Which one among the following institutes was established first?

Correct — C, The Indian Petroleum Institute, Dehradun. The institute the paper names is the Indian Institute of Petroleum, one of the national laboratories of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, set up in 1960 to work on refining, petrochemicals and fuels, and located at Mohkampur in Dehradun. That places it ahead of the other three. The Indian Institute of Technology Delhi began in 1961 as the College of Engineering and became an institute of technology in 1963. The Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad was founded in December 1961, with Vikram Sarabhai and Kasturbhai Lalbhai behind it and the Harvard Business School advising. The Indian Institute of Science Education and Research at Pune is the newest by decades, established in 2006 in the first batch of IISERs.

• (a)The Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi — Founded in 1961 as the College of Engineering with British collaboration and declared an Institute of Technology in 1963 — a year later than the petroleum institute at Dehradun.
• (b)The Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Pune — The most recent of the four by a wide margin. IISER Pune was established in 2006, in the first group of these institutes set up to combine undergraduate teaching with research in the basic sciences.
• (d)The Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad — Founded in December 1961, a few months after IIT Delhi and a year after the petroleum institute. Both IIM Calcutta and IIM Ahmedabad date from 1961, which is what makes this option feel early enough to win.

India's research and higher-education institutions come in clear waves. The CSIR laboratories were built through the 1940s and 1950s, the first IITs from 1951, the first IIMs in 1961, the AIIMS from 1956, and the IISERs, IIITs and newer IITs from the middle of the 2000s. Placing an institution in the right wave answers most chronology questions without any individual dates.

Two of these are close enough that the wave rule is not sufficient, and the tie-break is that the CSIR laboratory network was largely in place before the management institutes were founded. Note also that the paper prints 'Indian Petroleum Institute' where the body's formal name is the Indian Institute of Petroleum; the wording is the booklet's own and the institution intended is unambiguous. Anchor the fact to Dehradun, which also holds the Forest Research Institute, the Indian Institute of Remote Sensing, the Wildlife Institute of India and the Survey of India.

• The Indian Institute of Petroleum, Dehradun, was established in 1960 as a CSIR laboratory.
• IIT Delhi began in 1961 as the College of Engineering and became an IIT in 1963.
• IIM Ahmedabad was founded in December 1961; IIM Calcutta was founded earlier the same year.
• IISER Pune was established in 2006, in the first batch of these institutes.
• Dehradun also hosts the Forest Research Institute, the Indian Institute of Remote Sensing, the Wildlife Institute of India and the Survey of India.

• Assuming the older-sounding brand is the older institution.
• Dating IIT Delhi from 1963, when it was founded as a college in 1961.
• Treating the paper's 'Indian Petroleum Institute' as a different body from the Indian Institute of Petroleum.

A chronology item where three of the four candidates sit within two years of each other.

No directly related past PYQ was found.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  The Forest Research Institute, one of India's oldest research institutions, is located at

  • (a)Nagpur
  • (b)Dehradun
  • (c)Coimbatore
  • (d)Shimla

  Answer(b) Dehradun — its main building is a well-known colonial-era structure.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Which was the first Indian Institute of Technology to be established?

  • (a)IIT Bombay
  • (b)IIT Kharagpur
  • (c)IIT Madras
  • (d)IIT Kanpur

  Answer(b) IIT Kharagpur — founded in 1951, the first of the group.