Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways (MoPSW) has started its 2-day Chintan Shivir at Munnar to determine the targets and deliberate upon the ideas of Making India Atmanirbhar in maritime.
The Shivir which was chaired and inaugurated by Sarbananda Sonowal, Union Minister of Ports, Shipping & Waterways, in the presence of the Shripad Naik, MoS, MoPSW and Tourism, Shantanu Thakur, MoS, MoPSW, Sudhansh Pant, Secretary, MoPSW and others including Chairpersons of all major ports, heads of the other organizations/PSU’s of the Ministry and senior officials.
Sonowal lauded the commitment and hard work exhibited by MoPSW and each organisation in positioning India as a global leader in the maritime sector. Recognising the significance of enhancing connectivity and fostering new business opportunities, he emphasised the Ministry’s goal to educate and create awareness among the common people by highlighting the maritime sector’s impact in simple language and how it impacts the lives of the common people.
Shripad Y Naik, MoS, MoPSW, pointed out the excellent performance achieved during the FY-2022-23 in all aspects of port operations. “The MIV 2030 launched under the leadership of the Prime Minister has led the blueprint of the actions that would lead us towards making India one of the leading blue economies of the world, and we should try to achieve the determined targets’.
Shantanu Thakur, MoS, MoPSW, said ‘India is one of the leading economies of the world, and the considerable amount of work has been done towards infrastructure documentation in the ports enhancing the ease of doing business, increasing the share of renewable energy in the sectors and promoting shipbuilding and ship repair. We should now focus on making India a hub for maritime training and strengthening maritime institutions”.
During the first day, the achievements and targets set during the previous Chintan Shivir were discussed. An exclusive session with the HoDs of the major ports, chaired by Sarbananda Sonowal, focused on the innovative ideas of the ports. The other session focused on lighthouse tourism and how to become a global player in shipbuilding and enhance India’s tonnage.
Day two of the Chintan Shivir will focus on cargo handling by major ports, improving and optimizing port call procedures, digitalisation and standardization, Inland waterways and coastal shipping, enhancing cargo and good governance.