A program of the Department of Higher and Technical Education, Govt. of Maharashtra, implemented by IIT Bombay — bridging higher education institutions with the development needs of Maharashtra's communities.
Unnat Maharashtra Abhiyan (UMA) was launched in January 2016 with a vision to transform higher and technical education in Maharashtra by linking it directly to local development challenges. Implemented by the Centre for Technology Alternatives for Rural Areas (CTARA), IIT Bombay, UMA's vision is to build an independent and public knowledge infrastructure for the state of Maharashtra which will bring socio-economic and cultural development for its people, especially those in the bottom 80% of the socio-economic strata.
Its mission is to (i) enable demand-driven research: enable citizens, elected representatives, and state agencies to access institutions of learning for topical research such as in feasibility studies, evaluation, assessment, or innovative design and (ii) align with development: to align curricula and research in higher education towards better development outcomes and to train students for a future role as development professionals and researchers.
The program operates through various modes such as case study courses, curriculum reform, new job profiles, field-based internships, training workshops for faculty and students, and engagement of colleges in projects with government agencies. The goal is to make students active participants in understanding and addressing Maharashtra's development challenges and building institutional knowledge in the regional educational institutes.
UMA operates across three broad tracks — curriculum reform, field engagement, and institutional partnerships — connecting engineering colleges and universities with real development work.
UMA partners with engineering colleges and polytechnics across Maharashtra to ground technical education in local development realities — through field internships, faculty workshops, demand-driven projects, and curriculum linkages with Zilla Parishads and WRD.
A course that takes students outside the classroom to engage with their surroundings through systematic field study — building interdisciplinary skills in documentation, analysis, and report writing.
A new career pathway for engineering graduates within Zilla Parishads — creating GIS maps of villages, water infrastructure, and land assets to support government planning. Piloted in Ratnagiri and Dharashiv.
Researchers associated with UMA are working on various projects with government departments or agencies in the development sector. These researchers feed into UMA through internships, new educational material, and project opportunities for the UMA participants with the agencies. Some of the recent projects are listed here.
Grounding technical education in local development realities — through field internships, faculty workshops, demand-driven projects, and curriculum linkages with district agencies.
UMA has engaged engineering students in the sectors of drinking water, public transport, electricity distribution, irrigation, MSMEs and use of GIS for planning.
Students have worked on water supply assessments, agricultural feeder analysis, irrigation network studies, and road condition surveys — under the joint mentorship of college faculty and IIT Bombay. Colleges take up projects proposed by district-level agencies such as the Water Resources Department, Zilla Parishad, and MSEDCL. Some of these are Assessment of Jalyukt Shivar (JYS) water conservation works (statewide 2018–20), Study of 20 tanker-fed villages (Ratnagiri district, 2023), Village internal road assessment (Lanja block, Ratnagiri district).
Internships are conducted by UMA through training and connecting students to agencies. Topics have included Irrigation Management, Agricultural Feeder Analysis, and the use of GIS in Development. Courses and textbooks connecting field phenomena to core engineering disciplinary curriculum are being developed. Government department trainings are conducted, for example, in the area of Rural Water Supply (RWS), Water Resources Department (WRD), PWD engineers.
Outcomes of the engineering engagement have been methodologies such as a compendium for RWS scheme assessment, guidelines for JYS work, and a PCI app for road condition assessment.
Each participating engineering college sets up an interdisciplinary Technology and Development Cell (T&DC) to facilitate students — assisted by faculty and coordinators — to undertake inter-disciplinary, stakeholder-driven, hands-on research on live problems, deliver solutions to stakeholders, and incorporate such methodologies into the curricula.
Our questions, our science — a course that takes students to the field to study development challenges using systematic methods.
In any modern society, the surrounding reality should be studied, documented and analysed to produce knowledge for informed choices by individuals and institutions. In Maharashtra, there is an explicit gap of such knowledge at the local level — we rarely see evidence-based discourse on local development issues. This necessitates exploring alternative approaches to build a knowledge base.
