Indian architecture

One of the most enduring achievements of Indian civilization is undoubtedly its architecture, which extends to a great deal more than the Taj Mahal or the temple complexes of Khajuraho and Vijayanagara. Though the Indus Valley sites of Harappa, Mohenjo-daro, and Lothal provide substantial evidence of extensive town planning, the beginnings of Indian architecture are more properly to be dated to the advent of Buddhism in India, in the reign of Ashoka (c. 270-232), and the construction of Buddhist monasteries and stupas. Buddhist architecture was predominant for several centuries, and there are few remains of Hindu temples from even late antiquity. Among the many highlights of Buddhist art and architecture are the Great Stupa at Sanchi and the rock-cut caves at Ajanta.

By the eighth century, with the consolidation of Hindu kingdoms, the southern Hindu school of architecture was beginning to flourish. The most notable achievements of the Pallavas were the rock-cut temples of Mahabalipuram and the temples of Kanchipuram. The subsequent history of South Indian temple architecture takes us, over the next eight centuries, to Thanjavur (Tanjore), to the brilliant achievements of the Hoysalas (as seen in the temples at Belur and Halebid), and the temple complexes, which represent the flowering of the Vijayanagara empire, of Kanchipuram, Thiruvannamalai, and Vellore. The most stellar achievement of the later Vijayanagara period may well be the Meenakshi temple in Madurai. In Kerala, however, a distinct style of architecture took shape. In Ellora in western India, Hindus added a new series of temples and carvings at what had once been Buddhist caves, culminating in the majestic Kailasa temple, constructed in the reign of the Rashtrakuta monarch Krishna I (757-73), while the rock-cut caves in Elephanta and Jogeshvari, in the proximity of Bombay, were most likely executed in the sixth century.

In north India, meanwhile, architecture was to be a more contentious matter. The fabled temple at Somnath, renowned for its purported riches, is said to have been destroyed by the Muslim invader Mahmud of Ghazni, and after the attainment of Indian independence, the restoration of this temple became a matter of national pride for more ardent defenders of the faith. The story of Somnath points to the manner in which histories, whether political, cultural, or architectural, have become communalized. But the period from 1000-1300 was, in any case, a time when Hindu architecture flourished throughout India. In central India, the Chandellas built a magnificent complex of temples at their capital, Khajuraho, between 950-1030 A.D. These temples, which show Vaishnavite, Shaivite, and Tantric influence, have acquired a renewed reputation today as indices of India's libertine past, allegedly indicative of India's relaxed sexual mores before puritanical Muslims made India a sexually repressed society. The sexual postures depicted in many of the sculptures that adorn some of the temples appear equally on the posters of the Government of India's Tourist Office and the pages of gay and lesbian magazines. The cultural politics of Khajuraho, as indeed of Indian architecture, still remains to be written. In the north-west, the Solanki kings spent lavishly on buildings, and the Surya or Sun temple in Modhera, some 3 hours from Ahmedabad, stills provides striking testimony to their achievements. More stupendous still is the Surya temple at Konarak, built by Narasimha-deva Ganga (c. 1238-64), though masterpieces of Orissan architecture from the reign of the Gangas are to be found in Bhubaneshwar and Puri as well. The weakness of Muslim dynasties in the north enabled Rajput kings to assert their independence; the results of this Hindu revival are to be seen in Chittor, and elsewhere in Rajasthan where massive forts dot the landscape.

The Mughal emperors of India, most particularly Humayun, Akbar, Jahangir, and Shah Jahan, were heavily invested in monumental architecture and spent lavishly on the construction of mosques, mausoleums, forts, palaces, and other buildings. The principal sites of Mughal architecture are Lahore, Delhi, Agra, and Fatehpur Sikri, though dazzling specimens of Mughal architecture are to be found elsewhere. Shah Jahan constructed a new capital, then to be known as Shahjahanabad, and now a part of Old Delhi. Its most famous buildings include the Jama Masjid, one of the largest mosques in the world, and the Red Fort (Lal Qila), which over the last four hundred years has become uniquely emblematic of state power. Akbar likewise built a new capital at Fatehpur Sikri, a few miles outside Agra, but it was abandoned on account of insuperable difficulties in obtaining a water supply. Some have described the complex of buildings at Fatehpur Sikri, which include the majestic Buland Darwaza and Salim Chisti's tomb, as the most splendrous accomplishment of Mughal architecture. Among the most exquisite of the Mughal works of architecture are various mausoleums, including Humayun's Tomb in Delhi, Akbar's Tomb in Sikander on the outskirts of Agra, and the Taj Mahal, an edifice of such ravishing beauty that it has now become iconic of India itself. Mughal emperors also laid down elaborate gardens, the finest of which are to be found in Srinagar, and built elaborate forts, principally at Agra (1564-), Ajmer (1570-), Lahore (1580), and Allahabad.

Unlike the Mughals, the British contributed little to India's architectural history. Their rule is associated mainly with monumental civic buildings, such as the Victoria Terminus in Bombay, or commemorative exercises typified by the Victoria Memorial in Calcutta. There are some notable specimens of church architecture, such as St. James's Church in Delhi, but the principal regal contribution of the British appears to be the construction of a new capital in Delhi. Meanwhile, indigenous styles of architecture did not entirely suffer a demise, and step-wells continued to be built in Gujarat throughout the nineteenth century. In Rajasthan rich merchants constructed large havelis or residences in which the window work defies description. The most striking of these havelis are to be found in Jaisalmer, also notable for Rajasthan's finest, certainly most romantic, fort. (See also fort architecture.) Though few people associate India with modern architecture, the work of many Indian architects, such as Charles Correa and Balkrishna Doshi, is renowned internationally. Other prominent architects include Satish Gujral, also known as a painter, and Laurie Baker, an Englishman settled in India who first became known for designing low-cost housing and using only local materials. It is also noteworthy that the city of Chandigarh was designed by Le Corbusier.

Monuments in India classified under World Heritage Sites

The following monuments have been classified as UNESCO World Heritage Sites:

Agra Fort Ajanta Caves Great Living Chola Temples Buddhist Monuments at Sanchi Churches and Convents of Goa Elephanta Caves Ellora Caves Fatehpur Sikri Red Fort(Delhi),2007

Group of Monuments at Hampi Group of Monuments at Mahabalipuram Group of Monuments at Pattadakal Humayun's Tomb, Delhi Khajuraho Group of Monuments Mahabodhi Temple Complex at Bodh Gaya Qutub Minar and its Monuments, Delhi

Sun Temple, Konarak Taj Mahal Rock Shelters of Bhimbetka Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (formerly Victoria Terminus) Champaner-Pavagadh Archaeological Park Mountain Railways of India

FYI: There are many external links (text with blue color) in the post, please use them for more information and to check for terminologies.

Say Cheese!!!

Why buildings fall down In the United States, architecture is taught with U.S. standard units, science is taught with metric units, and engineering is taught with a mix of both.

Indian Railways

Indian Railways, abbreviated as IR, is a Department of the Government of India, under the Ministry of Railways, and is tasked with operating the rail network in India. The Ministry is headed by a cabinet rank Railways Minister, while the Department is managed by the Railway Board. Indian Railways is not a private corporate body; however, of late IR has been trying to adopt a corporate management style.

To see full railway Network click here

Indian Railways has a total state monopoly on India's rail transport. It is one of the largest and busiest rail networks in the world, transporting sixteen million passengers and more than one million tonnes of freight daily. IR is the world's largest commercial or utility employer, with more than 1.6 million employees, and is second to the Chinese Army in highest number of employees.

The railways traverse the length and breadth of the country; the routes cover a total length of 63,140 km (39,233 miles). As of 2002, IR owned a total of 216,717 wagons, 39,263 coaches and 7,739 locomotives and ran a total of 14,444 trains daily, including about 8,702 passenger trains.

