIII: ColorShine
Calculate CIE coordinates and CRI for a light source with a given emission spectrum. Coding
(python). Needs basic understanding of optics, LEDs, calculus, etc.

Challenge XIV: TrackWork

Implementing Perl-based RT, a ticketing software, for request routing and management (in a
VM). Coding (Perl), will need some familiarity with LDAP.

Challenge XV: Farmer Centred Supply Chain Management using AI and ML

Background: Farmers who constitute more than 50% population of India often do not secure
remunerative prices for their produce (grains, pulses, vegetables, fruits) due to a combination
of several factors - (a) high cost of farm inputs (b) farm produce waste on account of absence
of storage facilities (c) absence of technology in the supply chain and (d) price fluctuation of
commodities. Combination of these factors hits farmers, particularly small farmers very hard.
Deliverables: This project is an opportunity to address these and other ecosystem issues for
farmers using mobile technology, machine learning and artificial intelligence. The aim of the
project is to develop an Integrated Farmer Centred Supply Chain Management App using AI
and ML based on multiple algorithms. The app will address the 4 above mentioned factors and
other challenges farmers face using AI & ML. The combination of algorithms on the app should
offer farmers inputs - on farm delivery of agri inputs such as seeds, fertilisers, farm implements,
farm equipment, farm labour. The app should also serve as a Mandi for farmers – it should pick
up from the farmer’s field farm agricultural produce such as grains, pulses, vegetables and
fruits - and offer very competitive prices to farmers. The App should also have financial system
integration – connect to banks for credit, to insurance schemes for compensation of crop loss
due to natural calamities and connect to government schemes for receiving Direct Benefit
Transfer.

Challenge XVI: Social distancing designs & strategies during farm operations
Problem: Most of the farm operations like harvest, processing, storage and marketing cannot
be postponed, especially in case of perishable produce. In view of this, the government has
released fresh guidelines on exemption of agricultural operations during Covid19 lockdown
period. The farm operations are labour intensive and time bound. In spite of widespread
machinery usage, several pre and post tasks call for manual labour. The operations like
harvesting of grain, sorting, loading, transport, storage would require group operations. Under

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these compelling scenarios, what kind of strategies and designs can be adopted to maintain
social distancing? The challenge may require group work. Someone with rural background
and adequate knowledge of field tasks can list down the operations. Students with Applied
Mechanics, ergonomics background could suggest modified ways of doing these operations
with ease while maintaining social distance. Someone from textile/polymer/design background
could suggest ways of designing outfits to minimize contact while not hindering the manual
operations. Students with chemistry/biochemistry background could suggest ways for in-house
production of sanitizers to be used by the people on the farm.
Expected Deliverables: 1) Availability of a manual for farm operations with social
distancing; 2) Local outfit design for farmers to prevent exposure

Challenge XVII: Quantitative assessment of improved Air quality and environmental

resources
Problem: Deteriorating ambient air quality has been a key concern in India and several other
parts of the world. A lot of work has been done on identifying the critical factors responsible
for poor air quality using various tools. Several mitigation efforts have been taken up and the
infrastructure has been strengthened for continuous monitoring in order to understand the
efficacy of such interventions. Major sources of air pollution in Delhi NCR are said to be coal-
fed thermal power plants, brick kilns and vehicles apart from stubble burning during Oct-Nov.
Due to Covid-19 lockdown, significant improvement in Air Quality has been recorded. This
gives a unique window to redefine the relative contribution of above sources towards air
pollution. While power plants are still operational, vehicular traffic and several
manufacturing/construction industries are shut. Students should collect exact data on
operational/shut-down activities and authentic air quality data. Using the modelling tools
comparative studies between previous and current data can provide the precise contribution of
vehicular traffic & industries towards air pollution. Also reports on reformation of depleting
ozone layer could be taken up by some groups.
Expected Deliverables: 1) Quantitative assessment of improved air quality; 2) Relative
contribution of anthropogenic factors on air quality deterioration; 3) Development of models
which can be used later to compare pre & post conditions

Challenge XVIII: COVID-Future; Different strategies to fight

“COVID-19 - characterized as a pandemic” – World Health Organization
Background: Today it is “Novel Wuhan coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2)”! Tomorrow some other
novel strain? May be virus, bacteria, mycoplasma, fungi… etc. Global spread of SARS-CoV-
2 pandemic reminds us how vulnerable we are. If it continues as it is, it may lead to the mass
extension of humans, worse than the bubonic plague mankind has experienced in 1700’s.
Though we are technologically highly advanced, no vaccines and medicines has been

