On this day in 1954, Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of India, had founded Himalayan Mountaineering Institute in Darjeeling, regarded as one of the world’s leading mountaineering centres.
The impetus came from Tenzing Norgay’s ascent of Mount Everest along with Edmund Hillary in 1953. Norgay was from Darjeeling.
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Nehru had wanted mountaineering to attract the youth of a young nation and had planned the institute with the then chief minister of Bengal, Bidhan Chandra Roy.
Norgay was associated with the institute as director of field training from June 1954 to May 1976. He was appointed advisor in May 1976 and remained the guiding spirit of the institute till his death in 1986 at age 72.