Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in Chennai this morningto address the 56th annual convocation of Indian Institute of Technology (IIT)Madras.Shortly after landing, the PM said this was his first visit to the stateafter this summer’s win in the general elections and added he was “delighted tobe back”.“Always delighted to be back in Chennai. After 2019 elections, it ismy first visit to the state. I am really thankful to all of you for such a warmwelcome,” said the PM.

Amid chants of ‘Modi, Modi’, the PM drew the attention ofthe crowd gathered there to welcome him that he spoke in Tamil in America.“During my USA trip when I said something in Tamil, when I told the world thatTamil is the world’s ancient language, the language became a talking point in America,”said Modi.During his address to the United Nations General Assembly, PM Modiquoted Sangam-era Tamil philosopher Kaniyan Pungundranar to underline that afragmented world is in nobody’s interest.

The PM will also participate in the prize distributionceremony of Singapore-India Hackathon and do a walkthrough of the exhibition onIIT-Madras research park start-ups.

Earlier on Saturday, Union Minister of State for HumanResource Development Sanjay Shamrao Dhotre inaugurated the Hackthon and said thisyear’s event focused on ‘Good Health and Well Being’, Quality Education’ andAffordable and Clean Energy.

He said, technology is close to the Prime Minister’s heartand he would attend the prize distribution function on Monday.A team of sixstudent innovators from India and Singapore is working on a system to measureattentiveness of children in a classroom using facial recognition, video andimage processing.

On Sunday, the PM tweeted seeking ideas for the speech hewill deliver at the convocation ceremony.

Describing the hackathon a great mix of youth power andinnovation, he said it brings together the finest young minds finding longlasting solutions to the problems India faces

“Tomorrow I would be in Chennai for the convocation ceremonyof IIT Madras. I look forward to being with some of India’s brightest minds. Ialso call upon all of you, especially IITians and IIT alumni to share theirideas for my speech. Do so on the Open Forum on the NaMo App,” the PM hadtweeted.

The purpose of the joint Hackathon is to promote engagementand collaboration of student community in India and the rest of the world so asto develop innovative and out of the box solutions to some of the majorchallenges that is facing the society at large.