SDG 10: Reduced Inequalities

SDG 10.1Research and innovation for inclusion

Open 10.1 Research as a separate report

UPES researchers and students design technology that removes barriers for people with disabilities and learners who are often left behind.

The figures below cover UPES research publications on reducing inequalities from 2021 to 2025 (source: Scopus, October 2026).

What the research covers

Number of 2021–2025 papers on each theme (a paper can appear under more than one).

Most cited work on inequality and inclusion

1. Digital Financial Literacy and Its Impact on Financial Decision-Making of Women: Evidence from India (Journal of Risk and Financial Management, 2024), cited 75 times.
2. Exploring the nexus between environment quality, economic development and industrialization in BRICS nations: the role of technological innovation and income inequality (Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 2022), cited 37 times.
3. Does inflow of foreign direct investment stimulate economic growth? Evidence from developing countries (Transnational Corporations Review, 2021), cited 34 times.
4. Shades & shines of gender equality with respect to sustainable development goals (SDGs): The environmental performance perspectives (Total Environment Research Themes, 2023), cited 29 times.
5. Dimensions of financial inclusion in India: a qualitative analysis of bankers perspective (Qualitative Research in Financial Markets, 2024), cited 21 times.

The full list of 130 publications since 2008, with links, is on the reduced inequalities research publications page (also available as a spreadsheet).

Innovation for inclusion

• Sahayak Hackathon. In July 2020 the School of Computer Science, with UPES ACM and ACM-W, brought 816 participants from 110 institutions together with people living with visual and hearing impairment, autism, cerebral palsy and Parkinson's disease to build AI, AR, VR and biometric solutions to the barriers they face.
• Intelligent tutoring for learning disabilities. UPES researchers are developing an intelligent tutoring system for the inclusive education of learners with learning disabilities, and have compared data collection models for it (Lecture Notes in Networks and Systems, 2023).
• Dyslexia, dysgraphia and dyscalculia. Prof Neelu Jyothi Ahuja, who heads the computing research institute at UPES's R&D centre, works on IT tools that help children with difficulties in reading, writing and numbers.

Patents and intellectual property

UPES holds 2,314+ intellectual property rights, made up of 813 patents, 943 designs and 558 copyrights, with 139 granted (December 2025).

SDG 10.2Fair and open admissions

Open 10.2 Fair admissions as a separate report

UPES admits students on merit and uses targeted scholarships to widen access for women, low-income students and young people from Uttarakhand.

Scholarships that widen access

• Shakti, for women. Launched in 2020 to take young women "from classroom to boardroom", Shakti gives girl students a 20% scholarship; more than 1,300 benefited in a single year, with applicants from Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Bihar, Haryana, Maharashtra and Jharkhand. For 2022–23, more than half of about 2,000 merit scholarships were reserved for girls.
• Jyoti, for low-income students. A 100% waiver of tuition and academic fees for 51 meritorious students a year from families earning up to ₹8 lakh.
• Uttarakhand domicile. A quarter of seats are reserved for students with Uttarakhand domicile, each with a 25% tuition scholarship every semester, so local students can study close to home.
• Talented students from remote areas. Project Abhilasha brings meritorious students from marginalised parts of Uttarakhand to campus for a month-long residential coaching camp for engineering entrance exams, and Project Protsaahan funds the full degree of meritorious students from the Purkal Youth Development Society.

Planned outreach to under-represented groups

Each of these schemes is a planned action to bring in students from groups that are under-represented in higher education: women through Shakti and merit scholarships reserved for girls, students from low-income families through Jyoti and Protsaahan, young people from Uttarakhand's remote areas through the domicile reservation and Project Abhilasha, and students with disabilities through accessible admissions under the Policy on Inclusion of Students with Disability. On the staff side, UPES's Principles of Engagement commit it to equal-opportunity hiring, and the Shakti leadership programme develops women employees for senior roles.

Measuring progress

UPES reports the scholarships it awards each year, including those for women, to check how far its schemes reach under-represented students.

SDG 10.3Zero tolerance for discrimination and harassment

Open 10.3 Anti-discrimination as a separate report

UPES's Non-Discrimination and Anti-Harassment Policy covers every student, faculty member, employee and staff member, and committees with clear duties enforce it.

The policy

The policy bans any preferential or adverse treatment based on personal characteristics, including race, colour, gender, age, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, marital or civil partnership status and disability. It defines harassment as any verbal or physical conduct that undermines a person's dignity, in speech, writing, images or online, and commits UPES to investigate every report promptly, fairly and confidentially.

Who makes it work

• Committee on Anti-Discrimination. Oversees the policy, monitors campus practice, reviews reports and guides investigations into discrimination based on gender, race, caste, marital status, sexual orientation, religion, age or disability.
• Equal treatment at work. UPES's Principles of Engagement make it an equal opportunity employer: hiring, promotion, transfers, pay, benefits and training are decided without regard to gender, caste, religion, age, marital status, nationality, ethnicity, sexual orientation or disability.
• Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Committee. Promotes fairness, gender equity and accessibility across the university.
• Internal Complaints Committee. Handles sexual harassment complaints under the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace Act, 2013, in a time-bound and confidential way, with support for complainants.
• Prevention, Monitoring and Gender Sensitization Committee. Women faculty, a woman HR officer and two women students from each school make campus visits to assess how safe women feel, monitor measures such as street lighting, and work with the Dehradun Police Women Cell.
• Student Grievance Redressal. A mechanism under the UGC (Grievance Redressal) Regulations, 2018, with a dedicated email and online portal.

