Father | Son | Husband | Brother | Associate Prof. @IIITDelhi | Director @hmi_iiitd | Affective Computing | Social Robotics | Ubiquitous Computing
New Delhi, India
Joined May 2020
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Jainendra Shukla/ जैनेन्द्र शुक्ल retweeted
Every memorable occasion has a story behind it, and the 15th Convocation of IIIT-Delhi is no exception!
Behind the scenes, days of planning, countless details, dedicated teamwork and final preparations are coming together to create a celebration of achievement, hard work and new beginnings.
As the excitement builds, here's a glimpse of the moments, efforts and energy that go into making this milestone truly special.
#IIITD #15thConvocation #Convocation2026 #BehindTheScenes #IIITDClassof2026
Jainendra Shukla/ जैनेन्द्र शुक्ल retweeted
Mobile PLI stats as follows:
Government incentive paid: Rs 19,000 Cr.
Direct tax collected: Rs 25,000 Cr.
GST collected: Rs 3,00,000 Cr.
Electronics manufacturing employs 25 Lakh people; mobile manufacturing alone employs 12 Lakh.
Cope harder!!
One in four iPhones is made in India, but imported parts and costly subsidies complicate the success story. @andymukherjee70 takes apart an iPhone to explain why copying China's manufacturing model may not pay off 🎥
Jainendra Shukla/ जैनेन्द्र शुक्ल retweeted
#WATCH | Berlin, Germany | Union Minister Piyush Goyal says, "Who's responsible for this mess in the first place? Where did the ozone layer get damaged? Who sent all that carbon into the atmosphere?... I represent 17% of the world's population, but my contribution to global carbon emissions is less than 3%. You (Europe) represent probably 3% or 4% of the world's population, yet your contribution to those carbon emissions—or this mess—is humongous...The problem was caused by you...Even today, as we sit here, my per capita contribution to carbon emissions is probably less than 10% or 15% of yours. Even today, Europe's per capita contribution to carbon emissions—and its per capita environmental impact—is probably seven or eight times that of India...I'm representing 17% of the world's population, and I am more conscious of waste and the circular economy. I also have to meet the needs of 1.4 billion people. I have to meet their energy needs, their food needs, and ensure that my nation remains secure. Despite all of that, we have one of the world's fastest-growing clean energy programmes..."
(Source: Piyush Goyal Social Media Page)
Jainendra Shukla/ जैनेन्द्र शुक्ल retweeted
We are delighted to announce that a paper titled ‘What Do Audio Models Really Hear? Layer Selection and Mechanistic Structure in Sound Representations’, authored by our student Arnesh Batra (B.Tech. CSAI, Class of 2027), has been accepted for publication in the NeurIPS 2026, Main Track (Poster). NeurIPS 2026 is the 40th Conference on Neural Information Processing Systems, one of the leading international conferences in machine learning, artificial intelligence, and computational neuroscience.
The paper studies how audio foundation models learn and organize information across different layers, and how this changes depending on how the models were trained. The author analyzes a wide range of audio models across speech, music, and general sound tasks, using representation geometry, probing, and mechanistic interpretability techniques. One of the key findings is that the final layer is often not the most useful. In many cases, earlier layers already contain the information needed for downstream tasks, suggesting opportunities to make these models more efficient by selecting or pruning layers. The broader goal is to move beyond simply understanding what models learn and use those insights to make practical decisions about their architecture and efficiency.
An earlier version of this research was also presented at the ICML 2026 ML4Audio Workshop.
Congratulations to Arnesh for this remarkable achievement.
#IIITD #ResearchatIIITD #MachineLearning #NeurIPS2026
Jainendra Shukla/ जैनेन्द्र शुक्ल retweeted
Folks i am looking to enhance my research group. The PhD student positions is below. Pls RT !! 🙏🙏
PhD Position: Urban Robots with World Models and RL for Indian Streets
I am looking for one/two PhD student(s) to build algorithms and systems for robotics for Indian urban spaces -- mainly around urban mobility. The core approach is learned urban world models combined with (probably) reinforcement learning, moving from data and simulation to real robots. Current world models and navigation policies are trained mostly on structured Western streets and fail in these conditions. There are interesting research questions that will also lead to products/startups for Indian (and who knows even the west) streets.
E.g:
Which world-model representations best capture dense, unstructured, multi-agent street behaviour? Can policies trained largely inside a learned world model transfer to real robots with little real data?
The work starts with data, models and simulation, then moves to campus trials and field deployment.
Target venues include ICLML, ICRA, NeurIPS, ICLR, ITSC and of course transactions of various kinds.
Who should apply ?