Railways were first introduced to India in 1853. By 1947, the year of India's independence, there were forty-two rail systems. In 1951 the systems were nationalized as one unit, becoming one of the largest networks in the world. Indian Railways operates both long distance and suburban rail systems.

History

A plan for a rail system in India was first put forward in 1832, but no further steps were taken for more than a decade. In 1844, the Governor-General of India Lord Hardinge allowed private entrepreneurs to set up a rail system in India. Two new railway companies were created and the East India Company was asked to assist them. Interest from investors in the UK led to the rapid creation of a rail system over the next few years. The first train in India became operational on 1851-12-22, and was used for the hauling of construction material in Roorkee. A year and a half later, on 1853-04-16, the first passenger train service was inaugurated between Bori Bunder, Bombay and Thana. Covering a distance of 34 km (21 miles), it was hauled by three locomotives, Sahib, Sindh and Sultan. This was the formal birth of railways in India.

The British government encouraged new railway companies backed by private investors under a scheme that would guarantee an annual return of five percent during the initial years of operation. Once established, the company would be transferred to the government, with the original company retaining operational control. The route mileage of this network was about 14,500 km (9,000 miles) by 1880, mostly radiating inward from the three major port cities of Bombay, Madras and Calcutta. By 1895, India had started building its own locomotives, and in 1896 sent engineers and locomotives to help build the Uganda Railway.

Soon various independent kingdoms built their own rail systems and the network spread to the regions that became the modern-day states of Assam, Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh. A Railway Board was constituted in 1901, but decision-making power was retained by the Viceroy, Lord Curzon. The Railway Board operated under aegis of the Department of Commerce and Industry and had three members: a government railway official serving as chairman, a railway manager from England and an agent of one of the company railways. For the first time in its history, the Railways began to make a tidy profit. In 1907, almost all the rail companies were taken over by the government.

The following year, the first electric locomotive appeared. With the arrival of the First World War, the railways were used to meet the needs of the British outside India. By the end of the First World War, the railways had suffered immensely and were in a poor state. The government took over the management of the Railways and removed the link between the financing of the Railways and other governmental revenues in 1920, a practice that continues to date with a separate railway budget.

The Second World War severely crippled the railways as trains were diverted to the Middle East, and the railway workshops were converted into munitions workshops. At the time of independence in 1947, a large portion of the railways went to the then newly formed Pakistan. A total of forty-two separate railway systems, including thirty-two lines owned by the former Indian princely states, were amalgamated as a single unit which was christened as the Indian Railways.

The existing rail networks were abandoned in favour of zones in 1951 and a total of six zones came into being in 1952. As the economy of India improved, almost all railway production units were indigenised. By 1985, steam locomotives were phased out in favour of diesel and electric locomotives. The entire railway reservation system was streamlined with computerisation in 1995.

Railway zones

For administrative purposes, Indian Railways is divided into sixteen zones.

No.	Name	Abbr.	Headquarters	Date established
1.	Northern Railway	NR	Delhi	April 14, 1952
2.	North Eastern Railway	NER	Gorakhpur	1952
3.	Northeast Frontier Railway	NFR	Maligaon(Guwahati)	1958
4.	Eastern Railway	ER	Kolkata	April, 1952
5.	South Eastern Railway	SER	Kolkata	1955,
6.	South Central Railway	SCR	Secunderabad	October 2, 1966
7.	Southern Railway	SR	Chennai	April 14, 1951
8.	Central Railway	CR	Mumbai	November 5, 1951
9.	Western Railway	WR	Mumbai	November 5, 1951
10.	South Western Railway	SWR	Hubli	April 1, 2003
11.	North Western Railway	NWR	Jaipur	October 1, 2002
12.	West Central Railway	WCR	Jabalpur	April 1, 2003
13.	North Central Railway	NCR	Allahabad	April 1, 2003
14.	South East Central Railway	SECR	Bilaspur, CG	April 1, 2003
15.	East Coast Railway	ECoR	Bhubaneswar	April 1, 2003
16.	East Central Railway	ECR	Hajipur	October 1, 2002
17.	Konkan Railway†	KR	Navi Mumbai	January 26, 1998

Konkan Railway (KR) is constituted as a separately incorporated railway, with its headquarters at Belapur CBD (Navi Mumbai). It comes under the control of the Railway Ministry and the Railway Board.

The Calcutta Metro is owned and operated by Indian Railways, but is not a part of any of the zones. It is administratively considered to have the status of a zonal railway. Each zonal railway is made up of a certain number of divisions, each having a divisional headquarters. There are a total of sixty-seven divisions

Passenger services

Indian Railways operates 8,702 passenger trains and transports 15 million daily across twenty-five states and three union territories (Delhi, Puducherry (formerly Pondicherry) and Chandigarh). Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh and Meghalaya are the only states not connected.

The passenger division is the most preferred form of long distance transport in most of the country.

A standard passenger train consists of eighteen coaches, but some popular trains can have up to 24 coaches. Coaches are designed to accommodate anywhere from 18 to 72 passengers, but may actually accommodate many more during the holiday seasons and on busy routes. The coaches in use are vestibules, but some of these may be dummied on some trains for operational reasons. Freight trains use a large variety of wagons.

Each coach has different accommodation class; the most popular being the sleeper class. Up to nine of these type coaches are usually coupled. Air conditioned coaches are also attached, and a standard train may have between three and five air-conditioned coaches. Online passenger ticketing, introduced in 2004, is expected to top 100,000 per day by 2008, while ATMs in many stations will be equipped to dispense long-distance tickets by the end of 2007.

Production Services

The Indian Railways manufactures a lot of its rolling stock and heavy engineering components. This is largely due to historical reasons. As with most developing economies, the main reason is import substitution of expensive technology related products. This was relevant when the general state of the national engineering industry was immature.

Production Units, the manufacturing plants of the Indian Railways, are managed directly by the ministry. The General Managers of the PUs report to the Railway Board. The Production Units are:

• Diesel Locomotive Works, Varanasi
• Chittaranjan Locomotive Works, Chittaranjan
• Diesel-Loco Modernisation Works, Patiala
• Integral Coach Factory, Chennai
• Rail Coach Factory, Kapurthala
• Rail Wheel Factory, Bangalore
• Rail Spring Karkhana, Gwalior
• Bharat Earth Movers Limited, Bangalore

BEML is not part of railways, but they do manufacture the coaches for IR and Metro coaches for DMRC and going forward for Bangalore Metro also.

Suburban rail

Many cities have their own dedicated suburban networks to cater to commuters. Currently, suburban networks operate in Mumbai (Bombay), Chennai (Madras), Kolkata (Calcutta), Delhi, Hyderabad and Pune. Hyderabad, and Pune do not have dedicated suburban tracks but share the tracks with long distance trains. New Delhi, Chennai and Kolkata have their own metro networks, namely the New Delhi Metro, the Chennai MRTS- Mass Rapid Transport System, same as other local EMU suburban service as in Mumbai and Kolkata etc., but with dedicated tracks mostly laid on a flyover and the Kolkata Metro, respectively.

Suburban trains that handle commuter traffic are mostly electric multiple units. They usually have nine coaches or sometimes twelve to handle rush hour traffic (Hyderabad MMTS; abbreviation for Multi Modal Transport System has mostly six coach train with a single nine coach one). One unit of an EMU train consists of one power car and two general coaches. Thus a nine coach EMU is made up of three units having one power car at each end and one at the middle. The rakes in Mumbai run on direct current, while those elsewhere use alternating current. A standard coach is designed to accommodate 96 seated passengers, but the actual number of passengers can easily double or triple with standees during rush hour. The Kolkata metro has the administrative status of a zonal railway, though it does not come under the seventeen railway zones.

