The Lok Sabha on Wednesday passed The Central Universities (Amendment) Bill, 2022, which seeks to establish the Gati Shakti Vishwavidaylaya, as a Central university, changing the form of the National Rail and Transportation University which is currently a deemed to be institution in Vadodara. The Bill also seeks to expand the scope of the deemed university from beyond the railways to cover the entire transport sector to support the ambitious growth and modernisation in the field as announced in the Union Budget this year.
Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan who piloted the Bill in the Lok Sabha said that the Gati Shakti Vishwavidyalaya would be a multi-disciplinary and multi-dimensional institute, and the first Central university after the rollout of the National Education Policy.
“The plan is to unify different departments to create a new infrastructure where various transport sector elements — railways, road, waterways, aviation and port along with information and technology — will coordinate with each other on the platform of Gati Shakti Mission,” Mr. Pradhan said. The proposed global standard institute aimed at not producing job-seekers but job-creators, he added.
The establishment of the Gati Shakti Vishwavidyalaya would address the need of talent in the strategically important and expanding transportation sector and meet the demand for trained talent to fuel the growth and expansion of the sector, he said.
Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, who also made an intervention during the discussion on the Bill, said the focus of the institute would be on five major aspects — transport-focused courses, skill development, applied research, technology development and transport economics and infrastructure financing.
It seeks to incorporate infrastructure schemes of various Ministries and State governments such as Bharatmala, Sagarmala, inland waterways, dry and land ports, UDAN.
