NEW DELHI, Aug 3:
The Central Universities (Amendment) Bill 2022, which seeks to create the Gati Shakti Vishwavidyalaya, will generate appropriate human resources to meet the needs of the growing infrastructure of the country, Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said on Wednesday.
Setting the stage for a discussion in the Lok Sabha on the bill which aims to build a global standard multi-modal, multi-sectoral academic ecosystem, Pradhan, said the plan is to unify different departments to create a new infrastructure where various transport sector elements — railway, road, waterways, aviation and port along with IT — will coordinate with each other on the platform of Gati Shakti Mission.
“This is a 21st Century infrastructure that we are trying to create. For this infrastructure, an equally robust human resource has to be generated. Such a deemed university is being run by the Railways — a multi-sectoral, multi-modal, multi-dimensional and multi-disciplinary institute — since 2018. Now, the time has come to expand it,” said Pradhan.
The National Rail and Transportation Institute, Vadodara, which will renamed as the Gati Shakti Vishwavidyalaya after the amendment is passed is India’s first transport institute. Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said the focus of the institute will on five major aspects — transport focussed courses, skill development, applied research, technology development and transport economics and infrastructure financing.
“While the headquarters will be in Vadodara there will be campuses across the country which will be developed as centres of excellence. Transportation is a complex sector and globally all countries have such institutes.
“I would specially request the Opposition to not play with the futures of students and get back to their seats. I urge them to support the bill unanimously,” said Vaishanaw amidst the din in the House.
BJP MP from Vadodara Ranjanaben Bhatt said that the advancement of technology has made it imperative for training in specialised fields and the need for such courses which would guarantee immediate jobs. She referred to advanced technology being used in Railways’ anti-collision device for trains and the Vande Bharat train.
She also said that such kinds of institutes are prevalent in countries like Russia, Japan, China, USA and UK.
While JDU’s Kaushalendra Kumar while supporting the bill, raised the issue of granting central university status to Patna University and the Nava Nalanda Mahavihara University, BJD’s Chandra Sekahar Sahu demanded more central universities in Odisha.
Hasnain Masoodi of the Jammu & Kashmir National Conference Party while supporting the bill, questioned why such central universities are always being established in Gujarat.
“My only concern is that why should everything go to Gujarat? It should be equally distributed. An institute of tourism and hospitality should be established in Pahalgam,” he said. (PTI)
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