The Suburban trains in Mumbai handle more rush then any other suburban network in India. The network has three lines viz, western, central and harbour. It's considered to be the lifeline on Mumbaia Central Lines start from Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST) (Formerly Victoria Terminus or VT) and runs for more than 100 km till Kasara and Western Line starting from Churchgate runs again for more than 100 km till Dahanu Road. It is thus longest suburban rail in the world. So also, it is busiest suburban network in the world, in the sense that it carries more than 5 million passengers each day. On 11 July 2006 six bombs were set off on these trains, targeted at the general public.

Freight

IR carries a huge variety of goods ranging from mineral ores, fertilizers and petrochemicals, agricultural produce, iron & steel, multimodal traffic and others. Ports and major urban areas have their own dedicated freight lines and yards. Many important freight stops have dedicated platforms and independent lines.

Indian Railways makes 70% of its revenues and most of its profits from the freight sector, and uses these profits to cross-subsidise the loss-making passenger sector. However, competition from trucks which offer cheaper rates has seen a decrease in freight traffic in recent years. Since the 1990s, Indian Railways has switched from small consignments to larger container movement which has helped speed up its operations. Most of its freight earnings come from such rakes carrying bulk goods such as coal, cement, food grains and iron ore.

Indian Railways also transports vehicles over long distances. Trucks that carry goods to a particular location are hauled back by trains saving the trucking company on unnecessary fuel expenses. Refrigerated vans are also available in many areas. The "Green Van" is a special type used to transport fresh food and vegetables. Recently Indian Railways introduced the special 'Container Rajdhani' or CONRAJ, for high priority freight. The highest speed notched up for a freight train is 100 km/h (62 mph) for a 4,700 metric tonne load.

Recent changes have sought to boost the earnings from freight. A privatization scheme was introduced recently to improve the performance of freight trains. Companies are being allowed to run their own container trains. The first length of an 11,000 km freight corridor linking India's biggest cities has recently been approved. The railways has increased load limits for the system's 220,000 freight wagons by 11%, legalizing something that was already happening. Due to increase in manufacturing transport in India that was augmented by the increase in fuel cost, transportation by rail became advantageous financially. New measures such as speeding up the turnaround times have added some 24% to freight revenues.

Notable trains and achievements

The Darjeeling Himalayan Railway, a narrow gauge railway that still regularly uses steam as well as diesel locomotives is classified as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. The route started earlier at Siliguri and now at New Jalpaiguri in the plains in West Bengal and traverses tea gardens en route to Darjeeling, a hill station at an elevation of 2,134 metres (7,000 ft). The highest station in this route is Ghum. The Nilgiri Mountain Railway, in the Nilgiri Hills in southern India, is also classified as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. It is also the only rack railway in India. The Chatrapati Shivaji Terminus (formerly Victoria Terminus) railway station in Mumbai is another World Heritage Site operated by Indian Railways.

The Palace on Wheels is a specially designed train, frequently hauled by a steam locomotive, for promoting tourism in Rajasthan. The Maharashtra government did try to introduce the Deccan Odyssey along the Konkan route, but it did not enjoy the same success as the Palace on Wheels. The Samjhauta Express is a train that runs between India and Pakistan. However, hostilities between the two nations in 2001 saw the line being closed. It was reopened when the hostilities subsided in 2004. Another train connecting Khokhrapar (Pakistan) and Munabao (India) is the Thar Express that restarted operations on February 18, 2006; it was closed down after the 1965 Indo-Pak war. The Kalka Shimla Railway till recently featured in the Guinness Book of World Records for offering the steepest rise in altitude in the space of 96 kilometres.

The Lifeline Express is a special train popularly known as the "Hospital-on-Wheels" which provides healthcare to the rural areas. This train has a carriage that serves as an operating room, a second one which serves as a storeroom and an additional two that serve as a patient ward. The train travels around the country, staying at a location for about two months before moving elsewhere.

Among the famous locomotives, the Fairy Queen is the oldest running locomotive on the mainline (though only for specials) in the world today, though the distinction of the oldest surviving locomotive that has recently seen service belongs to John Bull. Kharagpur railway station also has the distinction of being the world's longest railway platform at 1072 m (3,517 ft). The Ghum station along the Darjeeling Toy Train route is the second highest railway station in the world to be reached by a steam locomotive. Indian Railways operates 7,566 locomotives; 37,840 Coaching vehicles and 222,147 freight wagons. There are a total of 6,853 stations; 300 yards; 2,300 goods-sheds; 700 repair shops and a total workforce of 1.54 million.

The shortest named station is Ib and the longest is Sri Venkatanarasimharajuvaripeta. The Himsagar Express, between Kanyakumari and Jammu Tawi, has the longest run in terms of distance and time on Indian Railways network. It covers 3,745 km (2,327 miles) in about 74 hours and 55 minutes. The Trivandrum Rajdhani, between Delhi's Nizamuddin Station and Trivandrum, travels non-stop between Vadodara and Kota, covering a distance of 528 km (328 miles) in about 6.5 hours, and has the longest continuous run on Indian Railways today. The Bhopal Shatabdi Express is the fastest train in India today having a maximum speed of 140 km/h (87 mph) on the Faridabad-Agra section. The fastest speed attained by any train is 184 km/h (114 mph) in 2000 during test runs. This speed is much lower than fast trains in other parts of the world. The difference in these speeds could be in part attributed to the fact that the trains run on existing tracks, which were not designed for such high speeds.

Organisational structure

Indian Railways is a department of the Government, being owned and controlled by the Government of India, via the Ministry of Railways rather than a private company. As of 2007, the Railway Ministry is currently headed by Laloo Prasad Yadav, the Union Minister for Railways and assisted by two junior Ministers of State for Railways, R. Velu and Naranbhai J. Rathwa. Indian Railways is administered by the Railway Board, which has six members and a chairman.

Each of the sixteen zones is headed by a General Manager (GM) who reports directly to the Railway Board. The zones are further divided into divisions under the control of Divisional Railway Managers (DRM). The divisional officers of engineering, mechanical, electrical, signal & telecommunication, accounts, personnel, operating, commercial and safety branches report to the respective Divisional Manager and are in charge of operation and maintenance of assets. Further down the hierarchy tree are the Station Masters who control individual stations and the train movement through the track territory under their stations' administration. In addition to the zones, the six production units (PUs) are each headed by a General Manager (GM), who also reports directly to the Railway Board.

In addition to this the Central Organisation for Railway Electrification (CORE), Metro Railway, Calcutta and construction organisation of N F Railway are also headed by a General Manager. CORE is located at Allahabad. This organisation undertakes electrification projects of Indian Railway and monitors the progress of various electrification projects all over the country.

Apart from these zones and production units, a number of Public Sector Undertakings (PSU) are under the administrative control of the ministry of railways. These PSU units are:

1. Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India
2. Indian Railways Catering and Tourism Corporation
3. Konkan Railway Corporation
4. Indian Railway Finance Corporation
5. Mumbai Rail Vikas Corporation
6. Railtel Corporation of India – Telecommunication Networks
7. RITES Ltd. – Consulting Division of Indian Railways
8. IRCON International Ltd. – Construction Division
9. Rail Vikas Nigam Limited
10. Container Corporation Limited

Centre for Railway Information Systems is an autonomous society under Railway Board, which is responsible for developing the major software required by Indian Railways for its operations.

