Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati is leading the initiative to set up nodal centres for defence and national security research throughout the country. Established under the aegis of Ministry of Education, Government of India, and led by Prof. Devendra Jalihal, Director, IIT Guwahati, the “Manekshaw Centre” is working towards next-gen education, innovation, productisation, manufacturing and research-based consulting/operations.
Aligning with the Govt. of India’s Atmanirbhar Bharat mission, this visionary initiative will unite IITs, IISc, IIITs, and NITs on a collaborative academic and research platform focused on defence technology and national security.
The idea of setting up this nodal centre for collaboration among IITs was conceived by Lt. Gen. Dr. Subrata Saha (Retd.), and Prof. Sukumar Nandi, Dean of Administration, IIT Guwahati. Currently the Manekshaw Centre includes:
- IITs: Guwahati, Madras, Kanpur, Jodhpur, Dharwad, Delhi, Bombay, Kharagpur, BHU-Varanasi, ISM-Dhanbad
- IISc Bangalore
- IIIT Delhi
with more institutions expected to join soon.
To support the initiative, a high-level delegation recently briefed Education Minister, Dharmendra Pradhan on this. The delegation included: Prof. Devendra Jalihal, Director, IIT Guwahati and Chief Patron. Manekshaw Center of Excellence, Prof. Manindra Agrawal, Director, IIT Kanpur and Dy. Chief Patron, Manekshaw Center of Excellence and Lt Gen Dr. Subrata Saha (Retd.), Executive Chairman and Chief Operating Officer of the Manekshaw Center of Excellence
Speaking about the initiative, Prof. Devendra Jalihal, Director, IIT Guwahati, said, “Manekshaw Center will act as an interface between Indian Academia and defence forces. IITs, IISc, IIITs and NITs will be the members of the centre. The centre will periodically carry out dialogs with defense agencies and will participate actively to define and design systems for Indian security needs. It will work towards finding Indian solutions thus fulfilling the aspiration of Atmanirbhar Bharat.”
The meeting was also attended by Shri Vineet Joshi, Secretary, and Smt. Saumya Gupta, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Education, Govt. of India.
Highlighting the need of inter-institutional collaborations, Education Minister underlined the Ministry’s commitment to supporting the Manekshaw Centre in building a robust innovation ecosystem that brings academia, defence, armed forces, security agencies and industries together to address the evolving challenges of national security.
