Guwahati, August 8: 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.

To support the initiative, a high-level delegation recently briefed Union Education Minister. Dharmendra Pradhan, on the establishment of a Nodal Centers in Indian Premier Institutes dedicated for Defence and National Security Research.

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

· 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 Vineet Joshi, Secretary, and Saumya Gupta, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Education, Govt. of India.

Highlighting the need of inter-institutional collaborations, the Union Education Minister expressed strong support for the initiative. He 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.

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.

IIT Guwahati Manekshaw Centre of Excellence for National Security Studies and Research (MCoENSSR) was established in March 2025, IIT Guwahati’s MCoENSSR is working towards bridging the gap between Defence Forces, Security Agencies, and Academic & Research Institutions that can enable convergence of strategic vision, operational excellence, and technological expertise to strengthen national security. Other key objectives of the centre include:

· Create a new-age Security Industrial Complex/Ecosystem to promote Govt. of India’s Atmanirbhar Bharat initiative to “win India’s wars with Indian solutions”

· Collaborate with start-ups, industry partners, foreign institutes to achieve higher technology readiness level and cater the requirements of the Indian Armed Forces and Security Agencies

· Organise Dialogue Series, Workshops, Seminars, Ideathons, Conference with Indian Armed Forces and other key national security stakeholders on new-age national security challenges, next-gen asymmetric hybrid non-contact warfare, futuristic technologies