A B.Tech/M.Tech/M.Sc or equivalent in CS, EE, ME, mathematics or a related field, meeting IIIT Delhi PhD eligibility.
"Deep" interest in ML :)
RL, computer vision, or robotics experience is a plus.
The fellowship follows IIIT Delhi norms, and eligible candidates are later encouraged to apply for PMRF.
This is a rolling position. Email [email protected] with the subject "PhD Urban India Models". (write your email in your own words).
I have collaborations in US, Australia and in HK. The candidates will have the opportunity (optional) to visit them as well.
Jainendra Shukla/ जैनेन्द्र शुक्ल retweeted
I’ll be at #COLM2026!! I’m excited to talk about (long-horizon) human–AI interaction, personalization, and multi-turn policies (and sf bakeries 😭)
Alsooo, I’m on the job market and looking for postdoc/research roles in related areas! I’d also love to chat if you’re hiring :)
Jainendra Shukla/ जैनेन्द्र शुक्ल retweeted
This man is a hero.
Captain Smit Machchhar, the Indian captain of flydubai Flight 1073, fought back after being stabbed in the cockpit.
Despite being severely injured, he managed to unlock the cockpit door - allowing Israeli passengers and the Emirati crew to intervene and save all the passengers.
Together, their extraordinary courage saved 174 lives.
Indian. Israeli. Emirati.
Different nationalities. One extraordinary act of courage. 🇮🇳🇮🇱🇦🇪
We wish Captain Machchhar a full and speedy recovery.
Jainendra Shukla/ जैनेन्द्र शुक्ल retweeted
Our paper on Epistemic Social Learning has been accepted at #NeurIPS2026! 🎉
We ask: How should an agent learn about others when its own actions shape the data it observes? Congrats to @ProfJainendra, #DhruvJaiswal (UG), #Divyanshi (UG) & @KanjilalKiriti
#MultiAgents #GameTheory
Jainendra Shukla/ जैनेन्द्र शुक्ल retweeted
Course advertising banner for my rebooted PL course.
Sorry for the janky graphics, that's not my forte, @zoink.
(Reboot details, for those who missed it earlier: docs.google.com/document/d/e…)
ALT Poster that reads What should the foundations of software be in this AI era? We've redesigned the programming languages course from scratch to answer this!
Jainendra Shukla/ जैनेन्द्र शुक्ल retweeted
One of the "joys" of social media is that no matter what your qualifications and accomplishments are, there will be someone who would equate you to trash. I am sure Professor Kamakoti's cup of joy is overflowing at this characterization by a senior politician. 😀
Namaste, Ma'am...Aapko 1 story sunata hoon....
In the summer of 1980, a distraught 7th grade boy stood in the courtyard of a modest house in Mylapore, watching his father toss his cricket bat down a deep well. A fast bouncer had shattered the boy's spectacles during a local match & his father, a renowned Sanskrit logician, was terrified for his son's sight.
"Your cricket days are done," his father declared, handing him a violin. "If you want to master precision, master this."
The boy did not throw a tantrum. He directed his focus toward the strings, training until he was performing alongside musical legends, even taking direct corrections from Bharat Ratna M.S. Subbulakshmi.
5 yrs later, he suffered another blow: he failed to clear the IIT-JEE examination.
He did not give up. He enrolled in a regional engineering college, quietly mastering computer science logic gates. He eventually worked his way into IIT Madras as a postgrad researcher, earned a PhD, joined as a prof & eventually became the Director of the very institute that had once turned him away.
By 2011, while the world was building consumer mobile apps, this prof was looking at a hidden national vulnerability: every radar, fighter jet, banking server & defense system in India was running on foreign-designed microprocessors.
He had a single question in his mind: "We can test that a foreign chip does what we WANT it to do. But can we guarantee it does not do something we DO NOT want it to do when a war starts?"
He proposed building a completely indigenous, industrial-grade microprocessor from scratch. Global tech giants insisted it could not be done w/o billions of dollars in infrastructure & massive foreign patents.
He did not care. Working out of cramped labs on long shifts, he & his team adopted the open source RISC-V instruction set. They hand-coded logic gates, mapped silicon layouts & verified billions of instruction cycles.
In July 2018, a tiny 16mm² piece of silicon codenamed Risecreek arrived back at the lab. The team wired it up, flipped the switch & watched a flickering monitor as the Linux operating system booted on 100% Indian-designed silicon for the 1st time in history.
Today, his SHAKTI processor architecture powers everything from defense communications to space grade controllers built in collaboration with ISRO.
That young boy whose father threw his cricket bat down a well...
The student who missed the JEE list in 1985...
The violinist who turned down the official IIT Director's mansion to stay in his family home & protect his late father's Sanskrit library...
