GK: How A Freedom-Era Detention Camp Became India’s First IIT

India held the ambition of establishing world-class technical institutes even before it gained independence from the oppressive British Empire. After 1947, the nation witnessed a growing push for advanced

institutions that would inculcate knowledge of engineering and modern technology in young minds. The Indian government set up a Sir Jogendra Singh Committee to ensure its vision turns into reality. The committee later proposed the creation of an institute that modelled the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the United States. That led to the birth of India’s first-ever IIT at Kharagpur.

India’s First IIT

As India awoke to the light of freedom, Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru-led Indian government chose to set up the first IIT in Kharagpur, West Bengal, in 1951. It is understood that the site selected for the IIT Kharagpur was that of the Hajli Detention Camp, which was a British-era prison where political detainees and freedom fighters were held.

Despite being an unusual site, the area was chosen by the authorities since it had a large structure that could be put to use more immediately. The government also wanted to pass on an emotional message by converting a place of India’s freedom struggle into a national hub of knowledge. When IIT Kharagpur was inaugurated on Independence Day 1951, India’s first Education Minister, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, famously called it a “temple of modern India.”

Classes Began Inside Prison Barracks

The early years of IIT Kharagpur saw old prison barracks and administrative buildings of the detention camp acting as classrooms for the students. Even the initial set of hostels were set up inside these buildings. Over time, new academic blocks and residential facilities were constructed, laying the foundation for the widespread campus we see today.

The site of IIT Kharagpur is also home to the Hijli Martyrs’ Memorial, honouring two revolutionaries – Tarakeswar Sengupta and Santosh Kumar Mitra – who died during a horrific firing accident at the detention camp in September 1931.