Nandan Nilekani, Kota Harinarayana, Narayan Murthy, Damodar Acharya, B.K. Syngal, Rabi Bastia, Y.C. Deveshwar, Gopal Chandra Mitra, Manohar Parrikar, Capt. N.S. Mohan Ram.

A common thread runs through all the ten names listed above. All are graduates from the IITs before 2000 and celebrated names in the field of engineering and technology in India having risen to dizzy heights in their respective fields.

Thousands of students have passed through the portals of the IITs, India’s hallowed temples of higher learning, and made a name for themselves in different parts of the world. But the list of names mentioned above are those who chose to ignore lucrative assignments overseas to serve their motherland.

‘100 Great IITians’--a 404 page compendium of such illustrious engineers and technocrats-- has listed all such great luminaries who have provided leadership in different fields to ensure India’s growth and development over the years. The book has been edited by Commander V.K.Jaitly.

The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) was conceptualized before the country’s independence and the blue print was prepared on the basis of the recommendations of the Nalini Ranjan Sarkar Committee. West Bengal’s visionary chief minister Dr. B.C. Roy provided land at Kharagpur where India’s first IIT was set up and subsequently inaugurated by the then Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru on August 18, 1951.

The Indian parliament passed the IIT (Kharagpur) Act on September 15, 1956 declaring it as an institute of national importance. The IIT journey has traversed through the history of independent India scripting a rare success story.

There are 23 IITs in India today making the institutions a global brand and acknowledged across the world.

The book ‘100 Great IITians’ has focused on those graduates who refused to be allured by the glamour of the developed world. The book speaks about the success stories of great IITians who have contributed immensely in the field of technology, research and development, governance, academic, defence, social and spiritual sectors, art and culture and the corporate world.

The book will be released at the inauguration of the Odisha chapter of Youth for Nation (Y4N) scheduled to be held at the SOA auditorium on April 29 to be attended by Odisha governor Mr. Raghubar Das.