Yesterdate: This day from Kolkata’s past, August 18, 1951

Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kharagpur, considered a premier technology institute of the world, formally started on this day.

In 1946, a committee was formed to consider institutions for advanced technical education for industrial development in India. The committee, headed by Nalini Ranjan Sarkar, recommended the setting up of four such institutions, in north, south, east and west India.

The institutions would be world-class and would produce not only undergraduates students but also those who would engage with higher research and teaching.

IIT Kharagpur was the first of the IITs and began to function in 1950, from a former British detention camp in Hijli in Midnapore, after it had started at 5, Esplanade East, Kolkata.

Indian freedom fighters had been imprisoned at the camp. The institute was formally inaugurated on August 18, 1951, by Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, first minister of education in the Indian government.

The first session started with 224 freshers and 42 teachers in August 1951. Eminent scientist Jnan Chandra Ghosh was the first director of the institute. There were 10 departments. The classrooms, laboratories and the administrative office were housed in the building of the Hijli camp. In March, 1952, the first Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru laid the foundation stone of the new building.