Six years after quota for women at IITs, changes are quite visible

IIT-KANPUR RECORDS A 133% JUMP IN NUMBER OF WOMEN

- VIDHEESHA KUNTAMALLA & PALLAVI SMART New Delhi/Roorkee/Kanpur/Mumbai, January 5

FROM MORE HOSTELS and washrooms for female students to their own sports teams—a silent revolution has been taking shape at the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) over the last six years, ever since a supernumerary quota of 20% was set aside for women.

The quota, under which extra seats were created instead of reserving them in the existing pool, was implemented in 2018 based on the recommendations of a committee led by then IIT-Mandi Director Timothy Gonsalves, which called it "the required slight push." While most IITs implemented a 14% quota for women in 2018-19, by 2019-20 it stood at 19% and by 2021-22, most of them had 20% seats for women.

Six years on, data obtained by The Indian Express under the Right to Information (RTI) Act from 21 of the 23 IITs reveals a steady increase in the number of women entering these prestigious institutes.

At IIT-Kanpur, the number of women rose from 908 women in 2017 to 2,124 in 2024—a 133% jump. At IIT-Roorkee, the number went up from 1,489 in 2019-20 to 2,626 in 2024—a 76.36% jump. IITs in Chennai, Mumbai, Guwahati and Kharagpur, too, saw similar increases.

According to the data, IITs Delhi and Bombay crossed the 20% threshold as early as 2017—even before the quota was implemented. Of IIT Delhi's 2,878 students that year, 607 or 21.09% were women. In the first semester of 2024 at IIT Delhi, that number stood at 840—a rise of 38.39%. In the case of IIT Bombay, of 2,790 students in 2017, 570 or 20.43% were women.

Meanwhile, IIT Kanpur was the last among the seven first-generation IITs to cross the 20% female enrolment mark, reaching the milestone only in 2021. Of its 7,716 students that year, 1,691 or 21.92% were women.