Govt opens IITs to gurukul students; grants fellowships of up to ₹65k a month in 18 disciplines

Students who studied in conventional gurukuls, albeit without formal academic degrees, will now be able to receive recognized qualifications and scholarships for study in top IITs. The change represents a significant shift in India's educational policy in allowing elite research opportunities for scholars from non-formal backgrounds with classical learning.

The project, named 'Setubandha Vidwan Yojana', seeks to connect India's centuries-old gurukul tradition with contemporary scientific and academic research. Supported by the ministry of education and worked out by the Indian Knowledge System (IKS) department of the Central Sanskrit University (CSU), the programme provides fellowships of Rs 65,000 per month in 18 interdisciplinary areas — from ayurveda to cognitive science, and architecture to political theory, grammar to strategic studies, performing arts to mathematics, physics, and health sciences.

Researchers chosen under Category 1 (postgraduate level equivalent) will be given Rs 40,000 as monthly fellowship and Rs 1 lakh as research grant annually. Scholars under Category 2 (PhD level equivalent) will get Rs 65,000 per month and Rs 2 lakh per annum as grant. Some of the recognized fields of research are Anvikshiki Vidya (philosophy and cognitive science), Ganit-Bhaut-Jyotish Vidya (physics and mathematics, astronomy), and Bhaishajya and Arogya Vidya (Ayurveda and health sciences).

The initiative is a major institutional acknowledgment of traditional knowledge systems, which for many decades have functioned outside the formal academic system. NEP 2020 also articulates a clear call for mainstreaming Indian Knowledge Systems (IKS) into curricula and research, with cross-disciplinary studies that draw upon India's intellectual heritage. As there is growing international interest in ayurveda, yoga, Sanskrit studies, and indigenous systems of governance, the govt views this program as a means to empower traditional scholars and tap centuries of wisdom for present-day uses in science, technology, and social policy.