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Student Activity Center or better known as the Technology Students' Gymkhana, here at IIT Kharagpur is the hub of the numerous extra-curricular and co-curricular activities ranging from sports to socio-cultural. From its inception in 1952, the Gymkhana has played a key role in the everyday lives of Kgpians by cultivating and nurturing their extra-curricular talents. The motto of Technology Students' Gymkhana is "Yogah Karmasu Kausalam" which means "Perfection in action is Yoga".
The Technology Students' Gymkhana, IIT Kharagpur is managed by the students, for the students, under the guidance and active participation of the faculty and staff members. It has a student body, consisting of members selected through annual campus elections and each member of the student body takes care of a particular aspect related to the students life. It aims at promoting a culture of sportsmanship and teamwork in the students by providing them with wonderful sports facilities. The Gymkhana has an Aquatic Center, Basketball Courts, Tennis Courts, Volleyball Courts, Indoor Squash Court, Indoor Badminton Courts, and a very well equipped Gymnasium. Moreover the Gymkhana hosts a wide variety of societies to promote the various hobbies and interests of the students. The societies include the Dramatics Societies namely, Technology Dramatics Society- Pravah (Hindi), Encore (English), Prasthanam (Telugu), Druheen (Bengali), Technology Robotix Society, Â Technology Filmmaking and Photography Society, Business Club, Debating Society, the Music Societies namely, Eastern Technology Music Society and Western Technology Music Society, Communique(soft skills), the Quiz Club, Spectra(fine arts), Technology Adventure Society, Technology Dance Society and Technology Literary Society. All the societies are doing an extraordinary task in promoting their culture and nurturing the extra academics interest of the students.
Games and sports are not only important for success in studio but it is important for success in every walks of our life. IIT Kharagpur wishes that students perform the best in every field and hence provides its students with world class facilities for sports and games as well. The campus has two stadiums namely Jnan Ghosh and Tata Sports Complex for various games like Hockey, Football, Cricket and Athletics. Apart from these, the campus also has a fully modernized Aquatic Center for sports like Swimming and Water Polo. The Student Activity Center - Technology Students' Gymkhana also hosts, an Indoor Squash Court, Indoor Badminton Courts, Pool Tables, Tennis Courts, and a fully modernized Gymnasium, facilities for Weightlifting, Basketball Courts, Volleyball Court and Table Tennis.
Also every Hall of Residence encourages its hall boarders to actively participate in all the sports events conducted throughout the year as a part of the General Championships. Some halls even provide sports facilities of their own to their boarders so that they stay fit and practice daily bringing laurels to the hall as well as IIT Kharagpur. The Institute also encourages active participation of the students in sports especially through events like the General Championship and the prestigious annual Inter-IIT Sports Meet. Inter IIT sports meet is zealously organized every year in which brilliant athletes from each IIT participateto make their institute proud. Just to give you an insight into the scale of the events, the chief guest of last Inter IIT opening ceremony was Sachin Tendulkar.
IIT KGP conducts Techno-Management events throughout the year. A whole general championship between halls is dedicated to this. General Championship Technology consists of several different techno-management events namely: Biz Quiz, Tech Quiz, Maths Olympiad, Chem quest, Case Study, Open soft, Product Design, Ad-Design and Hardware Modeling. These events provide a KGPian a good exposure and a taste of competitiveness especially in the technical field.
Year round various events and festivals take place in the Institute, like the Department Fests, Society Events and the best of all Spring Fest, the annual Socio-Cultural Fest and Kshitij, the annual Techno Management Fest.
These fests and events are conducted all-round the year to give students a change in their daily routine of classes, assignments, tests and labs. The events and festivals encourage the students to think in a practical way, do something innovative and most of all enhance their knowledge and have loads of fun.
Department Fests - The Department of Computer Science and Engineering organizes Bitwise IIT Kharagpur, an online programing contest annually in February. Programing and algorithmic challenges are given in a span of 12 hours. In Bitwise 2011, 5000 teams participated from 80 countries. Bitwise 2012 was held on 12 February 2012.
The Department of Ocean Engineering and Naval Architecture conducts its annual technical meet Samudramanthan in the month of March every year providing a platform for all the Naval Architects across the country to compete and share their knowledge in the field. There are also other department festivals like Esperanza (organized by department of Electronics and electrical communication engineering), Composit (Department of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering), Great Step (Department of Mining Engineering), Prithvi (organized by department of geology)
A petroleum themed technical fest 'Petrofiesta' is organized in the month of November by the Society of Petroleum Engineers IIT Kharagpur Chapter. This is a one of a kind fest which provides a platform for students from all over the country to compete and share their ideas and knowledge in the field of petroleum industry.
Society Events - The various societies also conduct events round the year, to promote, practice and preach their culture. The society events are also aimed at encouraging students to do something different and to improve their skills in the areas of their interest.
Some examples include Robosoccer conducted by the Technology Robotix Society, various plays conducted by the Dramatics Societies, shows conducted by the Music societies, etc. In January the Entrepreneurship Cell organizes a Global Entrepreneurship Summit, which consists of guest lectures, workshops, a start-up camp and other events relating to entrepreneurship and startups.
In October end, Space Technology Students' Society at IIT Kharagpur organized the National Students' Space Challenge, the first space-science and engineering series of national-level competitions for students in India.
Spring Fest - Currently in its 55th edition, the annual social and cultural festival - Spring Fest has been celebrating the true spirit of youth for over five decades, growing bigger and better with every passing year.