Every year all employees and Internal Complaints Committee members complete Prevention of Sexual Harassment (PoSH) training, in person and online.

SDG 10.4Support for under-represented groups

Open 10.4 Support as a separate report

UPES pairs every student with a faculty mentor and offers counselling, with extra support for women and for students who face barriers to higher education.

• Mentoring for every student. Each student has a faculty mentor for personal guidance, coordinated by the Dean of Student Welfare.
• Counselling. A full-time psychological counsellor offers group and one-to-one sessions to anyone who needs help.
• Women leaders. The Shakti leadership programme selects women employees for nine months of training in adaptive skills, emotional intelligence, business communication and team management, to prepare them for leadership roles. The programme runs over five modules, and successive cohorts, including Shakti 4, have completed it.
• Students from disadvantaged backgrounds. Project Protsaahan covers tuition, hostel, uniform and laptop costs for meritorious students from the Purkal Youth Development Society.
• Support Centre for Minority Groups. A dedicated, clearly signposted space where students from minority communities can seek guidance, counselling or a supportive conversation on academic or other concerns, backed by the Anti-Discrimination Committee, the Internal Complaints Committee, a Committee for Students with Disabilities and the grievance redressal mechanism.
• Space for every faith. A Prayer Room open to students of all faiths, and a small campus temple, offer quiet places for prayer and reflection.
• Echoes of Inclusion. During Legal Odyssey 2025, the School of Law's induction for new students, a session on 9 July 2025 used skits and reflections to question stereotypes around language, region, class and gender and build a campus culture of empathy.
• Celebrating every shade. Anandotsav 2025, themed "Celebrating Every Shade of Us – Together", brought more than 1,000 employees from different schools, departments, cultures and roles, with their families, together in one celebration of diversity.
• Safe ways to speak up. Students and staff can report discrimination or harassment confidentially to the Anti-Discrimination Committee, the Internal Complaints Committee or the grievance portal.

SDG 10.5Disability inclusion

Open 10.5 Disability inclusion as a separate report

UPES has a formal Policy on Inclusion of Students with Disability, barrier-free campuses and tailored academic support.

Students with disabilities receive mentoring and other targeted support, from accessible admissions to help in class and in examinations.

Accessible campuses

Both campuses have ramps, lifts, wide doorways, accessible toilets and reserved parking, so students, staff and visitors with disabilities can move around freely.

Support services and reasonable accommodation

• In exams. Extra time to complete papers.
• In class and labs. Note-taking and reading assistance, with screen readers and captioning for students with visual or hearing impairments.
• One place to ask. A central point for disability-related services, so students know where to go for help.
• Mentoring. Faculty mentors and the Dean of Student Welfare help each student plan the support they need.

Innovation for inclusion

The School of Computer Science, with UPES ACM and ACM-W, ran the Sahayak hackathon, where students used AI, machine learning and augmented reality to design solutions for the challenges faced by people with disabilities.

SDG 10.6Inclusion beyond the campus

Open 10.6 Beyond the campus as a separate report

UPES works with communities facing economic, social and geographic barriers, from village schoolgirls to tribal women weavers.

• Daughters of UPES. Project Payal supports meritorious girls from neighbouring villages with financial help and mentoring, and UPES counts 49 “adopted daughters”.
• First-generation learners. Most Protsaahan scholars come from low-income families and are the first in their families to go to university; two more students from the Purkal Youth Development Society joined UPES on full scholarships in 2025–26.
• Children of workers. Project Samvedna runs a day school on the campuses for the children of migrant construction workers, with education, day care, mid-day meals, medical check-ups, clothing and uniforms.
• Skills for the support workforce. The UPES Skills Academy trains security and housekeeping staff in English, computers and communication, starting with a batch of 20, and Project Grow teaches housekeeping staff communicative English and digital skills such as using smartphones and digital payments.
• Rural women. Project Vikalp trains women in nearby villages to make eco-friendly products such as recycled-paper pencils and to grow medicinal and aromatic plants, with design and marketing support.
• Women artisans in Ladakh. Project Artisan builds design skills among women weavers in a remote village of Ladakh for the collective production and sale of back-strap loom carpets.
• Adopted villages. Project Utthan has reached about 155 families in villages of Dehradun district, holding medical camps and distributing ration kits as it works towards model villages.
• Partners. With Dehradun NGOs, UPES students organise a Diwali fair selling products made by marginalised women, orphaned children and small artisans, and DaanUtsav each year collects clothes, books and essentials for families in need.

Events and activities

Open Events and activities as a separate report

3 events from UPES schools and departments support this goal. Each event has its own report with a description, photograph and, where one exists, a link to the original post.

School of Law

Legal Odyssey 2025: Echoes of Inclusion

At the School of Law’s induction for new students, a session on 9 July 2025 used skits and reflections to question stereotypes around language, region, class and gender.

SDG 5SDG 10SDG 16

Event report → · Original post

School of Law

Legal awareness camp at Cheshire Homes

Students of the Pro Bono Club, under the Ministry of Law and Justice, held an awareness camp at Cheshire Homes on legal rights, inclusion and social awareness.

SDG 4SDG 10SDG 16

Event report → · Original post

School of Liberal Studies and Media

Shabd Setu on Hindi Diwas

The School of Liberal Studies and Media marked Hindi Diwas with Shabd Setu, on language as a bridge between people, ideas and cultures.

SDG 4SDG 10SDG 11

Event report → · Original post

All sources

Open All sources as a separate report

Every website and document used in this report, and the sections it supports. Each initiative and event also has its own page, linked from its name in the report.