Top 10 Colleges
Of India
As admission time approaches, students face the dilemma of making a choice from among the 10,000-odd colleges. INDIA TODAY-Gallup's fifth survey ranks the centres of excellence on key factors. The best in Arts, Science, Commerce, Law, Medicine and Engineering.

Foreign Policy Privatised
Leaked letters in London imply that Brajesh Mishra, principal secretary to the prime minister, trusted the Hindujas more than the Indian High Commission. The brothers even negotiated with Prime Minister Tony Blair on CTBT.

The Heat Is On
The Raja of Bihar is in trouble again. The CBI has filed yet another chargesheet against him in the multi-crore fodder scam, this time in Jharkhand. A non-bailable arrest warrant issued against him has Laloo in a panic.

Fuzzy Logic
Key nations, including India, are briefed by aides of Bush on the new nuclear doctrine he proposes, but find that there are more questions than answers.

Consumed By Hunger
Maharashtra has a surfeit of foodgrain. Yet, over 500 infants have died in Nandurbar district since January this year of malnutrition and related complications.

EXCLUSIVE INDAI TODAY-GALLUP SURVEY

Engineering

Despite stiff competition
from other engineering
colleges, IIT Kharagpur
manages to stand out

In its golden jubilee year, the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur-or IIT KGP as it is referred to-has got, well, the gold for the best engineering college in the country. In the toughest competition in the India Today survey (four colleges tied at for the third place), IIT KGP squeaked past the other IITs for the top slot. It was about time. Started in 1950 it is India's oldest school for higher technical education, where the "very idea of IITs was born".

When Jawaharlal Nehru first visited IIT Kharagpur in 1956, he saw in the institute "India's future in the making". He wasn't far wrong. If today's Silicon Valley swamp by Indians is anything to go by, being a technocrat is the way to go.

A variety of departments (26 in all), the best facilities for research and a constantly updated curriculum keep the institute on the cutting edge. Lately, the advanced manufacturing, computer science, material sciences and photonics and microelectronics departments have shot to the top of the pile. "As a centre of excellence, we must provide our students the freedom to grow," says Director Amitabha Ghosh. From July, undergraduate students will get the "freedom" to mix-and-match subjects in a modern programme: electronics with management, or life sciences with computers.

For an institution that spends approximately Rs 1.77 lakh per annum on each of its 1,200 students (including post-graduates), IIT KGP doesn't skimp on anything, from computers in every dorm room to new halls and hostels dotting the 692-hectare campus. A deciding factor: IIT Kharagpur still has the highest relative employment productivity rate. Now let's see if it can keep the pace and retain the top slot next year.

—Labonita Ghosh

MetroScape

Summer Of 2001
Flippant and elusive, he can best be described by what he is not. Meet
Bryn Adams in an uncharacteristically forthcoming mood.
more...

Looking Glass

Delhi Concert:
"United for Gujarat"

Mumbai Ceramics:
Zareen Mistry

Mumbai Club Music:
Melting Pot