आपले प्रश्न आपले विज्ञान (APAV) is an initiative to facilitate the generation of local knowledge products using science — scientific methods — as a tool. It is operationalised through regional higher education institutes across the state. We make students step outside the classroom and engage with their surroundings in a constructive manner through systematic study, helping them develop interdisciplinary skills in fieldwork, documentation, analysis and report writing.
We mobilise regional higher education institutes — using existing provisions in curricula and academic frameworks — to ensure participation of students and faculty. Our team at IITB has designed modules for students to conduct studies on selected topics, and for faculty to guide them. Our offerings include the APAV case study course, APAV internships, and the MSFDA-IITB training programme on experiential learning.
We are also open to — and looking forward to — collaborating with NGOs, CSOs, or action groups working on generating local knowledge products in their domain of work.
Topics range from 'Balance sheet of a vegetable seller' and 'Nursery operations' to 'Solid waste in Chiplun' and 'Kharland reclamation in Jakimirya village'. Each case study is grounded in the student's own district and community.
The 2-credit course includes video recorded lectures available in both Marathi and English, and has been adopted by several universities under NEP 2020.
The GIO pilot began in Ratnagiri in May 2023 — placing a trained GIS professional within the CEO's Zilla Parishad office to support data-driven district governance.
The success of this experiment has led to its replication in Dharashiv, where the District Collector has placed a GIO using their own funding, with IIT-UMA providing design and technical support.
Shri Keerthi Kiran Pujar, IAS, CEO Ratnagiri ZP, has recommended the GIO position to the Secretary, Planning, GoM.
Further, the positions of Agricultural Information Officer and Energy Information Officer are being developed through cases.
Mapping of departmental programs, 122 villages, road networks, and PCI (Pavement Condition Index) surveys using QGIS and field tools.
Provision of thematic maps and analytical documents to support departmental planning and reporting in Ratnagiri and Dharashiv.
Linking local HEIs with ZP for internships on rural surveys, water supply studies, and agricultural data collection.
Conducting topical research in partnership with IIT Bombay on infrastructure, water, and agriculture challenges at the district level.
All UMA teaching materials are freely accessible. Faculty, students, and institutions are encouraged to use and adapt these resources.
UMA works with a wide range of higher education institutions across Maharashtra — engineering colleges, polytechnics, and arts & science degree colleges. These institutions engage with UMA through various modes: running the APAV credit course, hosting field internships, participating in faculty workshops, and taking up projects with government agencies. Together, they form a growing network committed to grounding education in local development realities.
UMA invites colleges and universities across Maharashtra to participate in its programs — from running the APAV credit course to hosting field internships and training workshops.
Write to uma.iitbombay@gmail.com or contact the CTARA-UMA team. Share your institution's profile — district, type (engineering/polytechnic/arts & science), and existing development-sector engagement.
UMA will schedule an orientation session (online or in-person) for your faculty. A review of your curriculum and local field opportunities will help identify the best mode of participation.
Participating faculty attend a UMA training workshop — covering the APAV pedagogy, case study methodology, field data collection, and how to conduct local development reviews with students.
A Memorandum of Understanding is signed between your institution and CTARA/IIT Bombay. Students are formally enrolled in the APAV course for credit in the following semester.
Students carry out field studies in local villages with mentorship from UMA faculty at IIT Bombay. Case studies are reviewed and published in UMA's online repository.
UMA is actively onboarding engineering colleges, polytechnics, and arts & science colleges across Maharashtra. Whether you are in Vidarbha, Marathwada, Konkan, or Western Maharashtra — your institution's local knowledge is an asset.
Write to UMA Team →or visit ctara.iitb.ac.in/en/uma
Faculty and field professionals who have built and sustained this program since 2016.
Principal Investigator · Professor, Computer Science and Engineering, IIT Bombay
Leads program formulation. Milind Sohoni's webpage →
Co-Principal Investigator · Faculty, CTARA, IIT Bombay
Leads Engineering Engagement. Priya Jadhav's group webpage