The idea of SandHI evolved from the urgent need of reopening, redefining, and reconnecting Indian knowledge sources to infuse an integrated approach for education under the holistic framework of Indian Culture. Today, the interpretation of Indian Culture needs to advance from a performing arts status to an integrated knowledge systems approach where Science and Technology become inclusive agents of progress and no longer remain delinked. Our national pedagogic processes must find ways to align with the traditional and contemporary knowledge systems and percolate into the Indian society as a meaningful resource. To translate this vision into a reality, two workshops were jointly organised by the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) and the Ministry of Culture (MoC), Government of India, at the Indian International Centre, New Delhi on 3rd January & 13th September 2013, respectively. The constructive discussions with science and technology experts on diverse cultural (archaeological) perspectives during these workshops eventually laid the foundations of this initiative - SandHI (Science and Heritage Initiative).

SandHI is envisaged as a confluence of science & technology with culture. It is an attempt to amalgamate the ancient Indian knowledge systems with contemporary scientific body of knowledge and integrate the resulting understanding into our education system for creating a holistic future. The premier institutes such as IIT Kanpur, IIT Kharagpur, IIT Gandhinagar, and IIT BHU amongst others are a part of this MHRD sponsored initiative and have taken up various projects under its ambit.