His name is Prof. Veezhinathan Kamakoti.
Jainendra Shukla/ जैनेन्द्र शुक्ल retweeted
🇮🇳 India Tops the World at the 56th International Physics Olympiad 2026!
🥇🥇🥇🥇🥇India's young physicists deliver an extraordinary performance at #IPhO2026 in Colombia. All five members of the Indian team win Gold Medals. 1/3
@PMOIndia @DrJitendraSingh @HBCSE_TIFR @TIFRScience
Jainendra Shukla/ जैनेन्द्र शुक्ल retweeted
We are delighted to share that our #BTech student, Aanya Singh, has won the Gold Medal at the 21st National Figure Skating Championship, held at the Himadri Ice Rink.
This remarkable achievement marks Aanya's second consecutive National Championship gold medal since joining IIIT-Delhi and extends an extraordinary record of eight consecutive National Championship gold medals.
Ahead of the championship, Aanya also participated in an intensive figure skating training camp under the guidance of an Australian coach, demonstrating her unwavering commitment to excellence.
Congratulations to Aanya for her outstanding accomplishments. Wishing her many more victories ahead.
#IIITD #StudentAchievement #figureskating #goldmedalist
Jainendra Shukla/ जैनेन्द्र शुक्ल retweeted
IIIT-Delhi is proud to be among the 20 Higher Education Institutions selected to host and participate in the launch of the EU–India Student Ambassadors Network, an initiative under the European Union's Public and Cultural Diplomacy Programme in India.
Launched recently in New Delhi under the auspices of H.E. Hervé Delphin, Ambassador of the European Union to India, the network brings together India's leading institutions to strengthen academic collaboration, student mobility, and cultural exchange between India and the European Union.
IIIT-Delhi was also invited to make a presentation as one of only three representatives selected from the participating institutions. During the session, Dr. @ProfJainendra (Faculty, IIIT-Delhi) presented the journey and key outcomes of IRAS-HUB, an EU-funded project that brings together 10 partners from India and 4 European countries to strengthen capacity-building in Robotics and Autonomous Systems in India.
Represented by two student ambassadors Joshita Yadav and Hardik Madan, IIIT-Delhi looks forward to promoting global learning opportunities, strengthening India–Europe academic partnerships, and creating new avenues for international engagement for its students and researchers.
@EU_in_India
#IIITD #EUIndia #InternationalCollaboration #StudentAmbassadors #ErasmusPlus
Jainendra Shukla/ जैनेन्द्र शुक्ल retweeted
India's Biggest Economic Challenge Is not Inflation, Oil, or War - It is an Unskilled Population Addicted to Distraction.
Every time oil prices rise, economists panic. Every time a war breaks out in the Middle East or Europe, television studios declare that India's economy is under threat. And yes, both matter. But neither represents India's greatest economic challenge. The real crisis is unfolding much closer to home.
It is a generation that spends more time consuming content than creating value. A workforce that debates geopolitics without mastering spreadsheets, artificial intelligence, coding, welding, precision manufacturing, sales, finance, communication, or even basic problem-solving. An economy where attention has become the most wasted national resource.
India is one of the youngest countries in the world. That should have been our greatest competitive advantage. Instead, we risk turning our demographic dividend into a demographic liability.
The Age of Endless Consumption
Never before has information been so accessible. Yet never before have so many people spent so much time learning so little. Hours disappear into political debates, celebrity gossip, cricket controversies, influencer reels, conspiracy theories, and outrage cycles that have absolutely no impact on an individual's earning potential. Ask someone how many hours they spent on social media last week. Then ask them how many hours they invested in acquiring a new professional skill. For many, the answer is uncomfortable. We have become experts at commenting on the economy while contributing very little to it.
Degrees Are Not Skills
India has no shortage of graduates. It has a shortage of employable graduates. Companies repeatedly report the same problem: vacancies exist, but suitable candidates are difficult to find. Not because people lack certificates. Because many lack practical skills. The world is rewarding competence, not credentials.
- Can you solve problems?
= Can you communicate effectively?
- Can you sell?
= Can you lead a team?
- Can you analyze data?
- Can you use AI to improve productivity instead of merely asking it amusing questions?
- Can you create something that another person is willing to pay for?
Those are the questions that determine economic success. Not the number of degrees hanging on a wall.
Attention Is the New Currency
The biggest theft today is not of money. It is of attention. Every notification fragments concentration. Every endless scroll delays mastery. Every hour spent consuming outrage is an hour not spent building expertise.
Modern economies reward deep work, specialized knowledge, creativity, and disciplined execution. Algorithms reward emotional reactions. Unfortunately, millions choose the algorithm.