Rail budget and finances

The Railway Budget deals with the induction and improvement of existing trains and routes, the modernisation and most importantly the tariff for freight and passenger travel. The ParliamentLok Sabha (India's Lower House). The comments of the Rajya Sabha discusses the policies and allocations proposed in the budget. The budget needs to be passed by a simple majority in the (Upper House) are non binding. Indian Railways are subject to the same audit control as other government revenue and expenditures. Based on the anticipated traffic and the projected tariff, the level of resources required for railway's capital and revenue expenditure is worked out. While the revenue expenditure is met entirely by railways itself, the shortfall in the capital (plan) expenditure is met partly from borrowings (raised by Indian Railway Finance Corporation) and the rest from Budgetory support from the Central Government. Indian Railways pays dividend to the Central Government for the capital invested by the Central Government.

As per the Separation Convention (on the recommendations of the Acworth Committee), 1924, the Railway Budget is presented to the Parliament by the Union Railway Minister, two days prior to the General Budget, usually around 26 February. Though the Railway Budget is separately presented to the Parliament, the figures relating to the receipt and expenditure of the Railways are also shown in the General Budget, since they are a part and parcel of the total receipts and expenditure of the Government of India. This document serves as a balance sheet of operations of the Railways during the previous year and lists out plans for expansion for the current year.

The formation of policy and overall control of the railways is vested in Railway Board comprising the Chairman, Financial Commissioner and other functional Members for Traffic, Engineering, Mechanical, Electrical and Staff matters. As per the 2006 budget, Indian Railways earned Rs. 54,600 crores (Rs. 546,000 million or US$12,300 million). Freight earnings increased by 10% from Rs. 30,450 cr (US$7,000 million) in the previous year. Passenger earnings, other coaching earnings and sundry other earnings increased by 7%, 19% and 56% respectively over previous year. Its year end fund balance is expected to stand at Rs. 11,280 cr (2.54 billion US$).

Around 20% of the passenger revenue is earned from the upper class segments of the passenger segment (the air-conditioned classes). The overall passenger traffic grew 7.5% in the previous year. In the first two months of India's fiscal year 2005–06 (April and May), the Railways registered a 10% growth in passenger traffic, and a 12% in passenger earnings.

A new concern faced by Indian Railways is competition from low cost airlines that has recently made its début in India. In a cost cutting move, the Railways plans to minimise unwanted cessations, and scrap unpopular routes.

Current problems

Indian railways suffers from deteriorating finances and lack the funds for future investment. Last year, India spent $28 billion, or 3.6% of GDP, on infrastructure. The main problem plaguing the Railways is the high accident rate which stands at about three hundred a year. Although accidents such as derailment and collisions are less common in recent times, many are run over by trains, especially in crowded areas. Indian Railways have accepted the fact that given the size of operations, eliminating accidents is an unrealistic goal, and at best they can only minimize the accident rate. Human error is the primary cause (83%) blamed for mishaps. The Konkan Railway route suffers from landslides in the monsoon season, which has caused fatal accidents in the recent past.

Contributing to the Railways' problems are the antiquated communication, safety and signaling equipment. One area of upgrading badly required is an automated signaling system to prevent crashes. A number of train accidents happened due to a manual system of signals between stations. However, the changeover to a new system would require a substantial investment. It is felt that this would be required given the gradual increase in train speeds and lengths, that would make accidents more dangerous. In the latest instances of signaling control by means of interlinked stations (e.g., Chennai - Washermanpet), failure-detection circuits are provided for each track circuit and signal circuit with notification to the signal control centres in case of problems. However, this is available in a very small subset of the total Railways.

Aging colonial-era bridges and century-old tracks also require regular maintenance and upgrading. In recent years Indian Railways has claimed that it has achieved a financial turnaround, with (unaudited) operating profits expected to improve by 83.7%. Credit for this achievement has been claimed by current Indian Railway Minister, Mr Lalu Prasad Yadav who claims to have brought a significant improvement in operating efficiency of goods traffic after he took over as Railway Minister in May 2004.

The Rajdhani Express and Shatabadi Express are the fastest and most luxurious trains of Indian Railways, though they face increasing pressure from air travel, as the trains travel only 80 km per hour (c.f. Fastest trains in India) and their food and service is not competitive. To modernize Indian Rail and to bring it at par with the developed world, would require a massive investment of about US$100 billion.

Sixth Pay Commission has been constituted in India to review the pay structure of the Government employees and its recommendations are expected by the end of 2008 and based on its recommendations, the salaries of all Railways officers and staff are expected to be revised with retrospective effect (w.e.f. January 01, 2006). If previous Pay Commissions are taken as indicator then this revision will not be less than 50% upwards and it may hit Railways bottomlines severely and possibly mitigate all the good work of the Railways.

Sanitation and use of modern technology in that area has been a problem. Although Indian Rail has announced the introduction of dry toilets in the trains, so far not much headway has been made and the train toilets continue to drop the wastes on the rail tracks.

Plans to upgrade stations, coaches and services are on track. Twenty-two of the largest stations are due for an overhaul when a private company is picked for the job. New LHB German coaches, manufactured in India, were scheduled to be introduced in 2007 on the daily run of the prestigious East Central Railway (ECR) Patna-New Delhi Radjhani Express. These coaches will enhance the safety and riding comfort of passengers, and in time will eventually replace thousands of old model coaches throughout Indian Railways. Three new manufacturing units will be set up to produce state-of-the-art locomotives and coaches. Channel music, TV screens showing the latest films, and optional menus from five-star hotels are soon to be introduced on the Rajdhani and Shatabdi Express. Base kitchens and food services across the system are also slated for a makeover. More importantly, a whole new IT management infrastructure will be developed to better handle ticketing, freight, rolling stock (wagons), terminals, and rail traffic.

FYI: There are many external links (text with blue color) in the post, please use them for more information and to check for terminologies.

Say Cheese!!!

There was this news that 200 sardars are killed in a train accident at the station. Only one Sardar left alive.

The correspondent goes to the Sardarji and the conversation between them goes as follows: Correspondent: How did this happen?


Sardarji: Well, all the 200 people were waiting for the train. They were standing on the platform. Then there was this announcement that the train is arriving on platform number 2. They got scared to know that the train is arriving on the platform and hence they jumped onto the tracks to save themselves, The announcement was misleading the train arrived on the track and you can see the result.

Correspondent: Well, I guess, you must be the intelligent Sardarji. Why did you not jump onto the tracks?

Sardarji: I was actually trying to commit suicide. I was waiting for the train on the tracks. When I heard that the train is arriving on the platform, I climbed up.

Indian Institutes of Technology

“IIT = Harvard + MIT + Princeton” says CBS ‘60 Minutes.

CBS' highly-regarded ‘60 Minutes’, the most widely watched news programme in the US, told its audience of more than 10 Million viewers that “IIT may be the most important university you've never heard of."

"The United States imports oil from Saudi Arabia, cars from Japan, TVs from Korea and Whiskey from Scotland. So what do we import from India? We import people, really smart people," co-host Leslie Stahl began while introducing the segment on IIT. “…the smartest, the most successful, most influential Indians who've migrated to the US seem to share a common credential: They are graduates of the IIT.”

The Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), are an elite group of seven autonomous engineering and technology oriented institutes of higher education established and declared as Institutes of National Importance by the Government of India. The IITs were created to train scientists and engineers, with the aim of developing a skilled workforce to support the economic and social development of India after independence in 1947. The students and alumni of IITs are colloquially referred to as IITians.

