The history of the IIT system dates back to 1946 when a committee was set up by the Honorable Sir Jogendra Singh, Member of the Executive Council of the Viceroy, Ministry of Education, Health and Agriculture to promote the establishment of postal higher technical colleges - war industrial development in India. The 22-member committee chaired by Sri N.R. Sarkar in his report recommended the establishment of four Higher Technical Institutes in the Eastern, Western, Northern and Southern regions, possibly modeled on the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA, with a number of attached secondary facilities. The report also called for all four institutions to be set up quickly, with those in the East and West starting immediately. The committee also believed that such institutes should not only produce students but also engage in research, producing researchers and technical teachers. The level of graduates should be comparable to that of first-class institutions abroad. They believed that the ratio of undergraduates to graduates should be 2:1.

Taking into account the above recommendations of the Sarkar Commission, the first Indian Institute of Technology came into being in May 1950 at Hijli, Kharagpur in the eastern part of India. Initially, the IIT started functioning from 5, Esplanade East, Calcutta and soon moved to Hijli in September 1950. The present name 'Indian Institute of Technology' was adopted before the Institute's formal inauguration on 18 August 1951 by Maulana Abul Kalam Azad. IIT Kharagpur started its journey in the old Hijli Detention Camp where some of our great freedom fighters toiled and sacrificed their lives for the independence of our country. Thus, the history of IIT Kharagpur is closely related to the history of Hijli Detention Camp. This is perhaps one of the few institutions in the world that started life in a prison.

About the detention camp

Midnapore district along with the rest of Bengal and India played a very significant role in the revolutionary struggle against the British Raj from the early 20th century.

The large number of young people who took part in the armed struggle or the non-cooperative movement could not be accommodated in ordinary prisons. The British government at the time decided to set up some detention camps: the first was located in Buxa Fort, followed by the establishment of Hijli Detention Camp in 1930. Hijli Detention Camp left a very important mark in our movement for freedom. On 2 September, two unarmed prisoners were killed here by the British police. November 1931. Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose came to Hijli to collect the bodies of the two great sons of the freedom movement - Santosh Kumar Mitra and Tarakeswar Sengupta. All the national leaders including Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore expressed their strong protest against the British Raj over this incident. The Hijli internment camp closed in 1937 and reopened in 1940 to hold freedom fighters without trial. In 1942, the camp was closed again and the prisoners were moved to another location.

The ITI in its infancy

In August 1951, at the start of the first session, there were 224 freshmen and 42 professors. Classrooms, laboratories and the administrative office were housed in the historic building of the Hijli detention center. The institute started its academic program with only ten departments. In March 1952, Pandit Nehru laid the foundation stone for the new building.

The layout of the current campus and the design of our buildings were created by a variety of engineers and architects, led by prominent Swiss architect Dr. Werner M Moser. A large amount of financial aid was available for the purchase of a number of machine tools from the Ministry of Industry and Supply. The Institute Workshop is said to be one of the best in the country. The Institute was fortunate in having as its first director Sir J.C. Ghosh, an eminent scientist, under whose able leadership the Institute grew in its formative years. The first Board of Directors was established with Dr. B.C. Roy, as President and Mr. N.R. Sarkar, Sir Jehangir J. Gandi, Dr. Tarachand, M. K.R.K. Menon, MT Sivasankar, Dr. SS Bhatnagar, MH Kabir and Dr. J.C. Ghosh as members.

A number of eminent scholars from Europe had joined this institute during its founding years, and the first two of them were Professor R.A. Kraus and Professor H. Tischner, who incidentally was the first head of the electronics and ECE department. On 15 September 1956, the Indian Parliament passed a bill known as the Act of Indian Institute of Technology (Kharagpur) declaring this institute an institute of national significance. The institution has also received the status of an autonomous university. From this humble beginning in 1950, IIT Kharagpur has been in a constant process of development with around 18 academic departments, five centers of excellence. the sprawling, tree-lined campus, spread across 2,100 acres, has a self-contained village of more than 15,000 residents. We currently have approximately 550 faculty, 1700 staff and 9000 students on campus.