The Coming Divide
Artificial intelligence is not replacing everyone. It is replacing people who refuse to learn. The future will belong to workers who continuously upgrade themselves. Those who combine human judgment with technological tools will become dramatically more productive. Those who stop learning will find themselves competing for fewer opportunities at lower wages. The divide will not be between rich and poor. It will increasingly be between skilled and unskilled.
National Growth Begins With Individual Discipline
Governments can build highways. Businesses can build factories. Universities can build campuses. But none of them can force an individual to develop skills. Economic transformation begins with personal responsibility. Spend one less hour arguing online. Spend one more hour learning. Read instead of scrolling. Build instead of complaining. Acquire one valuable skill every year. Become indispensable.
If millions of Indians made that simple choice, the country's economic trajectory would change more profoundly than any fiscal stimulus, any election promise, or any temporary fall in oil prices.
Wars will end. Oil prices will rise and fall. Markets will recover. But a nation that neglects skill development while surrendering its attention to endless distraction will struggle long after those headlines have disappeared.
The strongest economy is not built by the loudest voices. It is built by the most capable people.
#JaiHind
Jainendra Shukla/ जैनेन्द्र शुक्ल retweeted
I want to offer some unsolicited advice to computer vision researchers jumping into robotics. Don't focus too much on VLMs, VLAs etc. That's fine, but the real action is at the sensorimotor level. Most of the open problems in robotics are in manipulation, which is about hand-object interaction, and contacts and forces are central. Proprioception and tactile sensing are as important as vision. Don't get seduced by cherry-picked demos. You can't do robotics without doing robotics.
Jainendra Shukla/ जैनेन्द्र शुक्ल retweeted
Meet Vivek Borkar!
(One of India's top Mathematicians)
Working on the mathematical foundations of learning, optimization and decision-making under uncertainty.
> Completed his Electrical Engineering from IIT Bombay in 1976
> Earned his MS from Case Western Reserve University in 1977
> Pursued his PhD at UC Berkeley under renowned control theorist Pravin Varaiya
> Worked as a visiting scientist at the University of Twente in the Netherlands
> Returned to India in 1981 and joined the TIFR Centre for Applicable Mathematics
> Later served as professor at IISc Bengaluru and Tata Institute of Fundamental Research
> Currently serves as Institute Chair Professor at IIT Bombay
> Elected Fellow of IEEE, AMS, TWAS and all three major Indian science academies
> Recipient of the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize and the TWAS Prize
His research focuses on stochastic control, probability theory, reinforcement learning and dynamical systems.
> He is best known for introducing powerful analytical methods in stochastic optimal control
> The work that influenced modern learning algorithms, adaptive systems and decision-making models under uncertainty.
His books on stochastic approximation and probability theory are widely used by researchers working in control theory, machine learning and applied mathematics.
From IIT Bombay to becoming one of the world’s most respected minds in stochastic systems, Vivek Borkar’s journey shows how deep mathematics quietly shapes the technologies of the modern world.
Jainendra Shukla/ जैनेन्द्र शुक्ल retweeted
Padma Shri for K. Pajanivel, the Man Who Kept India’s 5,000-Year-Old Silambam Tradition Alive
K. Pajanivel, renowned Silambam master and dedicated promoter of India’s ancient martial arts tradition, will be honoured with the Padma Shri for his exceptional contribution to preserving and popularising indigenous martial arts and folk culture.
Hailing from Puducherry, he has devoted over three decades to training thousands of students in Silambam and other traditional martial and folk art forms, while actively promoting Tamil Nadu’s 5,000-year-old weapon-based martial art across India and internationally.
Through free training camps, cultural programmes, and grassroots mentorship, he has played a vital role in keeping India’s rich martial heritage alive for future generations.
Pajanivel supports teaching Silambam in schools and aims to further promote it globally. His work has been vital in keeping India’s rich martial heritage alive for future generations.
Credit : Hindustan Times.
Jainendra Shukla/ जैनेन्द्र शुक्ल retweeted
A discovery that would go on to redefine the international system of units, including the kilogram used across the world today.
But beyond the equations and measurements lies something deeply human: curiosity.
Join Nobel Laureate Prof. Klaus von Klitzing for a public lecture exploring how fundamental quantum discoveries move beyond laboratories to influence global technology systems, scientific standards, and the measurements modern life depends on.
Presented by @Lodha Foundation in collaboration with @tifrscience, the evening will also feature an exceptional Q&A panel consisting of some of the world's leading minds in quantum science.
The lecture is open to all. No prior background in quantum physics required.
Livestream: tifr.link/ijck0i
#ScienceForAll #QuantumScience #QuantumResearch #PublicLectureSeries #TIFR #LTPI
