By TIOL News Service

NEW DELHI, MAR 24, 2025: "IN yesterday's knowledge driven world, right skill set gives us both the merit as well as national growth" - highlighted Jayant Chaudhary, Minister of State (Independent Charge), Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship. Speaking as the Chief Guest of the 3rd Annual Technical Festival "EPITOME 2025" of Gati Shakti Vishwavidyalaya Vadodara, through a video conference. Chaudhary emphasized that "Transportation is all about acceleration, and it accelerates growth. Future of Logistics is green and digital, and AI driven predictive maintenance shall be a key driver".

Gati Shakti Vishwavidyalaya successfully concluded its 3rd Annual Tech-Fest "EPITOME'25". The fest over the course of two days covered immersive technical sessions from industry experts, deliberation over technological application for economy growth and display of path-breaking ideas for real world applications.

The Minister emphasized the role of Logistics efficiency, and PM Gati Shakti National Master Plan. He mentioned that the investment by the country in multimodal logistics, aviation, railways, maritime etc are opening up global career pathways for the youth. However, the entire sector (Railways, Aviation, Logistics etc) being highly technical in nature, requires highly skilled manpower. Industry, Academia and Government must work in synergy for creating these skilled professionals to reduce errors and increase efficiency.

Highlighting the role of Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, he mentioned that doubling of India's startup ecosystem by 2030, from 1.2 lakh to 2.4 lakh, is projected to create 50 million jobs, including direct white-collar roles, gig economy opportunities, and indirect jobs across industries and; therefore sector-specific skilling programs and encouraging startup culture are extremely important. The Govt of India has recently announced 60,000 crores scheme to upgrade ITIs.

Strongly praising the "Industry-driven" approach of Gati Shakti Vishwavidyalaya, Chaudhary advised the university to partner and mentor NSTIs to significantly enhance the reskilling and upskilling initiatives.

The event was a hub of exchanging ideas, fostering steadfast collaborations, mentoring of young minds along with exploring and forming new alliances. It featured addresses from various industry leaders and from entities of social significance all highlighting the role of education institutes in cultivating young minds to reinforce and propel India towards Viksit Bharat by 2047.

The 2-day technical festival with the theme "Transport 360: Land, Air, Sea and Beyond" attracted several top companies in the sector. Speaking on the occasion, Dr. Hemang Joshi (MP of Vadodara) spoke about the PM's vision of Viksit Bharat 2047 and very important role of Gati Shakti Vishwavidyalaya in it. At the occasion, Prof. Manoj Choudhary (Vice-Chancellor, Gati Shakti Vishwavidyalaya) briefed about the progress of university in its "Industry-driven Innovation-led" vision. Leading experts in the Transportation and Logistics sector joined to deliberate and exchange ideas: Davinder Sandhu (DB Engineering), Suraj Chettri (Airbus), Anil Kumar Saini (Alstom), Andreas Foerster (Tata Advanced Systems), Jaya Jagadish (AMD), Prof. Vinayak Dixit (UNSW Australia), Praveen Kumar (DFCCIL) and Maj. Gen. R. S. Godara.