Genesis: Located at a latitude of 22.3145° N and longitude of 87.3091° E, Kharagpur - a sleepy town tucked away in the eastern corner of India, famous in colonial times as home of the longest railway platform in the world - was chosen by a newly independent nation in 1951 to witness an epic experiment: the creation of an Institute of Technology at par with the best in the world.

Kharagpur, it turned out, would never be the same again.

Spurred by the success of the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, four younger IITs sprouted across the country a decade later, and from these five came thousands of IITians, the brand ambassadors of modern India. It was the success of this one institution at Kharagpur that wrote India's technological odyssey.

Spurred by the success of the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, four younger IITs sprouted across the country a decade later, and from these five came thousands of IITians, the brand ambassadors of modern India. It was the success of this one institution at Kharagpur that wrote India's technological odyssey.

Today: There are 42 academic units, 11500 students and 650 full-time faculty members. The past seven decades have continually witnessed new and pioneering developments at IITKGP: expansion from core engineering and basic sciences to architecture, management, law, medical sciences and the liberal arts; introduction of interdisciplinary studies in enterpreneurship, climate change, infrastructure design, quality, energy and the science of happiness; and collaboration with the best institutes in India and the world.