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developed yet against SARS-CoV-2. Hygiene, social distance, house quarantine are the only
options left with us.
Deliverables: By considering above facts, and possibilities of reappearance of SARS-CoV-2
like pathogens in future, it is important to prepare now itself to fight the future. I request all the
students look the problem in different angle and prepare report exploring possibilities. Some
examples, are
1. Quick estimation of pandemic potential of new pathogens
2. Developing regions versatile research group to work on potential future microbial
threats.
3. Global alerting system
4. Universal protocol to prevent the spread of pathogen between and within continents,
5. Enhancing the immunity,
6. Diet,
7. Vaccines,
8. Synthetic and natural Drugs, etc.

Challenge XIX: Food Safety Guidelines for Meat Based Food Products
Problem: Epidemics of infectious diseases emerging from meat based food products are now
occurring more often, and spreading faster and further than ever, in many different regions of
the world. As we are introducing various new meat based food products in our diets, it has
become imperative to constantly re-establish new food safety guidelines as a part of planning
and preparation for epidemic prevention and control from potentially fatal combination of
newly-discovered diseases, and the re-emergence of many long-established ones. The Hazard
Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) system provides a systematic, globally-
recognized approach to reducing safety hazards in food production systems. A HACCP system
can be used to control potential biological, physical, and chemical hazards that threaten the
integrity of each meat based food products. Therefore, each product or process requires its own
HACCP plan.
Expected Deliverables: Based on the above stated problem, the students are expected to
reform a set of ‘Food Safety Guidelines’ in line with HACCP (Hazard Analysis Critical Control
Point) principles and steps for the preparation (starting from the raw meat to the end product)
of at least one meat based food products (own choice). To create a HACCP plan for a selected
meat based food product, please follow the step-by-step guide provided by
https://safesitehq.com/haccp-plan/.

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Challenge XX: Sustainable Technological Interventions for Reducing Food Waste at
Farm Level

Problem: India achieved a record food grain and horticultural production of 281 and 315
million metric tonnes (MMT) respectively in 2018-19. In addition, India produces large
quantities of pulses, oilseeds, sugarcane, milk, poultry, meat and fish. According to the Food
and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimates, nearly 40% of the food produced in India is
wasted. This wastage occurs at different points, such as on-farm practices, storing, handling,
and distributing. At on-farm level, the major issues and challenges faced by Indian farmers
which lead to wastage, range across pest attacks, climatic changes, postharvest handling and
dumping in the open, lack of storage options, on-farm processing facilities, lack of cold storage
transport, uncertain returns from fluctuating markets; all of these leading to either not
harvesting, or abandoning the produce, or even spillage during harvesting. Along with these,
credit risks and delay (or denial) in sufficient crop insurance also affects agricultural
productivity.

Expected Deliverables
Considering the above background information, students are expected to conduct a rich
literature review to come up with state-of-the-art knowledge on the wastage of agriculture
produce at farm level in India, its causes, and suggest locally feasible technological
interventions for any of the following (keeping the Indian rural context in mind) to
prevent or reduce food waste at farm level:

1. Developing climate resilient crops to reduce chances of waste

2. Relevant precision agriculture (powered by artificial intelligence, big data analytics,
and sensing technologies) for tracking and reducing waste
3. Developing cost-effective storage systems (cold storage/metal silos) at farm level to
reduce post-harvest waste
4. InsurTech (technologically powered insurance) for smallholder farmers to mitigate
loss of value due to climate
5. Conversion of farm waste/residue (bio-mass conversion technologies) to value added
products for circularity
6. Handling and recycling farm plastics (such as those used in mulching) for reducing
plastic footprint in agriculture

Challenge XXI: Blockchain based Solution for Rural Geriatric Care Sector
Problem: The world will once again be experiencing a situation without any precedent: the
fastest ageing population than any time before. Looking to the aging population in Indian
villages and at the same time, youth and able migrating heavily to urban areas for better future,
the aged people are almost left on their own with no knowledge of technology, facilities or
support available.
Will this ageing population be blessed with good health, better care facilities, better social
engagement and a sense of well-being?

