The Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati is leading an initiative to establish 'Manekshaw Centres for Defence and Security Research' throughout the country, which will act as a single window communication to bridge the gap between the armed forces, security agencies and academic and research institutions.
A high-level delegation led by Prof Devendra Jalihal, Director, IIT Guwahati, recently briefed Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on the establishment of the nodal centres in premier institutions, a statement said here on Friday.
Prof Jalihal, who is also the chief patron, Manekshaw Centre of Excellence, said, "This Centre will act as an interface between academia and defence forces. IITs, IISc, IIITs and NITs will be the members of the centre.
"The centre will periodically carry out dialogue with defence agencies and will participate actively in defining and design systems for Indian security needs. It will work towards finding Indian solutions thus fulfilling the aspiration of Atmanirbhar Bharat." The delegation also comprised Prof Manindra Agrawal, Director, IIT Kanpur, and deputy chief patron, Manekshaw Centre of Excellence, and Lt Gen Subrata Saha (Retd), executive chairman and chief operating officer of the Manekshaw Centre of Excellence.
Highlighting the need for inter-institutional collaborations during the meeting, Pradhan expressed his 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.
The idea of setting up this nodal centre for collaboration among IITs was conceived by Lt Gen Saha (Retd) and Prof Sukumar Nandi, Dean of Administration, IIT Guwahati, the statement said.
Currently, the Manekshaw Centre includes IITs - Guwahati, Madras, Kanpur, Jodhpur, Dharwad, Delhi, Bombay and Kharagpur, BHU-Varanasi, ISM-Dhanbad, IISc-Bangalore and IIIT-Delhi, with more institutions to join soon, the statement added.
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