KSHITIJ

Kshitij is the annual techno-management fest of the Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, Kharagpur, India. Kshitij started off in 2004 with the aim of promoting technology and entrepreneurship in India, and in 6 years, it has grown to become the Asia’s largest techno-management fest. The previous edition of Kshitij i.e. Kshitij 2010 witnessed a participation of more than 40,000 students coming from various disciplines like engineering, management, law and sciences from all over the country as well as abroad. The events organised in Kshitij belong to various genres like coding, quizzing, debating, robotics and marketing. Apart from the events, Kshitij has taken the initiative to reach out to the students of rural India, giving a new direction and orientation to their learning.Kshitij 2011 will be held from 28–31 January 2011.

HISTORY

KHITIJ LOGO

Kshitij was conceived in the year 2004 with a vision to provide a platform for the budding engineers and entrepreneurs of India, to showcase their talents in their respective fields, and to provide India with novel, ground-breaking technologies. An austere vision from the brightest of minds of the world has given techfirst nology and entrepreneurship a whole new dimension. With a moderate start of 500 outstation participants in its very edition, Kshitij has grown exponentially over the past 6 years. The total number of outstation participants for the 2010 edition exceeded 6000 and the total prize money also increased proportionately. Adding new events every year, Kshitij now presents a variety of events catering to every aspect of engineering and management. Starting initially with about 10 events Kshitij now organises more than 45 events.

EVENTS AT KSHITIJ

Being a techno-management fest, Kshitij has events pertaining to both technical and management fields. Kshitij has a total of more than 45 events belonging to various genres and the prize money for these events summed up to more than 50 lacs in Kshitij 2010.

The events are divided into various categories:

• Genesis: These are primarily online events held prior to the festival. These events start from October end and continue till the beginning of the festival. They include:
  • Cryptex : An event on Cryptology
  • C-Monopoly: Event on setting up of virtual business empire based on Carbon Credits
  • Mind Sport : An Event on Brain Teasers and Puzzles
  • Woodstock : Virtual Share Market
  • Relic Hunter : Online Treasure Hunt
  • Excalibur : Online Biz-Quiz
  • Forex : Virtual Foreign Exchange
  • Math Challenge : A test of Maths Aptitude

• Quizzard: This is the set of three brain-tickling quizzes to test the quizzing mettle of the students in every technical and business aspect. These quizzes are:
  • Biz Quiz : The Business Quiz
  • Tech Quiz : The Technical Quiz

Past quiz masters include Joy Bhattacharya, Arul Mani, Avinash Mudaliar and Giri 'Pickbrain' Balasubramanium.

• Strategia: Strategia comprises the major management events of Kshitij. These events aim at testing the skills of survival and strategic planning in the dynamically changing and highly competitive market. The Events in this category are:
  • El Dorado : City Planning Event
  • Exemplar : Dynamic Case Study of marketing a product
  • The Senate : Mock Parliamentary Debate
  • Marca de Fabrica : The Branding Event
  • Zero Hour : Interactive Case Study followed by panel discussion

• Conceptualize: This section of Kshitij provides a platform for the innovative ideas to blossom and to be showcased in front of the world. This idea can be a new software, a research paper, a hardware designed or even a business plan. The events include:
  • Open Soft : Open ended, open source software designing competition
  • Open Hardware : Open ended hardware model designing
  • Eureka : The Technical Paper Presentation
  • B-Plan : The Business Plan Competition

• Robotix: Robotix provides new problem statements every year in the field of Robotics. These include events from inter-disciplinary branches like Mechanical Robotics, Autonomous Robotics and Programming. Robotix is one of the most successful robotics competitions held in India. The events under Robotix in Kshitij 2010 are:
  • Ballista : Designing an autonomous robot that can detect a target and shoot
  • Pirate Bay: Designing a manual robot which can be applied in the field of excavation and rescue operations.
  • R.A.F.T : Designing an autonomous robot that can be used as a flood transporter
  • Robocop : Designing an robot that can act as a law enforcer.
  • The Fugitives: Designing autonomous bots that can communicate and collaborate to imprison
  • The Negotiators : Simulating Robots to interact and negotiate with each other

• Ab Initio: Ab Initio tests the participants on their creativity and their ability to apply basic knowledge of mechanics in day to day life. These events include making mechanical or architectural models right from scratch. The three events under this category are:
  • Laws of Motion : Remote Controlled self propelled glider making event
  • Nightshift : Nightlong Junkyard Wars of Kshitij
  • Terra Drifters: Multi terrain Hovercraft making event

The first two events are certified by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers.

• Theories 'n Core: Theories ‘n’ Core encourages the participant to revert to the theories and fundamentals to figure out the solutions to some real interesting problems. The events in this category include:
  • Kryotech- ASHRAE - India Student Design Competition : HVAC system designing event certified by ASHRAE
  • Anadigix : Analog and Digital Circuit designing
  • EmbeTronix : Designing a Wireless Tracker using Embedded Electronics
  • Overnite-ACM ICPC Multi-provincial programming contest : Nightlong coding competition certified by ACM

• Techn 4 Fun: These events held during Kshitij show that technology can be fun as well. Tech 4 Fun includes events like
• X Games : The Campus Gaming event
• Snappit : An event on capturing the best moments of Kshtij
• Techquila : Series of fun events

    

        KSHITIJ 2011 - A GREAT SUCCESS

       KHITIJ 2011 has passed and was a great success. The event was sponsored as

• TITLE PARTNER -   RELIANCE 3G
• STRATEGIC PARTNER -   STRATEGIC INNOVATION PARTNER
• PRESENTING PARTNER - THE TELEGRAPH 
• MAJOR SPONSORS  -        BOSCH , CITRIX, MICROMAX MOBILE, BARCLAYS                    CAPITAL  

The stage of Kshitij was graced by Nobel laureates like Sir Anthony James Leggett and Prof. Kurt Wuthrich, by the Father of the Internet Philip Emeagwali, by Christopher Mckay of NASA, by Rakesh Sharma, the first Indian in space, by Ad-Guru Prahlad Kakkar and TV Show Hosts like George Kourounis and Jeremy Bristov.

Over the years the stories of these great people have inspired huge audiences at IIT Kharagpur and left a lifetime impression on the enthusiastic spectators here. So this year at Kshitij 2011, grab the opportunity of meeting the illustrious names, who  presented to light up Kharagpur this January.

Click HERE to go to KSHITIJ 2011 official website.

source: web and wikipedia