In order of establishment, the seven IITs are located at Kharagpur, Mumbai (Bombay), Chennai (Madras), Kanpur, Delhi, Guwahati, and Roorkee. Some IITs were established with financial assistance and technical expertise from UNESCO, Germany, the United States, and the Soviet Union. Each IIT is an autonomous university, linked to the others through a common IIT Council, which oversees their administration. They have a common admission process for undergraduate admissions, using the Joint Entrance Examination (popularly known as IIT-JEE) to select around 4,000 undergraduate candidates a year. Postgraduate Admissions are done on the basis of the GATECEED. About 15,500 undergraduate and 12,000 graduate students study in the seven IITs, in addition to research scholars. and

IITians have achieved success in a variety of professions, resulting in the establishment of the widely recognised Brand IIT. The autonomy of the IITs has helped them to create specialised degrees in technology at the undergraduate level, and consequently to award the Bachelor of Technology (B.Tech.) degree, as opposed to the Bachelor of Engineering (BE) degree awarded by most other Indian universities. The success of the IITs has led to the creation of similar institutes in other fields, such as the National Institutes of Technology, the Indian Institutes of Management and the Institutes of Information Technology (IIIT)

The Institutes

The seven IITs are located in Kharagpur, Bombay, Madras, Kanpur, Delhi, Guwahati, and Roorkee. With the plan to setup three more IITs in Rajasthan, Bihar and Andhra Pradesh, the total number of IITs will get increased to 10. All IITs are autonomous universities that draft their own curricula, and they are, with the exception of IIT Kanpur, members of LAOTSE, an international network of universities in Europe and Asia. LAOTSE membership allows the IITs to exchange students and senior scholars with universities in other countries.

IIT Kharagpur was the first of the IITs. Established in 1951, it is in Kharagpur (near Kolkata) in the state of West Bengal. It has 29 academic departments, centres and schools, spread over a 8.5 km² (2,100 acre) campus that is a self-contained township of over 15,000 inhabitants. It has about 450 faculty, 2,200 employees, 3,000 undergraduates and 2,500 postgraduates. The students live in 17 hostels (called Halls of Residence). IIT Kharagpur also has a medical technology school (School of Medical Science and Technology), a management school (Vinod Gupta School of Management) and a law school (Rajiv Gandhi School of Intellectual Property Law) within its premises. Its central library is the largest technical library in Asia.

The next IIT to be established, IIT Bombay, was founded in 1958 in Powai, Mumbai (Bombay). It was set up with assistance from UNESCO and the Soviet Union, which provided technical expertise. The Indian government underwrote all other expenses, including the construction costs. With an area of 2.23 km² (550 acres) and a total of 24 departments, centres and schools, it is the largest university in the state of Maharashtra. In addition, IIT Bombay has 13 student hostels with about 2,200 undergraduate and 2,000 postgraduate students. IIT Bombay also has schools in management (Shailesh J. Mehta School of Management) and information technology (Kanwal Rekhi School of Information Technology) on its premises. Despite a change in the name of the city, the IIT retains the original name.

IIT Madras is located in the city of Chennai in Tamil Nadu. It was established in 1959 with technical assistance from the Government of West Germany and has nearly 360 faculty and approximately 2,500 undergraduate and 2,000 postgraduate students. The campus is spread over an area of about 2.5 km² (620 acres), and has 15 academic departments, nearly 100 laboratories, and 14 hostels. As with IIT Bombay, it retains its original name despite a change in the name of its city.

IIT Kanpur was established in 1959 in the city of Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh. During its first 10 years, IIT Kanpur benefited from the Kanpur–Indo-American Programme, where a consortiumUS universities helped to set up the research laboratories and academic programmes. It covers an area of 4.85 km² (1,200 acres). It has approximately 500 faculty members, and about 2,000 undergraduate and an equal number of postgraduate students live in 10 hostels.

Established as the College of Engineering in 1961, IIT Delhi was given the current name and declared an Institution of National Importance under the "Institutes of Technology (Amendment) Act, 1963". It is located in Hauz Khas (New Delhi) and has an area of 1.3 km² (320 acres). It has 11 hostels and 26 departments, centres and schools. It has 426 faculty members and approximately 2,200 undergraduate and 1,600 postgraduate students.

IIT Guwahati was established in 1994 near the city of Guwahati (Assam) on the northern banks of the Brahmaputra River. The sprawling 2.85 km² (705 acres) campus attracts many visitors because of its scenic beauty. There are approximately 1,300 undergraduate and 500 postgraduate students in 18 departments, which have a total of 152 faculty members.

IIT Roorkee, originally known as the University of Roorkee, was established in 1847 as the first engineering college of the British Empire. Located in Uttarakhand, the college was renamed The Thomason College of Civil Engineering in 1854 and was granted IIT status in 2001. The institute offers undergraduate degree courses in 10 disciplines of engineering and architecture, and postgraduate degrees in 55 disciplines. It has 375 faculty members. The campus is about 1.45 km² (360 acres) in size and has nine hostels. The campus also includes the Department of Management Studies (DOMS), offering MBA courses.

History

The history of the IIT system dates back to 1946 when Sir Jogendra Singh of the Viceroy's Executive Council set up a committee whose task was to consider the creation of Higher Technical Institutions for post-war industrial development in India. The 22-member committee, headed by Nalini Ranjan Sarkar, recommended the establishment of these institutions in various parts of India, with affiliated secondary institutions. The committee felt that such institutes should not only produce undergraduates, but researchers and academics. The institutes were expected to maintain high educational standards.

With these recommendations in view, the first Indian Institute of Technology was founded in May 1950 at the site of the Hijli Detention Camp in Kharagpur. On September 15, 1956, the Parliament of India passed the Indian Institute of Technology (Kharagpur) Act, declaring it as an Institute of National Importance. Jawaharlal Nehru, first Prime Minister of India, in the first convocation address of IIT Kharagpur in 1956 said

“Here in the place of that Hijli Detention Camp stands the fine monument of India, representing India's urges, India's future in the making. This picture seems to me symbolical of the changes that are coming to India.”

On the recommendations of the Sarkar Committee, four campuses were established at MumbaiChennai (1959), Kanpur (1959), and Delhi (1961). The location of these campuses was chosen to be scattered throughout India to prevent regional imbalance. The Indian Institutes of Technology Act was amended to reflect the addition of new IITs. Student agitations in the state of Assam made Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi promise the creation of a new IIT in Assam. This led to a sixth campus at Guwahati under the Assam Accord in 1994. The University of Roorkee, India's oldest engineering college, was conferred IIT status in 2001. (1958),

Over the past few years, there have been a number of developments toward establishing new IITs. On October 1, 2003, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee announced plans to create more IITs "by upgrading existing academic institutions that have the necessary promise and potential". Subsequent developments led to the formation of the S K Joshi Committee in November 2003 to guide the selection of the five institutions which would become the five new IITs.

Based on the initial recommendations of the Sarkar Committee, it was decided that further IITs should be spread throughout the country. When the government expressed its willingness to correct this regional imbalance, 16 states demanded IITs. Since the S K Joshi Committee prescribed strict guidelines for institutions aspiring to be IITs, only seven colleges were selected for final consideration. Plans are also reported to open IITs outside India, though not enough progress has been made in this regard. The Indian Union Human Resources Development ministry has planned to set up three more Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) — one each in the states of Andhra Pradesh (Medak district), Bihar (Gaya), and Rajasthan.

Organisational structure

The President of India is the most powerful person in the organisational structure of IITs, being the ex officio Visitor, and having residual powers. Directly under the President is the IIT Council, which comprises the minister-in-charge of technical education in the Union Government, the Chairmen of all IITs, the Directors of all IITs, the Chairman of the University Grants Commission, the Director General of CSIR, the Chairman of IISc, the Director of IISc, three members of Parliament, the Joint Council Secretary of Ministry of Human Resource and Development, and three appointees each of the Union Government, AICTE, and the Visitor.

