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The Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur (IIT Kharagapur) is the oldest of Indian Institutes of Technology.

Institute History

In 1946, a committee was set up by Sir Jogendra Singh, Member of the Viceroy's Executive Council, Department of Education, Health and Agriculture to consider the setting up of Higher Technical Institutions for post war industrial development in India. The 22-member committee headed by Sri N. R. Sarkar, in its report, recommended the establishment of four Higher Technical Institutions in the Eastern, Western, Northern and Southern regions, possibly on the lines of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA, with a number of secondary institutions affiliated to it. The report also urged the speedy establishment of all the four institutions with the ones in the East and the West to be started immediately. The committee also felt that such institutes would not only produce undergraduates but they should be engaged in research, producing research workers and technical teachers as well. The standard of the graduates should be at par with those from first class institutions abroad. They felt that the proportion of undergraduates and postgraduate students should be 2:1.

In accordance with these recommendations of the Sarkar committee, the first Indian Institute of Technology was established in May 1950 in the eastern Indian state of West Bengal.

Initially, the IIT started functioning at 5, Esplanade East, Calcutta and very soon shifted 120 km south east to Hijli, Kharagpur in September 1950. The present name 'Indian Institute of Technology' was adopted before the formal inauguration of the Institute on August 18, 1951, by Maulana Abdul Kalam Azad.

IIT Kharagpur is possibly the only major technical institution in the world that started life in a prison house. IIT Kharagpur started in the pre-independence Hijli Detention Camp where freedom fighters were imprisoned and executed. The office building at the camp, which during World War II served as the headquarters of the 20th Bomber Command of the United States 20th Air Force, initially housed classrooms and the library. It is has now been converted into the Nehru Museum.

Pandit Nehru in his first convocation address in 1956 said "Here in the place of that Hijli Detention Camp stands the fine monument of India, representing India's urges, India's future in the making. This picture seems to me symbolical of the changes that are coming to India."

On September 15, 1956, the Parliament of India passed an act known as the Indian Institute of Technology(Kharagpur) Act declaring this institute as an Institute of National Importance. It was also given the status of an autonomous university.

From its modest start in 1950, IIT Kharagpur has been engaged in a steady process of development and now has 29 academic departments, centres and schools and 17 hostels (called "Halls of Residence", or just Halls). The 2100 acre (8.5 km²) campus is a self contained township of over 15,000 inhabitants. Currently IIT kharagpur has about 450 faculty, 2200 employees and 2700 students on the campus.

Campus

Institute

The institute building and the departments are laid out on the academic campus. On entering the IIT campus, the main gate is one of the first things that one sees. Beyond the gate is a circle and the institute building stands just behind it.

Halls of residence

The Hostels are laid out along Scholars Avenue which runs from the Institute gates all the way upto the B. C Roy hospital. There are eight hostels in all for Undergraduate male students and two for women. In addition, there are a few Post Graduate Students' hostels.

Meticulous care seemed to have been taken in the placement of these halls, one would notice that the girls' hostels are closest to the institute and the police station.

Cycling is the predominant mode of commuting to campus although some prefer walking and a chosen few sport motorbikes.

Azad Hall

Named after Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, Azad Hall is located in the PAN loop and is probably the hostel furthest from the institute building.The hall houses approximately 250 residents.The hall has an elected student committee which consists of a president,general secretaries and a number of secretaries. Azad hall life is always full of excitement and one could always count on a few incorrigible nutcases to spice up the lives of the hall residents. Though the hall sometimes baselessly preassumes that they are a fore runner in GC fight, they end up losing it to next-door-neighbour Nehru Hall most of the times. This hall has a weird and unhealthy tradition of intra-hall politics in which, generally, the local police has to step in to control the mob which declares a "war" against the hall council or "boycotts" some specific people.

B C Roy Hall

Named after Bidhan Chandra Roy, the first Chief Minister of West Bengal and one of the founders of IIT Kharagpur. BCRoy Hall generally houses research scholars, assosiated with various research projects in IIT.

Gokhale Hall

Homi Jahangir Bhabha Hall

This is a hall for first-year students with a capacity of 168. It is a hexagon-shaped building with an extension taken in from J C Bose hall. It was inaugurated on July 24, 1998 by R P Goenka, Chairman, Board of Governors. It is situated near Gymkhana swimming pool and stadium (hubs of student activity). The students enjoy a reputation for being active participants in campus life.

J C Bose Hall

Lala Lajpat Rai Hall

Meghnad Saha Hall

Among all the halls of IIT Kharagpur,the M S Hall is the most beautiful and has the highest capacity(400 students).It generally houses the 1st year undergraduate students along with some research scholars

Mother Teresa Hall

Nehru Hall

Nehru Hall, named after Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and the second oldest hall on campus is possessed of an electrifying atmosphere that is hard to match. The tempo of a Nehruite is hard to beat and the plus point of the Hall must be its unity. Good in sports as well as social and cultural events, our strong points being volleyball and hockey in the former and dramatics and entertainment in the latter. Nehru Hall is always buzzing with activity. Come into the Hall on any given night and you shall be able to hear the strains of the Hall music team practising in the music room as you watch night cricket being played in C Ground. For all you know, drams rehearsals may be taking place in the common room as well!

Patel Hall

This hall is named after Late Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel, the Iron Man of India. Built in December 1951, it is the oldest hall of the whole IIT community. It is situated in the PAN loop, off the Scholar's avenue. Patel hall is synonymous with tempo(enthusiasm). The most striking thing about Patel is their ever lasting high tempo among its residents. á

This hall is also known among Kgpians as Basti.

