Not all heroes wear caps and the same is true for Sunil Sharma and his team of young entrepreneurs who are working hard to create more & more cost affordable technologies that are helping the state govt. And common people in their fight against covid19 pandemic.
Today we have with us the founding team of covid19india.org, Mr Divyam Sharma, Mr Shivam Singh and Mr Sunil Sharma. Mr Divyam & Mr Shivam who are software developers came up with this idea and soon were joined by Mr Sunil, who is a Business Intelligence expert. Since then the platform has been visited by more than 500 million people across the globe to stay updated with covid19 information.
Our audience wants to know how did COVID-19 India begin?
Divyam: At the time I & Shivam were working on a data analytics project for a state government and as soon as covid19 hit India we realized that there will be lack of real-time updates for normal people to track the spread of the virus. Without any delay, we started building the platform and soon made all the data public and crowdsourced the platform. Soon we were joined by Mr Sunil who assisted with a strategy for wider adoption of the platform across country and dashboarding.
Please share makes the platform crowdsourced?
Shivam: Our main intention behind the platform was always to serve the community and make it as trustable as possible. This could only be achieved with a community effort and crowdsourcing the platform enabled hundreds of volunteers to contribute to the platform. We always wanted our data to be usable for doctors, engineers, researchers, NGOs hence we made all the data public.
Why make Covid-19 India.org not-for-profit & what’s the impact so far created by the platform?
Sunil: Covid-19 is a pandemic that has hit our economy as well as the healthcare system hard. From the beginning, our objectives were clear to create a platform that publishes real-time information verified from multiple sources. This was not an easy task and we required hundreds of people willing to contribute voluntarily. Making the platform crowdsourced and not-for-profit was a way to achieve this whereby anybody from anywhere can contribute to the platform. The platform is a huge success and is currently used by not only common people to track the spread of the virus but also by doctors, govt. Officials, on-field teams to stay up to date.
Please share the next steps with our audience;
Sunil: Through our experience with covid19india.org we have gathered useful intelligence and we are using it to solve ongoing as well as post covid19 problems. The team is focussing to help students continue their education via virtual classrooms and in Bihar currently, 40,000+ college students and 3000+ teachers are using the platform. We plan to implement the platform in other states as well.
Starting from one of the first official online tracker covid19india.org to virtual classrooms to cost-friendly in house produced sanitization boxes they have helped thousands of people in covid19 affected areas. The team led by Sunil Sharma, Shivam Singh and Divyam Sharma are working on Covid-19 innovations to help people in lack of facilities and resources.
COVID-19India Is A One-Stop Source of Covid19 Information for Millions
One of India’s largest crowdsourced projects in recent times, covid19india is currently run by hundreds of volunteers is a live example of what Indian youth can achieve if they join hands together. Started in Feb. 2020 the platform was shared on social media by esteemed personalities like Amitabh Bachan. Since Feb. this platform has become a truthful source of covid19 updates and information for millions of Indians. Since Feb 2020 more than 600 million people have visited the platform.
Over 40,000 Students In Bihar Are continuing their education Using Virtual Classrooms
Students are the worst hit during the pandemic as schools and colleges are unable to continue their classes and exams. The situation is worse in states like Bihar due to lack of IT infrastructure and it is next to impossible for schools & colleges to teach students online. The team understood this problem and came up with a customized solution tailored to the needs of engineering colleges and schools in Bihar. The Bihar Government recently released a work order to implement the virtual platform created by the team. Per day at least 600 videos and 200 tests get uploaded on the platform as reported by the team. They are planning to implement the solution in other states as well.
What’s Next?
“Innovation is all about impact and accessibility of common services like education, sanitation and information to the masses. It does not always have to be something out of the box, “ says Sunil Sharma who hails from a small village in the state of Madhya Pradesh. Pass out from NIT-Bhopal 2016 batch Sunil is one among top analysts working on Covid19 solutions. He aims to bring more entrepreneurs and investors together to create post covid19 solutions. Currently, he is working to raise $20 Million for Indian startups through foreign investment by the end of 2022.
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