Union Education Secretary K Sanjay Murthy has called for incorporating study of PM Gati Shakti scheme in academic programs. In this context, he stated that the need of the hour is that academic institutions realise the importance of this Government of India initiative. He was addressing an online workshop on “Leveraging Satellite communication, Geo-informatics, and Geospatial technology for urban planning and to promote multimodal logistics” organised by NITIE Mumbai in association with the Ministry of Education and Bhaskaracharya National Institute for Space Applications and Geo-informatics (BISAG-N).

The workshop was hosted by professor Manoj Kumar Tiwari, director NITIE who explained the relevance and scope of the PM Gati Shakti Master Plan. He also spoke about the broad outline to promote the PM Gati Shakti plan through NEP 2020.

Murthy shared that academic institutions have the power to play a significant role in bringing change through quality knowledge dissemination and relevant researches in logistics and infrastructure sectors.

Furthermore, Murthy appreciated the initiatives taken by NITIE under the leadership of director professor M K Tiwari for creating a model curriculum and courses related to logistics and supply chain management which could be replicated by other premier institutions. He also advised All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE) to bring out comprehensive course curricula for different subjects for training of faculty members. Vice chairman of AICTE Dr. Poonia emphasized on the need for capacity building for faculty in the field.

Notably, NITIE Mumbai is the Nodal Hub for capacity Building in Logistics and Supply Chain Management.

Some of the action points that emerged at the workshop includes educations institutions need to contribute to training of students and industry professionals. The institutions should be encouraged to use the platform developed by BISAG N and carry out research work, projects, internship among others, to strengthen the platform for applications including infrastructure development. To encourage research in Logistics and Supply chain networks. Workable and pragmatic coordination and integration to synchronise NEP 2020 and PM Gati Shakti mission requirements. The institutes should emphasise the introduction of syllabus through interdisciplinary courses in logistics and supply chain and integrating emerging technologies to remove silos among the different departments.