Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur (IIT Khar...

Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur (IIT Kharagpur or IIT KGP) is a public technical and research university established by the government of India in 1951. It is the first of the IITs to be established and is recognised as an Institute of National Importance. In 2019 it was awarded the status of Institute of Eminence by the government of India.

The institute was initially established to train scientists and engineers after India attained independence in 1947. However, over the years, the institute's academic capabilities diversified with offerings in management, law, architecture, humanities, etc. IIT Kharagpur has an 8.7-square-kilometre (2,100-acre) campus and has about 22,000 residents.

On the grounds that West Bengal had the highest concentration of industries at the time, Bidhan Chandra Roy, the Chief Minister of West Bengal, persuaded Jawaharlal Nehru (India's first prime minister) to establish the first institute in West Bengal. The first Indian Institute of Technology was thus established in May 1950 as the Eastern Higher Technical Institute. It was located in Esplanade East, Calcutta, and in September 1950 shifted to its permanent campus at Hijli, Kharagpur 120 kilometres south-west of Kolkata (formerly called Calcutta). Hijli had been used as a detention camp during the British colonial rule in India, to keep Indian freedom fighters captive.

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.