IIT Guwahati spearheads national initiative to establish Manekshaw Centres for Defence and Security Research

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, productization, manufacturing and research-based consulting/operations.

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


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.”

Highlighting the need of inter-institutional collaborations, Education Minister, Dharmendra Pradhan 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 Government 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 and IIIT Delhi.

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 and 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.