Under the IIT Council is the Board of Governors of each IIT. Under the Board of Governors is the Director, who is the chief academic and executive officer of the IIT. Under the Director, in the organisational structure, comes the Deputy Director. Under the Director and the Deputy Director, come the Deans, Heads of Departments, Registrar, President of the Students' Council, and Chairman of the Hall Management Committee. The Registrar is the chief administrative officer of the IIT and overviews the day-to-day operations. Below the Heads of Department (HOD) are the faculty members (Professors, Associate Professors, and Assistant Professors). The Wardens come under the Chairman of the Hall Management Committee.

Admission

Admission to undergraduate B.Tech and integrated M.Tech programs are through IIT-JEE (the Joint Entrance Examination) in which around 300,000 students appear annually. Admission to most postgraduate courses in IITs is granted through various written entrance examinations. Admission to M.S.is through GATE and Ph.D. program is based primarily on a personal interview, though candidates may also have to appear for written tests. The IITs are also well known for their special reservation policy, which stands out in contrast with the rest of India.

Entrance examinations

Admission to undergraduate programs in all IITs is tied to the Joint Entrance Examination, popularly known as IIT-JEE. Candidates who qualify admission via IIT-JEE can apply for admission in B.Tech. (Bachelor of Technology), Dual Degree (Integrated Bachelor of Technology and Master of Technology) and Integrated M.Sc. (Master of Sciences) courses in IITs. IIT-JEE is a science-oriented entrance exam, testing candidate's knowledge of mathematics, physics and chemistry. It is conducted by an IIT chosen by a policy of rotation. Admission is very competitive, given the huge population of India; the undergraduate acceptance rate through JEE has a low ratio, around 1 in 55, with about 300,000 annual test takers for about 5,500 seats. Only about 4,000 of these seats are offered by IITs, the rest belonging to other institutes that use IIT-JEE. Only students who have completed (or will complete at the end of the current academic session) their higher secondary studies from a recognised educational board are allowed to appear for IIT-JEE. The IIT-JEE is well known for frequently changing the types of questions asked in order to discourage study by rote. Since IIT-JEE 2006, the format of the question paper was changed to a single objective test-based paper, replacing the earlier system that employed two tests. The candidates belonging to the general category must secure a minimum aggregate of 60% marks in the qualifying examination of the XII^th standard organised by various educational boards of India. They need quota everywhere. Candidates belonging to Scheduled Caste (SC), Scheduled Tribe (ST) and Physically Disabled (PD) categories must secure a minimum aggregate of 55% in the qualifying examination. The upper age limit for appearing for the IIT-JEE is 25 years. The age limit is relaxed to 30 years for candidates classified in the SC, ST and PD categories. Starting with IIT-JEE 2007, a candidate can take IIT-JEE a maximum of two times, and students who are selected for an IIT cannot attempt the examination again. Students select their institute and department of study based on what is available at the time of their counselling and interview that follows the IIT-JEE result. The interviews are usually spread over five days.

The admissions into the postgraduate programmes are made through various exams, primarily the Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE) for M.Tech. and some MS courses. This exam tests the conceptual clarity in technical subjects and is one of the most difficult in the country.Other prominent entrance exams include JAM (Joint Admission to M.Sc.) for M.Sc., and JMET (Joint Management Entrance Test) for Management Studies.

Reservation policy

India is one of the countries that practices a form of affirmative action (known by critics as reverse discrimination) on caste-based reserved quotas. As per the provisions in the Indian constitution, the IITs have been reserving seats for Scheduled Castes of society since 1973. The IITs follow a reservation policy that is notably different from the quota policy elsewhere in India.

As per the rules of admission to IITs, 15% of the admitted students must be of the Scheduled Castes, and 7.5% of seats are reserved for Scheduled Tribes. As of 2006, no separate reservation exists for the Other Backward Classes in spite of the Mandal commission recommendations. The IITs are not bound to fill these quotas of seats, and many of them remain vacant owing to the nature of selection process. In 2004, 112 out of 279 seats reserved for ST candidates, and 11 out of 556 seats reserved for SC candidates, were left vacant.

As per the rules, all the Scheduled Caste (SC) and Scheduled Tribe (ST) candidates must take the IIT-JEE with the rest of the students. Based on the results of IIT-JEE, those SC/ST candidates who score more than two-third of the marks scored by the General Category student admitted with the lowest score are admitted directly to IITs. Another group of candidates who do not meet this relaxed admission criteria are offered a "Preparatory Course" comprising of English, Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics at the IIT concerned. After one year of study, those candidates who are able to secure a grade higher than the prescribed cut-off mark during end-of-semester exams are allowed to continue regular studies. There is no relaxation on the criteria for passing the exams or graduating a course. The candidates admitted through the reservation policy are also subjected to the same criteria as the general candidates for graduation.

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In 1989, Prime Minister V. P. Singh accepted and implemented the proposals of the Mandal Commission that recommended provisions of reservations for OBCs in private unaided institutions as well as high-end government jobs for minority communities. No changes took place in the IITs because of the legislation, but in 2005, based on the recommendations of a political panel, the UPA government proposed to implement the reserved-quota system for the OBCs in IITs and IIMs. It received critical objections by many scholars and critics, who described the proposal as "dangerous and divisive" and based solely on political (vote-bank) purposes. Many argued that the OBCs are not a backward community and enjoy good economic and social status and thus a reservation for OBCs becomes a mere strategy to gain votes. Though, the issue has simmered down as of now, it still remains a very hotly argued one. When the government planned to implement the quota system, anti-reservation protests were organised throughout India against the proposal. Student agitations also took place in the IITs and many students who opposed caste-based reservations resorted to hunger strikes. They labelled the quota system as a government tactic to earn cheap votes, and that the system would lead to increased casteism and a severe compromise on merit and talent.

The additional procedures for admission into the IITs (the preparatory course and the qualifying end-of-semester exams that follow) have also been criticised as unnecessary and counter-productive. One of the arguments opposing the modified policy of reservation and favouring direct admission is that a large number of seats remain vacant under the present scheme.

Education

The IITs receive disproportionately high grants compared to other engineering colleges in India. While the total government funding to most other engineering colleges is around Rs. 100–200 million per year, the amount varies between Rs. 900–1,300 million per year for each IIT. Other sources of funds include student fees and research funding from industry. This has translated into superior infrastructure and better faculty in the IITs and consequently higher competition among students to gain admissions into the IITs. The faculty-to-student ratio in the IITs is between 1:6 and 1:8. The Standing Committee of IIT Council (SCIC) prescribes the lower limit for faculty-to-student ratio as 1:9, applied department wise. The IITs subsidise undergraduate student fees by approximately 80% and provide scholarships to all Master of TechnologyResearch Scholars in order to encourage students for higher studies, per the recommendations of the Thacker Committee (1959–1961). The cost borne by undergraduate students including boarding and mess expenses is around Rs. 50,000 per annum.

The various IITs function autonomously, and their special status as Institutes of National Importance facilitates the smooth running of IITs, virtually free from both regional as well as student politics. Such autonomy means that IITs can create their own curricula and adapt rapidly to the changes in educational requirements, free from bureaucratic hurdles. The government has no direct control over internal policy decisions of IITs (like faculty recruitment and curricula) but has representation on the IIT Council. The medium of instruction in all IITs is English. The classes are usually held between 7:30 a.m. and 5:30 p.m., though there are some variations within each IIT. All the IITs have public libraries for the use of their students. In addition to a collection of prescribed books, the libraries have sections for fiction and other literary genres. The electronic libraries allow students to access on-line journals and periodicals.

The academic policies of each IIT are decided by its Senate. This comprises all professors of the IIT and student representatives. Unlike many western universities that have an elected senate, the IITs have an academic senate. It controls and approves the curriculum, courses, examinations and results, and appoints committees to look into specific academic matters. The teaching, training and research activities of the institute are periodically reviewed by the senate to maintain educational standards. The Director of an IIT is the ex-officio Chairman of the Senate.