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We need a technology that will improve the lives of elderlies, the poor as well as the sick, and
their families. We need a technology which brings all of them together for better
companionship and to make this world a more secure place for them to live in.
Expected Deliverables
Considering the above background information, students are expected to conduct a rich
literature review for developing blockchain based solutions for geriatric care among rural
people.
Blockchain technology is one of the potential tools which can have streamlined information on
database of senior citizens, their emergency contact numbers, the medical aid, social aid and
help with essentials. Blockchain technology can help build an ecosystem with physical and
social infrastructure that fosters better care, health and well-being of the elderly. This will also
prevent and help monitor the potential scams which happens in the name of aged care sector.
Geriatric care sector especially in the rural India has been ignored long enough and the longer
we delay, the least effective that solution will likely be. Global efforts are being made to find
cures for most common age-related ailments like Alzheimer’s. This is the right time to focus
energies towards finding a better alternative to the present care systems

Challenge XXII: Creating Network for Harvesting Season

Problem: The harvesting season for Rabi crop is near. Due to lock down many workers & part
time farmers those are working in other states or big cities will not be able to go to their
respective fields. This will lead to shortage of the labour. Whatever the number of labourers
and machinery resources available in the villages have to be pooled and used in a planned
fashion for harvesting. Also the crop need to be stored safely. To overcome this situation, we
have to design some mechanism so that the agriculture work can be done with minimum labour
available. Also, it is to keep in mind that proper hygiene and social distancing have to maintain.
Deliverables: A solution platform need to be developed comprising following steps 1.
Collection of village wise about the crops and area need to be harvested through Sarpanch.
This data will also include man power availability and machinery available (Time required: 3-
4 days) 2. The data collected by the Sarpanch will be compiled at block level and district level.
(Time required-2-3 days) 3. Resource optimization Model for utilizing man power and
machinery first at block level and then district level. The additional man power can be hired as
per requirement from the non- farming areas/background and machinery required can be
obtained from other districts. (Logistic arrangement time 2-3 days). 4. Preparation at FCI and
Mandi Samiti level for storage of harvested crop. 5. Storage of the harvested and then further
linkage with the distribution system through a web platform. Platform will also link food
processing units. 6. Pilot can be done for a state like Haryana

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Challenge XXIII: Establishing supply chain for perishable food items
Problem: With the rising concern of COVID-19, the government had to take serious measures
of shutting down the country for 21 days. But, the main concern is movement of the daily
consumables for e.g., vegetables and milk, shortage and price hike of the produce in the market.
Some of the points to be considered in rural set up are:
Step 1: Gathering of information about availability of surplus and also demand of specific
village for vegetable, fruits and milk at panchayat level. Task to be performed through
Sarpanch/Mukhiya and panchayat secretaries.
Step 2: Communication link between Mukhiya and representative Block level officers (BLOs)
on daily basis about availability of surplus milk, fruits and vegetables. Now, depending upon
the surplus availability, the BLOs will communicate to Mandi society and arrange the vehicles
and their mobility to destined place.
Step 3: Transportation model for milk supply to local collection centres of milk cooperative
societies (Mother dairy, Amul, Sudha, etc).
Step 4: Setting up of supply chain of Vegetables and fruits with existing cold storages or the
registered fruit and vegetable traders in town Mandis
Step 5: Registration platform for registered fruit and vegetable sellers of towns with Mandi
Trades to provide their requirements to Mandi society
Step 6: Establishment of supply chain at town level as Mandi society nodal centre. The supply
chain will have linkage with local transporters.
Step 7: Development of Economic Model. The proposed platform will establish
communication at two levels:
a. First Level Communication
I. Ward members to Mukhiya
II. Mukhiya to BLOs
III. BLOs to Mandi society group.

b. Second level of communication:

a. Mandi society and registered fruit and vegetable sellers.
b. Fruit and vegetable sellers to customer of that locality.
c. Vegetable seller to local customer for door to door delivery.

Challenge XXIV: Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) for rural and low-income
communities
Background: In early 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) identified a new
coronavirus (nCov19), known officially as COVID-19, which is spreading rapidly
worldwide.

