The Institution of Engineers ( India )

The Institution of Engineers (India) or IEI is the largest multidisciplinary professional body that encompasses 15 engineering disciplines and gives engineers a global platform from which to share professional interests. In 1935, IEI was incorporated by the Royal Charter and remains the only professional body in India to be accorded this honor. Today, its quest for professional excellence has given it a place of pride in almost every prestigious and relevant organization across the globe. IEI functions among professional engineers, academicians, and research workers. It provides a vast array of technical, professional, and support services to the Government, Industries, Academia, and the Engineering fraternity, operating from 113 Centers located across the country. The Institution has established R&D centers at various locations in the country and also provides grant-in-aid to its members to conduct research and development on engineering subjects.
Born with the Independence of India the Trivandrum Centre of The Institution of Engineers (India) was formed in 1947 with Shri.K.P.P.Menon as founder Chairman. The then Travancore State was reformed as Travancore-Cochin State which later on merged to form Kerala State in 1956. The history of the Centre has also grown with that of the land, under the able guidance and governance of eminent Chairmen. As recorded by the doyen of our fraternity, late Er.C.S.Padmanabha Ayyar FIE, the story of starting the Centre of the Institution of Engineers (India) at Trivandrum will be interesting to read. At a time when the entire Bharat was involved in the freedom struggle and when the dawn of freedom was at sight, the Annual General Body Meeting of The Institution of Engineers was held at Trivandrum in 1946. The venue was the then Exhibition ground at Nandavanam, now accommodating the Armed Reserve Police Camp. The Government of Maharaja of Travancore extended considerable support to the conduct of the Annual General Meeting. Accommodation and food arrangements to all the participants were graciously granted free of cost by the then Government. The College of Engineering, Trivandrum, was then just seven years old, and it took up the formation of the center as an engineering activity, duly assisted by the Departments of Public Works and Electricity. Thus was born the center in the soil of Kerala almost synchronizing with the Independence of India in 1947.
The office of The Kerala State Centre of the Institution continued to be accommodated in the space within the then campus of the College of Engineering, Trivandrum (the present office of the Post Master General, Kerala). The Government of Kerala in 1958 granted on lease, land in this beautiful locality, now occupied by the Kerala State Centre. Devoted engineers like Er.Raja Raja Varma, Er.Velayudhan Nair and Er.J.C.Alexander were involved in the construction of this building. Today the State Centre has five Local Centers at Kollam, Kochi, Trichur, Palghat, and Kozhikode. .