A perfect blend of fun and frolic, of excitement and ecstasy, of devotion and dedication, Spring Fest is a celebration with a responsibility. A splendid platform for the spectacular display of the diverse talents of today's youth, Spring Fest always has an underlying social theme.
It includes cultural competitions in addition to stage shows (known asStar-nights) by singers and performers such as Sunidhi Chauhan, Farhan Akhtar, Salim-Sulaiman, Vishal-Shekhar, K.K., Pritam, Kailash Kher, Shaan, Breathe, Led Zepplica, Parikrama, Indian Ocean etc. The magnitude of Spring Fest is huge and attracts participation from more than 150 colleges across India.
Kshitij - With over 40 events, encompassing varied fields of science, technology and management, Kshitij, the annual techno-management fest of IIT Kharagpur, invites students from all around the globe to put their ingenuity and aptitude to test at an unparalleled level of competition. The largest fest of its kind in all of Asia, offers its participants a wide spectrum of events to prove their mettle, while the huge amount of prize money is reflective of the grandeur of the same. Quality of our events was soon noticed by top notch international organizations like ASME, IMechE, ACM and IEEE and they continue their association with us. Gaining patronage from UNESCO for the third time consecutively reflects the kind of impact Kshitij has made on todayâ??s student community. Comprehensive workshops by industrial pioneers, gives inimitable insight to the practical realm. Pedagogic and inspirational guest lectures from renowned scientists and eminent personalities; phenomenal exhibitions from various parts of world makes young talents acquainted with latest technical advancements.
Illumination - known as Illu, is a festival unique to IIT Kharagpur. It is inspired from the day of Diwali (the festival of lights) and is usually held on the day of Diwali itself. It is held as a competition among student halls.[85] As part of the Illumination festival, all halls build vertical panels of bamboo (called Chatais) on which thousands of lamps (diyas) are mounted forming outlines of people or things; illustrating an event, or a place of importance. The chatais may reach a height of 6 metres (20 ft), with nearly 20,000 lighted lamps. The lamps on the chatais are lighted with all other light sources switched off, to showcase the art-panels made by the flickering lamps. On the same day as Illumination, the Rangoli Competition is organised as an inter-hall event.[85] Rangolis of exquisite detail and shading - measuring around 3.5 by 3.5 metres (11 by 11 ft) - are constructed using coloured powders, crushed bangles, and pebbles. Interplay of light and shadow and ambient music are part of the display.
IIT KGP is well known for its extensive residential facilities. Spread over a sprawling 2100 acres, IIT Kharagpur houses almost 10,000 students.
There are 21 Halls of Residences (16 for boys, 5 for girls) around campus. They include
Patel Hall of residence built in 1952 is the first IIT Hostel all over India. The LBS and MMM halls completed in 2010 are modern state of the art hostels. The Girl Hostels are strategically located near the Academic centre, playground, auditoriums and Police station. Zakir Hussain Hall provides accommodation for the families of married Scholars. The Halls provide their residents with facilities such as High Speed LAN, Wi-Fi and 24 hour electricity.
Inter Hall Competitions are conducted round the year and they help build the technical, athletic and artistic skills of the residents. These competitions form a part of rich legacy of Hall culture.
Numerous in-house eateries serve the demands of residents. Some eateries are open overnight, while some serve hot food from early morning itself to best cater to the peoples' convenience. Within campus are restaurants like Billoos (famous for its Punjabi food), Dreamland-Sahara, Hot Bite, Heritage etc. Each Hall of Residence has its own Canteen apart from the mess.
The JCB, HJB and VS Mens Hall Canteens allow ladies too to sit and enjoy meals. 'Eat-KGP' a virtual collaboration of all the in-campus eateries provides room delivery of food through online orders.
The KGP campus also boasts of retail eatery chains such as Cafe Coffee Day, Baskin Robbins and Subway. One can always visit Dominos, Flavours and Park Restaurants outside the campus (approx. 5 kms).
IIT KGP has its own Food Monitoring Committee that ensures proper quality food is being served hygienically at fair prices at all campus eateries. The FMC conducts raids on complaints, takes feedback, publishes annual reviews, fines and looks after these eating destinations. IIT Kharagpur has a self-sustained market (Tech market) within campus where one can get a wide variety of evening snacks and sweets.
At last, we got Chhedis, just on the border of Puri gate, a dhaba that has never closed down in the history of KGP except for once during 1983.
Social and Cultural
The dexterity and ability of the students of IIT Kharagpur goes far beyond the boundaries of the classroom and can be witnessed at competitions of international prestige. With an active participation in a plethora of competitions, the students of IIT Kharagpur have brought great laurels to the Institute. Victories at the Go Green in the City 2015 challenge, Asian Paints Paper Contest, SME Students Design Competition, Rice Business Plan Competition, CIMA Global Business Challenge and the HULT Prize are few of the many instances when the students of IIT Kharagpur have proved their mettle. To add to the already long list of achievements the students also emerged victorious in the DST-Lockheed Martin Awards, won GE Edison Challenge and the Pan IIT Data Analytics Competition this year. It is worth noting that in the DST-Lockheed Martin Awards, researchers from IIT Kharagpur bagged four awards which is the highest from any organization. Accolades like these are testament to the eagerness and enthusiasm that the students of IIT Kharagpur show to explore the practical aspect of what they learn at the institute.