Bhubaneshwar, April, 2023.

Shri Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Minister of State, Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, and Electronics and Information today inaugurated the Day 2 of one of its kind Future of Work exhibition under 3^rd Education Working Group (EdWG) meeting.  The inaugural ceremony was also graced by the august presence of Shri Atul Kumar Tiwari, Secretary, MSDE; Mr R Dinesh, President Designate, CII and Executive Vice-Chairman, TVS Supply Chain Solutions and Mr NSN Murty, Partner, Deloitte.

While addressing the gathering Shri Chandrasekhar expressed his happiness that a large number ofstudents become a part of a critical discussion around future of work and skilling, and they are the most important beneficiary. The Minister said that the conference focusing on intersection of logistics, coastal economies and sustainability is an important topic and integral in the context of skilling in coastal economies. He further said that logistics will be an area full of opportunities for young students in the coming years, as much as Semiconductors, electronics, and Information technology, with huge scope for investment, entrepreneurship and employment. This is an interesting time for the world, representing opportunities and challenges and in this context, India has become the fastest growing nation of the world. And India is being looked upon by the world with lot more respect, he added.

The Minister highlighted that the world is looking at resilient logistics and trusted supply chains, moving away from risk and moving to trusted resilient economy. With this, the focus and discussion on logistics is important in coastal states like Odisha. In 2014, 82% of mobile phones consumed in India were imported, in 2022, almost 100% mobile phones consumed in India are manufactured in India. In 2014, India used to export almost zero mobile phones and this year alone, India has exported Apple phones, Samsung phones made in India to the tune of about 11 billion dollars. One of the arguments for India for many decades has been, that India did not have a viable market and capacity to become a global manufacturing hub as logistics cost of doing business in India was not competitive, today global majors are manufacturing semiconductors,  electronics, mobiles and many more products in India, exporting and selling in India as well as the underline logistics ecosystem has become more efficient. 

He further added, looking into the future, Prime Minister has focused on Gati Shakti, national master plan for multi-modal connectivity, essential to create modern logistics layer, making India emerge as a global hub for blue economy products, food, and agriculture. Logistics is going to be an exciting area and full of opportunities for our youth, it is going to be about technology enablement, there is so much scope for investment and entrepreneurship and employment, along with all the other opportunities in tech and in sunrise sectors. And as most of you are in colleges and doing degree programmes, The Minister emphasised on the vision of the Prime Minister which suggests that as much as you focus on receiving degrees, in the same manner, you should  focus on acquiring skills, as that will increase the prospects of your employability in modern and post pandemic techade. As the future is about skilling, upskilling and reskilling, and skilling will always remain a continuous process.

After the inaugural ceremony, the Minister visited nearly 70 exhibitors and lifted their morale by appreciating their efforts. The exhibitors included premier institutes and organizations from diverse sectors such as MeitY,  National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC), NIESBUD, UNICEF, NCERT, NIT Rourkela, IIT Bhubaneshwar, IIM Sambalpur, CV Raman Global Institute, Odisha based start-ups and many more, displaying technologies that will drive the future of work with constant innovations in modern workplace, future skills, and innovative delivery models.

The guests and visitors witnessed many highlights, Future of Work exhibit in 3 sectors- Agriculture, Mobility & Healthcare, Metaverse, Reverse engineering and automated design solutions, drone technology, Ed-tech solutions leveraging AR/VR, industry 4.0 skills, vernacular learning-based tech solutions, virtual internship solutions, and assistive technology & tactile display for inclusion and live demo of assistive technology innovation. This exclusive exhibition is being put together on the sidelines of the 3^rd Education Working Group (EdWG) meeting under G20 presidency from April 23^rd to 28^th at CSIR-Institute of Minerals and Materials Technology (IMMT), Bhubaneswar, Odisha.

The Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship (MSDE) and the Ministry of Education (MoE) hosted the second precursor event on the theme Transforming logistics for coastal economies with a focus on Sustainability. The aim of the precursor events is to create an environment that promotes innovation, collaboration, and learning by bringing together professionals from different fields to explore the implications of future of work for the government, industry, and academia. Today’s panels were attended by Mr Sanjay Mishra, Special Secretary, Commerce and Transport Department, Government of Odisha; Prof. Pradipta Kumar Nanda, Vice Chancellor, Siksha O Anusandhan University; Mr V. Venkateswara Rao, Chief Logistics Officer, Jindal Stainless Group; Mr Rahul Pandit, Chief Executive Officer, Horizon Industrial Parks; Prof Sasmita Rani Samanta, Vice Chancellor, Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology (KIIT); Dr Vaibhav Chaturvedi, Fellow, Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW); Ms Madhulika Sharma, Chief Sustainability Officer, ITC Ltd and many more eminent speakers.

A unique Future of Work Experience Zone that has been setup aims to display to the youth that how the Future of work will evolve by getting a preview of the required advanced technical skills and softer transferrable skills at this experience zone, to remain market relevant. The exhibition will showcase a variety of technologies from different sectors that will shape the future of work, including innovations in modern workplaces, the integration of technology in traditional sectors, and novel delivery models. The exhibition will provide an exceptional opportunity for technology leaders, influencers, and academics to showcase the best practices in adapting to the future of work.