Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) are autonomous public institutions of national importance for higher education in engineering, science and technology. Starting with IIT Kharagpur in 1951, there
are 23 such Institutes of excellence all over India today, and IIT Palakkad belongs to this prestigious group. Celebrated as a major granary of Kerala, Palakkad is the gateway to the State from the North in the form of the nearly 40-kilometre break in the Western Ghats, called the Palakkad Gap. The place is known for its rich traditions, great historical events and personalities connected with it, and its sylvan surroundings, especially the Silent Valley rain forests and the famed palmyra trees
