Since 2019, the number of women qualifying for the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) has risen from 5,356 to 10,107, an increase of nearly 89%, according to data available in the public domain. During the same period, the number of girls appearing for the examination rose by around 22%.

Much of the discussion surrounding this achievement has understandably focused on the introduction of supernumerary seats in IITs from 2018 onwards. The policy was designed to improve women's representation in institutions where female enrolment had historically hovered in single digits. The impact has been visible.

Yet, the story of how IITs opened their doors to more girls did not begin with additional seats. It began years earlier, with the recognition that the real challenge lay not at the gates of the IITs but much before them.

For decades, engineering remained one of India's most male-dominated professional pathways. Girls consistently performed well in school examinations, yet their representation in engineering colleges remained disproportionately low. The reasons were varied. Access to specialised coaching was limited. Families often nudged daughters towards other streams. Mentorship and role models were scarce. In many parts of the country, engineering continued to be viewed as a more natural aspiration for sons than daughters.

The challenge, therefore, was not merely one of admissions. It was one of aspiration.

Addressing that challenge required interventions that would encourage more girls to enter the pipeline long before IIT admission lists were drawn up.

Education Reforms

It is here that one must look back to the formative years of the Modi government's education reforms. Between 2014 and 2016, Smriti Irani, who was then serving as Union Human Resource Development Minister, launched a series of initiatives that sought to expand educational access, strengthen India's higher education ecosystem, and bring more girls into technical education.

One of the most significant among them was UDAAN, launched by the Ministry of Human Resource Development in 2014 to address the low enrolment of girls in engineering colleges. The programme was designed to provide a comprehensive platform for meritorious girl students aspiring to pursue engineering education. It offered free learning resources, virtual classrooms, mentoring support and preparation assistance for the IIT-JEE examination while students were still in Classes 11 and 12.

The significance of UDAAN lay in its recognition of a simple but often overlooked reality: talent was widespread, but opportunity was not.

For countless girls, particularly those from smaller towns and disadvantaged backgrounds, the barriers appeared much earlier than the examination hall. Quality coaching was often inaccessible. Exposure to engineering careers was limited. Confidence was frequently undermined by social expectations. UDAAN sought to bridge this gap by providing support at precisely the stage where many promising students tended to fall behind.

The early results were encouraging. By 2016, 143 of the first 300 girls enrolled under the programme had successfully cleared the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE). The numbers may appear modest when compared to today's record figures, but they demonstrated something important. Given access, encouragement and preparation, girls were more than capable of competing at the highest levels.

Around the same time, the Ministry introduced the Pragati Scholarship Scheme to provide financial assistance and encouragement to meritorious female students pursuing technical education through AICTE-approved institutions. While UDAAN addressed preparation and aspiration, Pragati sought to address affordability, ensuring that financial constraints did not become a barrier to technical education.

The effort extended beyond scholarships and coaching.

Education Initiatives For Girls

One of the lesser-discussed initiatives of the period was the Digital Gender Atlas, a data-driven planning tool designed to identify districts with low female enrolment and poor educational outcomes. For perhaps the first time, policymakers had access to a mechanism that could map gender disparities in education at a granular level and help direct interventions where they were most needed.

Its significance lay not merely in technology but in targeting. Educational inequality is rarely uniform across India. While some districts had achieved near parity, others continued to witness significant gaps in girls' participation. The Atlas helped identify these disparities and informed efforts to improve female enrolment and retention.

The Ministry also rolled out programmes such as Ishan Uday and Ishan Vikas to improve access to higher education and academic exposure for students from the Northeast. While not exclusively focused on women, these initiatives reflected a larger philosophy of expanding opportunities for groups and regions that had historically remained underrepresented in India's premier institutions.

Viewed individually, each of these initiatives addressed a different challenge. Viewed together, they reveal a coherent effort to widen the educational pipeline and ensure that more students, regardless of gender or geography, could aspire to enter India's best institutions.

At the same time, the Ministry was working to strengthen the quality and ambition of India's higher education ecosystem itself.

In 2014, the Global Initiative of Academic Networks (GIAN) was launched to bring internationally renowned academicians, scientists, researchers and entrepreneurs into Indian institutions. The objective was to expose students and faculty to global expertise while strengthening India's own academic capabilities.

The same period also witnessed the launch of IMPacting Research INnovation and Technology (IMPRINT), a first-of-its-kind Pan-IIT and Indian Institute of Science (IISc) initiative supported by the Ministry. Launched by President Pranab Mukherjee and Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2015, the programme sought to address major engineering and scientific challenges facing India through collaborative research.

The response was substantial. Within a year of its launch, 31 ministries and government departments had proposed to co-fund 229 research projects worth nearly Rs 600 crore across IITs and other premier institutions. The initiative signalled a renewed focus on research, innovation and problem-solving as central pillars of India's development journey.

In 2016 came SWAYAM, India's Massive Open Online Courses platform. Built around the principles of access, equity and quality, it sought to democratise knowledge by making high-quality educational content available online to students regardless of location or economic background. For many students in smaller towns and underserved regions, it opened pathways to learning that had previously been difficult to access.

The period also saw the establishment of six new IITs, further expanding India's technical education infrastructure and increasing opportunities for aspiring engineers across the country.

The Domino Effect

Seen separately, these initiatives may appear disconnected. Seen together, they reveal an attempt to strengthen the educational ecosystem — from school education and access to coaching, to scholarships, research, digital learning, and world-class institutions. It is this chain of interventions, each building upon the other, that may well be described as the Smriti Irani Domino Effect.

The record number of girls qualifying for IIT admissions in 2026 must be viewed against this broader backdrop, despite the lapses that have surfaced.

The supernumerary seats policy helped create additional space inside IIT campuses. But before those seats could be filled, thousands of girls had to believe they belonged there. They needed encouragement, mentoring, scholarships, role models and opportunities. They needed an educational ecosystem that expanded aspiration rather than limiting it.

That ecosystem was not built overnight.

The significance of this year's milestone therefore extends far beyond admission statistics. It reflects years of policy interventions, institutional reforms, and changing social attitudes working together to create new possibilities for young women.

As India seeks to become a global technology, innovation, and knowledge powerhouse, women's participation in STEM will be one of the defining markers of Nari Shakti in the decades ahead. The girls appearing on IIT admission lists today will become researchers, engineers, entrepreneurs, innovators and educators tomorrow. They will shape laboratories, startups, classrooms, boardrooms and public institutions.

The story of 10,107 girls qualifying for IIT admissions is not merely a story about an examination. It is a story about aspirations nurtured, barriers lowered, and opportunities widened. It is also a reminder that some of the most meaningful reforms do not reveal their full impact when they are announced. Their results become visible years later - in the lives they transform.

This year's milestone is one such result.