The Indian National Society of Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering was established in the year 1948 soon after the second International Conference on Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering held at Rotterdam. The Society was affiliated to the International Society in the same year and since then it has strived to fulfill and promote the objectives of the International Society. In December 1970, the name Indian Geotechnical Society was adopted. In January 1994 it hosted XIIIth International Conference on Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering. The Society is on the threshold of celebrating its Diamond Jubilee in the year 2008. The Secretariat of the Society started functioning from its own house from the year 1996, after operating for a number of years from the premises of CBIP, Institution of Engineers (I) Delhi Centre, IIT Delhi and CSMRS. Contact Information Indian Geotechnical Society 206, Manisha Building 75-76, Nehru Place New Delhi - 110 019 INDIA .Phones: +91-011-2621146 & 26210361 E-mail: igsmain@vsnl.net website: http://www.igs.org.in

Journals & News Letter

In the early years of inception Annual Reports were published containing information on the technical activities of the members. The first Bulletin was published in 1956, which contained technical papers contributed by the members. The Bulletin was changed into a quarterly journal in 1962. The Journal has a wide circulation and is retrieved internationally.

Awards

Awards numbering over twenty have been instituted by the IGS for outstanding technical papers published through the Society. Besides, Prof. G. A. Leonards of Purdue University has instituted an award for the best Ph. D. thesis in Geotechnical Engineering.

The prestigious IGS - Kueckelmann award is presented once in two years to an eminent geotechnical engineer who has made significant contribution to the profession in India. So far 16 eminent Geotechnical Engineers have thus been honoured.

To encourage Chapter oriented activities, a prestigious Award designated IGS-Ferroco Terzaghi Oration is being instituted for outstanding contribution to Geotechnial Engineering. The Award carries an amount of Rs. One Lakh plus expenses.

IGS Biennial Awards

Annual Lectures

In 1978, an Annual IGS Lecture series was instituted through which an eminent geotechnical engineer of the country is honoured by requesting him to deliver a lecture on his work. So far twenty nine Annual Lectures have been delivered.

Conferences

Annual General Sessions of IGS are held in different parts of the country. In the early years, Technical Sessions were organized along with the General Body Meetings. Later, these were developed into Symposia. From 1978, regular Annual Conferences have been organized and now they are known as Indian Geotechnical Conferences (IGC). Over the years, it has been the endeavor to bring IGCs to the level of International standard. The proceedings of these Conferences are regularly being published.

Under the auspices of the ISSMGE, the First Asian Regional Conferences was held in New Delhi in 1960 and the Fifth Asian Regional Conference was held in the year 1975 at Bangalore. The 13th ARC is scheduled to be held at Kolkata. Thus IGS will have the distinction of hosting 3 ARCs by any Asian Country.

The IGS had also the unique distinction of hosting the 13th International Conference on Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering in India at New Delhi, in the year 1994, which was acclaimed as “Magic Carpet Conference”.

IGS will be hosting the 6th IYGEC (International Young Geotech. Engineers Conference) in the year 2008.