When I was a student at IIT Kanpur in the 1980s, I remember our heated debates revolved around campus food and ragging. We argued endlessly in hostel corridors, and yes, we discussed politics too. But through it all, our focus on technical excellence remained undiluted. This clarity of purpose made IITs into centres of excellence and gave them a global brand respected from Silicon Valley to Singapore.

Today, that clarity is under assault. The expansion of IITs into the humanities has done nothing to add to their brand but instead leeches off their reputation to create centres of political agitation, not learning. Today, the situation has deteriorated to the point where even IIT Bombay has put its name as co-sponsor to a September 2025 conference at UC Berkeley that brands Indian industry and entrepreneurship as instruments of exploitation.

IITs were never meant to be “general universities". They were envisioned as highly selective institutes of technology—modelled after MIT, Caltech, and ETH Zurich—with the singular mission of producing scientists, engineers, and technocrats to build India’s modern economy. The lab-centric culture, research rigour, and global alumni brand set IITs apart.

This focus began to blur under the UPA government. In 2008-09, the Yash Pal Committee on higher education recommended that IITs and IIMs be encouraged to transform into “full-fledged multidisciplinary universities". HRD Minister Kapil Sibal endorsed the idea, urging IITs to launch schools of medicine, law, and social sciences. He spoke openly about pushing them towards multidisciplinary “world-class" universities. On paper, this sounded visionary. In reality, it was a recipe for mission........

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