All the IITs follow the credits system of performance evaluation, with proportional weighting of courses based on their importance. The total marks (usually out of 100) form the basis of grades, with a grade value (out of 10) assigned to a range of marks. Sometimes, relative grading is done considering the overall performance of the whole class. For each semester, the students are graded on a scale of 0 to 10 based on their performance, by taking a weighted average of the grade points from all the courses, with their respective credit points. Each semester evaluation is done independently and then the weighted average over all semesters is used to calculate the cumulative grade point average (known as CGPA or CPI—Cumulative Performance Index).

Undergraduate education

The B.Tech. degree is the most common undergraduate degree in the IITs in terms of student enrolment, although Dual Degrees and Integrated (five-year) Master of Science degrees are also offered. The B.Tech course is based on a 4-year program with eight semesters, while the Dual Degree course is a 5-year program with ten semesters. In all IITs, the first year of B.Tech. and Dual Degree courses are marked by a common course structure for all the students, though in some IITs, a single department introduction related course is also included. The common courses include the basics from most of the departments like Electronics, Mechanics, Chemistry, and Physics. At the end of first year (the end of first semester at IIT Madras), an option to change departments is given to meritorious students on the basis of their performance in the first two semesters. Few such changes ultimately take place as the criteria for them are usually strict, limited to the most meritorious students.

From the second year onwards, the students study subjects exclusively from their respective departments. In addition to these, the students have to take compulsory advanced courses from other departments in order to broaden their education. Separate compulsory courses from humanities and social sciences department, and sometimes management courses are also enforced. At the end of third year, the undergraduate students have to undertake a summer project at an industry or reputed academic institute as part of the curriculum. In the last year of their studies, most of the students are placed into industries and organisations via the placement process of the respective IIT, though some students opt out of this either when going for higher studies or when they take up jobs by applying to the companies directly.

Postgraduate and doctoral education

The IITs offer a number of postgraduate programs including Master of Technology (M.Tech.), Master of Business Administration (MBA) (only for engineers and post graduates in science), and Master of Science (M.Sc.). Some IITs offer specialised graduate programmes such as the Post Graduate Diploma in Information Technology (PGDIT), Master in Medical Science and Technology (MMST), Master of City Planning (MCP), Postgraduate Diploma in Intellectual Property Law (PGDIPL), Master of Design (M.Des), and the Postgraduate Diploma in Maritime Operation & Management (PGDMOM). The IITs also offer the Doctor of Philosophy degree (Ph.D.) as part of their doctoral education programme. In it, the candidates are given a topic of academic interest by the professor or have to work on a consultancy project given by the industries. The duration of the program is usually unspecified and depends on the specific discipline. Ph.D. candidates have to submit a dissertation as well as provide an oral defence for their thesis. Teaching Assistantships (TA) and Research Assistantships (RA) are often provided. Some of the IITs offer an M.S. (by research) program; the M.Tech. and M.S. are similar to the US universities' non-thesis (course based) and thesis (research based) masters programs respectively. The IITs, along with NITs and IISc, account for nearly 80% of all PhDs in engineering.

The IITs also offer an unconventional B.Tech. and M.Tech. integrated educational program called "Dual Degree". It integrates undergraduate and postgraduate studies in selected areas of specialisation. It is completed in five years as against six years in conventional B.Tech. (four years) followed by an M.Tech. (two years). This programme was started to allow IITians to complete postgraduate studies from IIT rather than having to go to another institute. All IITs (except IIT Guwahati) have schools of management offering degrees in management or business administration.

Culture and student life

All the IITs provide on-campus residential facilities to the students, research scholars and faculty. The students live in hostels (sometimes referred to as halls) throughout their stay in the IIT. Students in all IITs must choose between National Cadet Corps (NCC), National Service Scheme (NSS) and National Sports Organisation (NSO) in their first years. All the IITs have sports grounds for cricket, football(soccer), hockey, volleyball, lawn tennis, badminton, and athletics; and swimming pools for aquatic events. Usually the hostels also have their own sports grounds.

Technical and cultural festivals

All IITs organise annual technical festivals, typically lasting three or four days. The technical festivals are Cognizance (IIT Roorkee), Shaastra (IIT Madras), Techkriti (IIT Kanpur), Kshitij (IIT Kharagpur), Techfest (IIT Bombay), Tryst (IIT Delhi), and Techniche (IIT Guwahati). Most of them are organised in the months of February or March. While Techfest is most popular in terms of participants and visitors involved and variety of events, Shaastra holds the distinction of being the first student-managed event in the world to implement a formal Quality Management System, earning the ISO 9001:2000 certification.

Annual cultural festivals are also organised by the IITs and last three to four days. These include Thomso (IIT Roorkee), Mood Indigo (IIT Bombay) (also known as Mood-I), Spring Fest (IIT Kharagpur) (also known as SF), Saarang (IIT Madras) (previously Mardi Gras), Antaragni (IIT Kanpur), Alcheringa (IIT Guwahati), and Rendezvous (IIT Delhi).

In addition to these cultural festivals, IIT Kharagpur and IIT Bombay celebrate unique festivals. IIT Kharagpur celebrates the Illumination festival on the eve of Diwali. Large bamboo structures (called chatais) as high as 6 metres (20 feet) are made and earthen lamps (diyas) are placed on them to form outlines of people, monuments, or an event. Although the competition is held between hostels, it also receives entries by outside visitors. Coupled with the Illumination festival is the Rangoli festival. In Rangoli, large panels showing an event or a concept, are made on the ground by fine powder, and sometimes even by crushed bangles.

Unique to IIT Bombay is the Performing Arts Festival (popularly known as PAF). Technically a drama, each PAF includes drama, literature, music, fine arts, debating, and dance. All PAFs are held in the Open Air Theater (OAT), on the main campus of IIT Bombay. Typically two or three hostels (of 14) group together by random draw for each PAF. All of the dialogues are delivered as voice overs and not by the actors, mainly due to the structure and the huge size of the OAT.

Inter-IIT sports meet

The IITs compete among themselves in a number of sports events held under the aegis of the Annual Inter-IIT Sports Meet. Started in 1961, the competition is held every December at an IIT chosen by rotation. The award consists of a running shield that is passed over to the winning IIT. The winner is decided based on the weighted sum of the points earned in various events held over a period of five days. Separate events for men and women are held and points are tallied separately for determining the final winner of the General Championship.

The 12 events included in the Inter-IIT Sports are athletics, badminton, basketball, cricket, football, hockey, swimming, lawn and squash tennis, table tennis, volleyball, water polo and weightlifting. As swimming and water polo are played in water, which is usually cold in the month of December, the Inter-IIT Sports Meet for them is held in the first week of October, and is called Inter-IIT Aquatics Meet.

Recognition

The degrees provided by IITs are recognised by the AICTE and hence recognised by all institutions in India. Even outside India, IIT degrees are respected, largely due to the prestige of the IITs as created by their alumni. One of the contributing factors behind the success of IITs is the special status of the IITs as Institutes of National Importance under the Indian Institute of Technology Act. The IIT Act ensures that the IITs have special privileges and lays the foundation for them to evolve as world-class institutes. The autonomy ensured by the Act enables the IITs to implement changes quickly, to keep up with changing scenarios in both the educational world, and society in general. Student politics in IITs is kept under control with strict vigilance over the way student body elections are held. The IIT-JEE is another important factor behind the success of IITs, as it enables the IITs to accept only a select group of meritorious students. This combination of success factors has led to the concept of the IIT Brand. Other factors that have contributed to the success of IITs are stringent faculty recruitment procedures and industry collaboration. The procedure for selection of faculty in IITs is stricter as compared to other colleges offering similar degrees. The Ph.D. degree is a pre-requisite for all regular faculty appointments. The IITs have better interaction with various industries as compared to most other Indian colleges. The IITs are also considered highly successful institutions compared to other engineering colleges in India according to a number of educational surveys.

