Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur - Student life and culture

IIT Kharagpur provides on-campus residential facilities to its students, research scholars, faculty members and many of its staff.^[36] The students live in hostels (referred to as halls) throughout their stay in the IIT.^[37] Hostel rooms are wired for Internet connectivity, for which students have to pay a compulsory charge. Most of the rooms in the halls of residences are designed to accommodate one student per room. Now (2005-2009), due to scarcity of sufficient student accommodation, two students are required to share a single seater room for the first two years.

Undergraduate students must choose between National Cadet Corps (NCC), National Service Scheme (NSS) and National Sports Organisation (NSO) for their first two years of study.^[38] IIT Kharagpur has common sports grounds for cricket, football, hockey, volleyball, lawn tennis, badminton, and athletics; and swimming pools for aquatic events. Most of the hostels have their own sports grounds.^[39]

The students of IIT Kharagpur compete among themselves in various events held under the purview of open-IIT and inter-hall events, and the results of the latter contribute to the overall tally of points that determine the winner of General Championship. The four broad categories in which General Championships are decided are Sports, Social & cultural activities, Technology, and Hall affairs. The women's hostel together participate as a single team in all events with the exception of sports, where women's team do not participate at inter-hall level. IIT Kharagpur participates in the Inter-IIT Sports Meet, held annually in one of the IITs by policy of rotation.^[40]

The students of IIT Kharagpur choose their representatives by elections held under the purview of the Technology Students' Gymkhana. The highest-ranking student representative chosen by the elections is the Vice-President of the Gymkhana, and represents the students in the senate. All halls nominate two representatives for the senate. The Gymkhana publishes an annual magazine called Alankar. A fortnightly newsletter called The Scholar's Avenue, named after the avenue common to the student halls, is also published by an independent student body.^[41] Individual halls organise "Hall day" — an annual event that involves lighting and decoration of the organising hall, with a social gathering of students from all halls — during the month of March. The event is also used by the halls to popularise their candidates for student body elections.

Students who violate the code of conduct of the institute have to defend themselves in front of the Hall Disciplinary Committee (HDC), which investigates the case and prescribes punishment if necessary. Students may appeal against the punishment to the Appellate-cum-Liaison Committee known as Inter Hall Disciplinary Committee (IHDC). The IHDC submits its recommendations to the Senate, which finalises the punishment. Extreme cases of indiscipline are referred directly to the IHDC. The IHDC is empowered to give punishments to students for acts of indiscretion committed anywhere in India.^[42] IIT Kharagpur has strict provisions dealing with physical and mental harassment of junior students (ragging). Students found harassing their juniors are suspended from the institute, without going through the Disciplinary Committee.^[43]

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