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The virus travels from one person to another through small droplets from the nose or mouth
which are spread through the air when an infected person coughs, sneezes, or spits. These
droplets land on objects and surfaces around the person.
Other people then catch the disease by inhaling the droplets OR by touching these infected
objects or surfaces, then touching their mouth, nose or eyes.
Although not a common route of transmission to date, there is evidence that nCov19 can also
be transmitted through the faecal-oral route. Bodily fluids and excreta (oral respiratory
secretions, stool, perhaps vomit and urine) from COVID-19 patients will be contaminated.
People who are mildly ill with coronavirus (COVID-19) can recover at home. Home isolation
is a recommended practice for taking care of those who are ill and for protecting others.
The Challenge
Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) is designed to prevent illness by protecting users from
being exposed to the virus. There is a critical global shortage of PPE hampering the fight
against the new coronavirus (Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General WHO,
Live update of 2020-03-27 https://www.who.int/health-topics/coronavirus#tab=tab_1).
Worldwide, PPE should be offered as a priority to healthcare workers caring for sick patients.
Many Indian families may soon be caring for sick family members and should be isolating
the sick at home to protect themselves and prevent onward transmission. At the community
level, the WHO recommends the use of disposable triple-layer medical masks for patients and
caregivers, and also recommends that those providing direct care use equipment such as
disposable gloves, aprons and eye protection.
https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/331498/WHO-2019-nCoV-IPCPPE_use-
2020.2-eng.pdf

In India, as elsewhere, disposable PPE is in short supply and health care facilities must be
prioritized. It will be especially difficult for rural and low-income families caring for ill and
community health workers providing direct care or assistance to those infected with COVID-
19 to access high-quality PPE. GoI recommends that a double-layer cotton cloth can be used
in the absence of a disposable mask.
https://www.mohfw.gov.in/pdf/GuidelinesonrationaluseofPersonalProtectiveEquipment.pdf
https://www.mohfw.gov.in/pdf/PreventionandManagementofCOVID19FLWEnglish.pdf
The new coronavirus nCov-2019 is very small - between 0.1 to 0.2 microns. Experiences
from China and Hong Kong suggest that a reusable plastic face shield in conjunction with
disposable or fabric masks may be a promising route.
Deliverables & criteria
Innovation to support PPE for rural and low-income communities is required.
This PPE should be
 Effective in preventing transmission through respiratory drops and fomites (contact
surfaces)

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  Low-cost
 Production and distribution: capable of being offered or produced at large scale in a
short time frame and accessible to rural and poor families
 Environmental considerations:
o Disposable components should include plans for safe disposal
o Reusable components should be able to be sterilized using means available to
the target beneficiaries
 Gender: In India, community health workers and designated family caregivers are
often females. This may be relevant to design.

PPE protecting against the faecal-oral route. This hasn't been a big problem in the hospital
setting or high-income countries as yet, but it is likely to be a concern in India. For families
caring for the sick at home, dealing with urine and excreta of patients will also be a problem.
If disposable gloves are not available, then something else should be developed, such as
reusable and sterilisable gloves or hand covers.

Additional innovations protecting against COVID-19 transmission by faecal-oral route (in

the absence of disposable gloves) are also encouraged.

Challenge XXV: Computational Work on COVID-19

Statement: SARS-CoV-2 proteins are potential targets for the drugs which can stop critical
viral process and lead to decrease in viral load. Drug repurposing is a the way forward as
creating a new drug and getting it approved takes a lot of time. So screening for drugs that are
already approved can help to bring intervention in the current scenario. This is done using the
computational method of molecular docking of target protein with a drug (ligand) so that it
binds to it at its critical site and thus blocks the protein from functioning. However, in real
world scenario, proteins are integrated with glycans (carbohydrate molecules) around it.
These glycans have both role in protecting the protein and allowing specific interactions
inside the cell. SARS-CoV-2 also has heavily glycosylated proteins which allows it to evade
any immune response by mimicking the host protein structure glycan properties. Thus
docking a glycosylated protein will give the real picture of which drug can actually target the
protein.
Step by step possible work that can be done
1. Download and understand the protein sequence and structures from Swiss modeler
a. https://swissmodel.expasy.org/repository/species/2697049
2. Identify the glycosylation sites on the protein sequences on these proteins
a. NGlc Prediction server http://www.cbs.dtu.dk/services/NetNGlyc/
b. OGlc Prediction server http://www.cbs.dtu.dk/services/NetOGlyc/
c. Glycosylation resources
https://www.expasy.org/resources/search/keywords:glycosylation
3. Build glycan motifs on your protein structures