The view that IIT graduates are intelligent and hardworking people has been established by the success of IITians. Former IIT students get greater respect from their peers, academia and industry in general. The IIT brand was reaffirmed when the United States House of Representatives passed a resolution honoring Indian Americans and especially graduates of IIT for their contributions to the American society. Similarly, China also recognised the value of IITs and planned to replicate the model.

Educational rankings

Most IITs are consistently ranked above other engineering colleges in India in engineering education surveys, with regard to quality of faculty, teaching standards, research facilities and campus placements. In international surveys, the IITs fail to achieve top rankings. The Times Higher Education Supplement (2006) ranked the IITs the 57^th best overall universities in their World University Rankings and gave IITs the 33^rd position globally for science. The IITs were ranked third-best worldwide for technology, after MIT and University of California, Berkeley. In the Shanghai Jiao Tong University's Academic Ranking of World Universities, only one IIT (IIT Kharagpur) was listed among the top 500 universities worldwide. The IITs fall short in many parameters that are considered for educational rankings. The criteria for ranking prominently include internationally recognised research output, in which the IITs do not achieve notable success. Another criterion being the Social Science Citation Index, the rank of IITs suffers as they do not have large departments of liberal arts and social sciences. Since the IITs have only a few international faculty and students (except those by exchange programs), the rankings of IITs in many international surveys have suffered. Since the IITs have scored better under most educational ranking criteria than other Indian colleges and universities, they continue to achieve top positions in nationwide surveys.

Criticism

The IITs have faced criticism from within and outside academia. Major concerns include allegations that they encourage a brain drain and that their stringent entrance examinations encourage coaching colleges and skew the socio-economic profile of the student body. Other critics are concerned at the insufficient representation of women and the disadvantaged.

Brain drain

Among the criticisms of the IIT system by the media, academia and the people in general, the most prominent is that it encourages brain drain. Until the process of liberalisation started in early 1990s, India was unable to provide good job opportunities to the graduates of IITs. This resulted in large scale emigration of IITians to western countries, especially to the United States. Since 1953, nearly twenty-five thousand IITians have settled in the USA. Since the USAforeign exchange reserves for India, which, until the 1990s, had a substantial trade deficit. benefited from subsidised education in IITs at the cost of Indian taxpayers' money, critics say that subsidising education in IITs is useless. Others support the emigration of graduates, arguing that the capital sent home by the IITians has been a major source of the expansion of foreign exchange reserves for India, which, until the 1990s, had a substantial trade deficit.

The extent of intellectual loss has receded substantially over the past decade, with the percentage of students going abroad dropping from as high as 70% to around 30% today. This is largely attributed to the liberalisation of the Indian economy and the opening of previously closed markets. Government initiatives are encouraging IIT students into entrepreneurship programs and are increasing foreign investment. Emerging scientific and manufacturing industries, and outsourcing of technical jobs from North America and Western Europe have created opportunities for aspiring graduates in India. Many undergraduates go abroad to pursue further studies, such as MS and PhD.

Entrance competition

The highly competitive examination in the form of IIT-JEE has led to establishment of a large number of coaching institutes throughout the country that provide intensive, and specific preparation for the IIT-JEE for substantial fees. It is argued that this favours students from specific regions and richer backgrounds. Some coaching institutes say that they have individually coached nearly 800 successful candidates year after year. According to some estimates, nearly 95% of all students who clear the IIT-JEE had joined coaching classes. The psychological stress and emotional trauma faced by candidates not able to pass the examination and their families is considered to be a serious problem. This has led to criticism of the way the examinations are conducted. The IIT-JEE format was restructured in 2006 following these complaints.

After the change to the objective pattern of questioning, even the students who initially considered themselves not fit for subjective pattern of IIT-JEE decided to take the examination. Though the restructuring was meant to reduce the dependence of students on coaching classes, it led to an increase in students registering for coaching classes. Some people (mostly IITians) have criticised the changed pattern of the IIT-JEE. Their reasoning is that while IIT-JEE traditionally used to test students understanding of fundamentals and his ability to apply them to solve large unseen problems, the current pattern does not stress much on the application part.

Alumni

The IITians are known for their loyalty to their alma mater and many IIT Alumni Associations are active in India and abroad. The IIT alumni either help their alma mater in the form of donations, or by preferential job opportunities extended to students from the IITs. The Vinod Gupta School of Management at IIT Kharagpur and Shailesh J. Mehta School of Management at IIT Bombay are management schools within IITs that have been established largely by alumni donations; these schools were named after their benefactors.

Many IIT alumni have become entrepreneurs, including N.R. Narayana Murthy (co-founder and chairman of Infosys), Vinod Khosla (co-founder, Sun Microsystems), and Suhas S. PatilChairman Emeritus Cirrus Logic Inc.) Other alumni have achieved leading positions in corporations, such as Rajat Gupta (former Managing Director, McKinsey), Arun Sarin (CEO, Vodafone), Victor Menezes (Senior Vice Chairman, Citigroup), and Kanwal RekhiNovell). IIT alumni have also pursued careers in politics: for example, Manohar ParrikarChief Minister of Goa. Many alumni have gained national and international recognition: Sushantha Kumar Bhattacharyya was awarded the CBE, a knighthood, and Padma Bhushan; and V. C. Kulandaiswamy was awarded Padma Shri and Padma Bhushan. Narendra Karmarkar is also world-renowned for his work in applied mathematics.

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IIT Students

There is a general feeling in the public that IIT (Indian Institute
of Technology) students are fundu, unassumingly lost in thought almost all the time. And girls fare no better in this respect. So let us see what a Non IITian may face when he marries a girl from our campus.

SCENE: First night of the marriage.
CHARACTERS: IIT Bride and Non IIT Groom.

The Groom approaches the Bride and proposes to kiss her. So let us see what would be her reaction.

GIRL FROM DEPT OF PHYSICS: 'Well kissing is relative. You can kiss me with respect to me or with respect to you. First define how you are going to kiss. You can kiss me by treating me in the same reference frame as you are or treating me in a different inertial frame by producing waves of motion through your lips. How do you prefer?' - The guy faints.

GIRL FROM DEPT OF MATHEMATICS: 'Kissing is fine. You can kiss me provided you satisfy the following conditions.

Necessary conditions: You should be close to me by a distance delta Where delta is greater than zero and the limit for delta tends to zero and you satisfy the closure property.

Sufficient conditions: You should have lips, where the number of lips is neither more than two nor less than two. You can also kiss by defining your hand to be me if and only if you satisfy the above conditions.' - The guy goes mad.

GIRL FORM ECOLOGICAL SCIENCES: 'Oh Kissing, that is interesting phenomena that occurs in nature. This is an initiating process for sex not only found in homo sapiens but also in all heterosapiens, mammals, camels, vertebrates invertebrates and insects. Out of 1000 ants observed in a closed laboratory in Zuvinich in Yugoslavia 90% of them seem to involve in the process of kissing but the subsequence is very random with probability 0.672139 that a male ant kiss female ant. First observe the behaviour of ants and cockroaches under various conditions. That will be very interesting, wouldn't it?' - The guy has an heart attack.


GIRL FROM SERC (Super computer Education and Research Centre):

'You want to kiss me. That is fine I assume that you know the algorithm for that very well. But you have to complete the process within 56.22 seconds or else connection will be timed out. To optimize the timing lets do parallel processing. As we have to discuss about our future and other things, let us do the process of discussion foreground and why can't you put the process of Kissing background - The guy applies for divorce.