Ahmedabad, November 23, 2023: In a moment of honour for the Swarrnim Startup and Innovation University hosted the Honourable Union Minister of State for Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries, Shri Parshottam Rupala. The minister visited the university campus in Gandhinagar and interacted with students, just a day after inaugurating the International Fisheries Conclave at Science City in Ahmedabad.
The president of the Swarrnim university Shri Rishabh Jain and Vice President Shri Adi Jain, felicitated the Honourable Minister.
Swarrnim Startup and Innovation University is the first university in India which is dedicated to nurturing and promoting startups. As part of the visit, the honourable minister interacted with startups, and also rewarded two startups with recognition from the university.
The minister appreciated the university’s initiatives to promote innovations to create a conducive atmosphere to let startups grow and flourish.
Shri Rupala was particularly impressed with a startup that encouraged saffron cultivation here. Saffron, which is typically cultivated in cooler climates and is usually found in Kashmir in India, has been cultivated here. The startup – Aeroponics Saffron Farming – was founded in December 2021 by Sahil Ninama and Mayank Dabhi. It was incubated at Swarrnim Startup and Innovation University earlier this year.
The honourable minister interacted with around nine startups at the university in the fields of agriculture, waste management, electric mobility and urban parking solutions, among others.
The honourable minister along with the President of Swarrnim Start & Innovation University, Shri Rishabh Jain handed over the reward of Rs 5 lakh each to two startups – OPS Enterprise and Wet Coal.
During his address at the university, Shri Rupala hailed and appreciated the saffron cultivation project by students of Swarrnim Startup & Innovation University and personally studied and understood how the cultivation is taking place in a laboratory set up.
“I have personally visited Kashmir and I am well versed with the process of cultivating saffron which is truly a laborious job. However, I never thought it would ever be cultivated in Gujarat. But I am proud and fortunate to be able to witness this innovation from students of Swarrnim Startup and Innovation University who managed to cultivate saffron here. I’ve remained a teacher at heart and witnessing this miracle is a different joy indeed,” he said.
Appreciating the Honourable Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of promoting and encouraging innovations among students. “The time is such that our Chandrayaan successfully lands on the moon! This is the only time and is indeed the right time. Both Gujarat and India are blessed with the wealth of the youth and its talent and also a great visionary leader, who is a guiding light to make such innovations possible. I also appreciate this unique experiment of Swarrnim Startup and Innovation University to bring a vast range of subjects under the umbrella of a single university and I congratulate the management for such unique efforts,” the minister further went on to say.
During his address, the Honourable Minister also emphasized our Indian culture, joint family concept and motivated the faculties by quoting the classical examples. He also gave valuable insights for new initiatives that can be taken by the university during his interaction with university officials.
