Which of the following statements is/are correct regarding Smart India Hackathon 2017? 1. It is a centrally sponsored scheme for developing every city of our country into Smart Cities in a decade. 2. It is an initiative to identify new digital technology innovations for solving the many problems faced by our country. 3. It is a programme aimed at making all the financial transactions in our country completely digital in a decade. Select the correct answer using the code given below

Only statement 2 is correct, so the answer is B. Smart India Hackathon was a nationwide problem-solving drive launched by the Ministry of Human Resource Development with AICTE. Students and teachers build software or hardware solutions for problem statements posed by government departments and industry. The purpose is to find innovative digital solutions to real problems, which is exactly what statement 2 says.

• Statement 1 is wrong. Turning cities into Smart Cities is the Smart Cities Mission, launched in 2015 by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs. It covers selected cities over a fixed period and was never a plan to make every city smart in a decade.
• Statement 3 is wrong. Making transactions digital belongs to the Digital India programme and the post-2016 push for a cashless economy. SIH has no role in payments.

The core concept is the government's use of hackathons to tap youth innovation, which connects to Digital India, Startup India and the wider innovation ecosystem. In Mains, this can be used for answers on youth engagement in governance and the gap between academic learning and real-world problem solving. SIH has continued in later years, so the scheme should be remembered as a recurring initiative, not a one-time event.

Trap: Aspirants pick the option that mentions smart cities or digital payments because of the words 'smart' and 'digital' in the question. Read the purpose of each statement, not just the buzzwords.