Summary:
- The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kharagpur was established in 1951 as India's first national institute of higher education in engineering and technology.
- The institute's origins can be traced back to the Hijli Detention Camp, which was a prison camp used by the British to imprison Indian freedom fighters during the independence movement.
- After India's independence, the Hijli Detention Camp was transformed into the Kharagpur Collegiate School, which later became the foundation for the establishment of IIT Kharagpur, the first IIT in the country.