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 a. See this paper for example how it’s done:
https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.03.26.010322v1?rss=1
b. Use this server to replicate the same for your selected proteins
http://glycam.org/
4. Do the docking of potential ligands on these glycosylated proteins; get ligands from
this database
a. https://reframedb.org/
b. Natural Ligands http://eplantlibra.eurofir.org/Default.asp ( there are others ,
please explore)
c. Docking Tool: Use ZDOCK, AUTODOCK (Autodock has GUI tools with
MGTOOLS download)
5. Do the MD simulation of the docked structure
a. Follow this protocol: http://www.mdtutorials.com/gmx/complex/index.html
b. Build your inputs from here http://www.charmm-gui.org/?doc=input/glycan

Challenge XXVI: Integral Evaluation

Given the integral:

(1) The integral is an improper one. Prove its convergence.

(2) Find an explicit expression for the value of the integral.
(3) Write a program for evaluating the integral numerically using an appropriate technique
along with the error bounds.
Prizes:
I. First two correct entries in each of the above categories (1), (2) and (3).
II. First three correct entries for all three categories together.

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Challenge XXVII: Essay Competition: Innovative policies and practices, which can be
implemented at the level of government or communities, to tackle the ongoing health
and economic crisis in India.
As is well known, the outbreak of the novel Coronavirus has led to a health as well as economic
crisis in India and other parts of the world. Both these crises are likely to be particularly severe
in the Indian context. India spends only 1.2 per cent of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) on
public health compared to the global average of 6.5 per cent (according to data compiled by
the World Bank). More than 80 per cent of all enterprises and workers in the Indian economy
are in the informal sector. The ongoing lockdown in the Indian and the global economy has
created huge disruptions for micro and small enterprises in the country’s informal sector. They
have been suffering losses in production and businesses even while they continue to make
repayments on their outstanding loans and other liabilities. Informal sector workers, many of
who have migrated over long distances for work from their villages to urban centres, have been
the worst hit by the crisis. In addition to the loss of incomes, they have been struggling to obtain
access to food and other basic necessities (including, importantly, sanitary living conditions).

Deliverable: Given such a context, write an essay about the innovative practices and policies
that can be implemented at the level of government or communities. You can write about
economic policy initiatives for the government or about societal innovations such as of
community kitchens or of new enterprises in food processing or healthcare.

Length of the essay: Not more than 1000 words.

Challenge XXVIII: Developing Sustainable Rural Housing & Habitat based on

knowledge of the Vishwakarmas & Prajapatis
Background: In the rural economy, there are immense possibilities to augment income based
on knowledge and skill available with rural people. One such skill which is widely available
with rural people is of knowledge of materials, construction and habitat development. This skill
is traditionally handed down among the Vishwakarma and Prajapati communities. This skill
set could be channelized and converted into an opportunity to develop Sustainable Rural
Habitats based on Artisan Guilds using a triple bottom line approach - Environmental Well-
being, Social Well-being and Circular Economic Development. One of the main notions
guiding the creative process of rural people all over the world has been “doing more with less”
in line with the commitment to Sustainable development non-compromising approach to
Sustainability is oriented towards a more circular economy based on “closed-loop circular
design”. This means aiming to develop solutions that contribute positively to people’s quality
of life and to the planet at each step of the product life cycle: from eco-design to production,

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during the usage phase and at the end of use. In order to contribute to addressing major issues
such as global warming and global resource scarcity, Habitat Virdis is committed to developing
biobased material matrix. These homes would be beautiful, well-designed, high performance
and affordable and can be titled as real property while also supporting an industry of home
building in underserved rural communities. Habitat would have healthy interior spaces, would
be zero waste in design and would be energy efficient in every stage of the process. By applying
Cradle to Cradle principles, it commits to placing health and well-being at the centre of the
approach. The philosophy of this challenge is to build awareness among construction
professionals, architects, economists, elected representatives, and politicians, funding agencies,
land developers, engineering departments, craftsmen and industry professionals.
Deliverables of the Challenge: (a) Carry out research to address rural habitat and housing
holistically from houses to infrastructure and resources, always mindful of the connectedness
of the many facets of rural life. (b) Develop a sustainable habitat delivery, management and
maintenance model led by Vishwakarmas and Prajapatis which is scalable, sustainable, agile,
and resilient (c) Develop a range of partnerships to increase housing affordability by addressing
every aspect of the Rural Housing Ecosystem: building materials, housing technologies, rural
housing policies and rural housing financing.

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