Radha Krishnan Hall

Radhakrishnan Hall of Residence, or commonly known as R.K.Hall, is named after the renowned scholar and statesman, Dr. Sarvapalli Radhakrishanan, President of India from 1962-1967. RK Hall has always stood as the foremost in the campus, be it sports, so-cults or the coveted illumination. Its glorious history boasts of 21 Sports GC(General Championship) and 19 So-Cult GC's, more than any other hall. However, more than co-curriculars, RK Hall stands out for its unique culture, which is woven around the principle of unity, espcially its Wing culture, where boarders of all years live together, giving excellent exposure and enrichment to an RKite's life. RKites of yesteryears occupy some of the most important positions in industry and academics. Some of the names which come to our mind are: Vinod Gupta, founder InfoUSA; Prof. PP Chakravarti, Dean SRIC, IIT Kharagpur;Sandipan Deb, Editor Outlook Weekly Magazine

Rajendra Prasad Hall

Sarojini Naidu / Indira Gandhi Hall

Vidyasagar Hall

Zakir Hussain Hall

Ashutosh Mukherjee Hall

MBM Hostel

Annual events

Fests

The two fests of IIT Kharagpur are conducted very professionally.There are dedicated teams for both the fests who work from start of the year.

Spring Fest

Held Annually in January, Springfest is the largest college fest in Eastern India and the second largest in the country. Spread over four or five days, springfest hosts a variety of competitions and performances by some of the best professional bands in India.

Kshitij and beyond

Kshitij, the annual techno-management festival of I.I.T. Kharagpur. It has participation from colleges all over India (and even some from abroad) apart from the 4000 strong student community within the campus.

Kshitij hosts a galaxy of events aimed at boosting the technological and managerial skills inherent in today's youth. It provides a chance for the best brains to meet and think over what new can be pursued in the field of technology and management. Kshitij boasts of having played host to a number of celebrities like Shiv Khera,Arindam Choudhary, Richard Stallman, Subir Raha etc. From workshops to interactive guest lectures, brainstorming quizzes to fun events, Kshitij has it all.

Kshitij took off in its present avtar in 2004, when 260 particpants from outside the campus came for the Fest. In 2005, this figure swelled to 1400, including particpants from outside India. All we can say is that it's real nice that I.I.T. Kharagpur finally has a Tech Fest befitting its status as the numero uno engineering college in India.

Kshitij, incidentally is a joint effort by the students and faculty members of all technical departments and the Vinod Gupta School of Management, I.I.T. Kharagpur.

Robotix

The Annual Robotics competition held at IIT Kharagpur aims to bring forth the technical talent in the country. Started in the year 2001, Robotix has come a long way and boasts of being one of the largest competitions of its kind in India.

There are six levels of problems this year that the participants may take part in. The simplest of them all is Power Boats - where the machine built by the participant has to race in water. Other problems are Canon Balls, Lodestones, Mission Mars and Conquerors. While Canon Balls tests the Mechanical and Electrical aspects of a machine, the Lodestones deals with the ability of the machine to sense. Mission Mars and Conquerors are soft events and are meant for those ready to spend timeless hours in front of the computer.

For more information, log onto http://www.robotixiitkgp.com

Hall Day

A hall day or hall social is held once a year, usually in march. On this day, people of the hall invite their friends from other halls for food and drinks and it usually ends with a rock music/eastern music show by some professional group. It is a lot of fun and everyone gets a chance to unwind and party wildly. Lights hang in mid air and a throng of people can be seen dancing in front of the stage.

Illumination & Rangoli

Held during Diwali (October/November), Illumination (Illu) & Rangoli are unique in every sense. They are fought for on an inter-hall basis.

Diwali being the festival of lights, Illumination is a breath-taking display of lighted diyas (earthen lamps). Each hall has a theme of its own, which is portrayed by two dimensional figures with outlines marked by diyas. The underlying idea might involve "panelling" or "chatais". Each hall of residence uses around 20,000 diyas to crystallize the theme.

Gigantic Rangolis (around 12' by 12') of exquisite detail and subtle shading are constructed using coloured powders, crushed bangles, pebbles, etc. Interplay of light and shadow and ambient music are part of the display.

Evaluation criteria

• Theme
• Narration
• Ambience
• Aesthetics and skill

Traditional Celebration

The winners get a potful of Rasgullas. Champions - 300, First Runner-up - 200, Second Runner-up - 100. This is followed by a lot of TEMPO SHOUTS!!!!

Gymkhana election

The gymkhana is run by an elected student committee. The president is a professor nominated by the Director of the institute.The student head is the Vice President(VP) followed by the General Secretaries (G Secs) . Then there are a bunch of secretaries whose functioning is overlooked by the G'Secs. The VP speaks for the students in the institute senate.He is a part of the institute administration where he represents the students. The G Secs are responsible for conducting Gymkhana Events,Spring Fest and Kshitij.

The elections for the gymkhana committee are held around the first week of April i.e. one month before the end of the academic year. The nominations are filed over a week and then displayed on notice boards. The students are allowed around three days to withdraw their nominations after which the campaigning period starts.

The candidates go from hall to hall campaigning and they have to present everyone with a calli chautha (a short manuscript describing their ideas and intentions)."Soap Boxes" are held for the major posts where the candidates are grilled on their fundae (knowledge about facts, figures and how things run in the institute).

Miscellaneous

It has been ranked the no. 1 engineering institute in India by India Today in 2001, 2002 and 2003.

The institute is a member of LAOTSE, an international network of leading universities in Europe and Asia exchanging students and senior scholars.

External Links

• Official Homepage
• Kshitij 2005 - the techno-management festival
• Vinod Gupta School of Management
• Alumni Site of IIT Kharagpur
• Robotix 2005

• Universities and colleges in India