The Galgotias Story

The Galgotias Story 🐕

A university spent ₹350 crore on AI. Then displayed a Chinese toy dog and called it their invention.

This actually happened.

-> February 2026. India hosts one of its biggest ever AI Summits.
-> 20 heads of state. 500 global AI leaders. Cameras everywhere.
-> Galgotias University sets up a stall - bigger than 4 IITs combined.
-> They show off a robot dog on live TV and say - "hamare students ne banaya hai."

One problem.

The internet found the same dog on a Chinese website. ₹2 lakh. Anyone can buy it. Model name: Unitree Go2. Made in China. Sold worldwide. 😐

And then their spokesperson posted on LinkedIn - "Your six can be my nine."

She meant confidence. India took it as a confession. 😂

The memes broke the internet. But here's what nobody is talking about...

Galgotias is not the villain.
It's just the university that got caught.

-> They filed 2,233 patents. Only 2 were approved. That's 0.08%.
-> In 2020, they published a paper saying "Thali bajane se corona marega." Seriously.
-> That paper was quietly deleted. No one was held accountable.

And this isn't just one university's problem.

9 out of 10 universities globally caught for fake research - are Indian. India ranks 3rd worldwide in scientific papers that got pulled back for being wrong or fake. 75% of Indian private universities produce graduates that companies don't even want to hire.

So how does this keep happening?

1. Rankings are a game, not a report card. NIRF rankings can be gamed. Inflate numbers on paper → look good → charge ₹15 lakh fees → repeat. Nobody checks if actual learning happened.

2. Money buys space, not merit. More stall space than 4 IITs at a national summit. Not because of research. Because of a bigger cheque.

3. The system rewards following, not thinking. March in line. Nod when told. Don't question. A student who follows every rule scores higher than one who actually thinks.

And the saddest part?

India produces the CEOs of Google, Microsoft, Adobe, IBM. All Indians. All brilliant.
But they had to leave the system to become who they are.

The system didn't make them. They succeeded despite it.

"Your six can be my nine" went viral as a joke. But honestly - when a university can call a Chinese toy dog their own AI innovation and face zero consequences?

✍🏻 Mantra Joshi

Spotted a wrong number or something out of date? Tell me and I'll fix it.