Know about IIT Kharagpur, one of the best academic institutions of eastern India

New Delhi: The history of the IIT dates back to 1946 when a committee was set up by Sir Jogendra Singh, Member of the Viceroy Executive Council, Department of Education, Health and Agriculture to consider the proposal for setting up higher technical institutions for post-war industrial development in India. IIT Kharagpur started its journey in the old Hijli Detention Camp where some of our great freedom fighters were detained by the British rulers. This is possibly one of the very few educational institutions of the world which started its work from a jail house. The institute was established to train scientists and engineers. It shares its organisational structure and undergraduate admission process with sister IITs. The students and alumni of IIT Kharagpur are informally referred to as KGPians. Among all IITs, IIT Kharagpur has the largest campus (2,100 acres), the most departments, and the highest student enrolment. When the first session started in August 1951, there were 224 students and 42 teachers in the ten departments of the institute. The classrooms, laboratories and the administrative office were housed in the historic building of the Hijli Detention Camp (now known as Shaheed Bhawan), where political revolutionaries were imprisoned and executed during the British rule. The office building had served as the headquarters of the Bomber Command of the U.S. 20th Air Force during World War II. To honour Dr Bidhan Chandra Roy, West Bengal's famous chief minister, the area in front of the main building is named Bidhan Chowk. The name "Indian Institute of Technology" was adopted before the formal inauguration of the institute on 18 August 1951 by Maulana Abul Kalam Azad. On 15 September 1956, Parliament passed the Indian Institute of Technology (Kharagpur) Act declaring it as an institute of national importance. Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, in the first convocation address of IIT Kharagpur 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." ”The Shaheed Bhawan was converted to a museum in 1990. The Srinivasa Ramanujan Complex was incorporated as another academic complex of the institute with Takshashila starting operation in 2002, Vikramshila in 2003 and Nalanda in 2012.The motto of IIT Kharagpur is "Yoga Karmashu Kaushalam", meaning "Excellence in action is Yoga" essentially implying that doing your work well is (true) yoga. It is part of Lord Krishna's discourse in Bhagavad Gita. IIT Kharagpur is also known for its festivals: Spring Fest (Social and Cultural Festival), Kshitij (Techno-Management Festival) and Shaurya (sports festival).Internationally, IIT Kharagpur is ranked 346 in the QS World University Rankings (Quacquarelli Symonds) of 2013 and 58 in the QS Asian University Rankings of 2013.IIT Kharagapur is ranked in the 351-400 range by the Times Higher Education World University Rankings of 2013-14.Recently, it was declared the top educational hub in India as per the Times Higher Education, Asia Rankings. It was ranked 439 in the University Ranking by Academic Performance (URAP).In India, among engineering colleges, it ranked 3 by India Today in 2013, 2 by Outlook India in 2013 and 4 by Dataquest in 2011.In the Mint Government Colleges survey of 2009 it is ranked 4.Following are the departments of the Institute: Aerospace Engineering Agricultural & Food Engineering Architecture & Regional Planning Biotechnology Chemical Engineering Chemistry Civil Engineering Computer Science & Engineering Center for Educational Technology Electrical Engineering Electronics & Electrical Communication Engineering Geology & Geophysics Humanities & Social Sciences Industrial Engineering & Management Mathematics Mechanical Engineering Metallurgical & Materials Engineering Mining Engineering Ocean Engineering & Naval Architecture Physics & Meteorology Centres Cryogenic Engineering Materials Science Oceans, Rivers, Atmosphere and Land Sciences Reliability Engineering Rubber Technology Rural Development Schools G S Sanyal School of Telecommunications Information Technology Rajendra Mishra School of Engineering Entrepreneurship Rajiv Gandhi School of Intellectual Property Law Ranbir and Chitra Gupta School of Infrastructure Design and Management Medical Science & Technology School of Water Resources Vinod Gupta School of Management