Hackathon to address societal migrant labour issues launched

The US Consulate General, Chennai,with three Kerala-based institutions, today announced the launch of 'Blockathon For Change', a hackathon to address the societal issues of migrant labour using blockchain technology.
Migrant labourers are often a disadvantaged and vulnerable group because of social, economic and cultural issues associated with migration, Maker Village, one of the partners in the programme, said in a release here.
In India, massive inter-state migration of labourers warrants immediate attention, both at the ground level and policy level, it said.
The proposed hackathon is designed to beneficially employ the Blockchain technology for offering comprehensive solutions to mitigate problems related to migrant labour.

This is the first time in India that such a bold attempt is made to leverage high-end technology to address one of the most critical social issues of our times, the release said.
Besides Maker Village, Kerala-based Centre for Public Policy Research (CPPR) and Kerala Startup Mission (KSUM) are the other partners of the US consulate in the mission.

Noting that migrant workers encounter various problems in their daily life, the release said their contribution to the country's economy is enormous, but little is done for their well-being.
"Therefore with this hackathon,we want to find technology driven solutions to address the challenges."

The organisers invited applications from ideators, inventors, software developers, programmers, designers, engineers, entrepreneurs and start-ups to participate in the finals of hackathon atMaker Village here during December 21-22, 2017.
As part of the event mentoring sessions, talks on Block chain technology and Migrant Labour issues shall be held at Maker Village.