Union Minister Parshottam Rupala interacted with Startups at Swarrnim University

Ahmedabad: Parshottam Rupala, Union Minister of State for Animal Husbandry, Dairy, and Fisheries, was honoured at the Swarrnim Startup and Innovation University. Just a day after inaugurating the International Fisheries Conclave at Science City in Ahmedabad, the minister visited the university campus in Gandhinagar and met with students.

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.

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.

Rupalar interacted with around nine startups at the university in the fields of agriculture, waste management, electric mobility and urban parking solutions, among others.

Rupala 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, 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 Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of promoting and encouraging innovations among students, Rupala said, “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”.

During his address, Rupala  also emphasized on the 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.