Mumbai: Starting today, the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) will meet at a common meeting ground to pit themselves against each other in a healthy competitive spirit.

Named 'Nihilanth', the two-day quiz festival, between the 13 premier higher education institutions of the country, will be organized at the Powai campus of the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay (IIT-B) on August 30-31, 2008.

Rahul Gaur, Coordinator of Nihilanth'08 said, "After a gap of one year, the fourth edition of Nihilanth will be happening in IIT Bombay. Last year we missed out on the event as there was a debate over the venue. 2008 also happens to be our Golden Jubilee Year. We are, therefore, uniquely positioned to conduct the event on a scale never seen before."

"In the past editions of the festival, the IIMs have taken away all the prizes. But this year, on the eve of our golden jubilee celebrations, IIT-B would like to make a mark", added Gaur.

Nihilanth '08 will see 6 quizzes, namely:

- The General Quiz
- The General Lone Wolf Quiz
- The Sports Quiz
- The Entertainment Quiz
- The Business/SciTech Quiz
- The Literature Quiz

About 20 best participants from the 13 institutes will participate in each category. School students and senior citizens can participate in the Sport Quiz.

The institute will give away Rs.2.5 crore in prizes to the winners of the 6 quizzes.

The first Nihilanth was held at IIM Indore in 2003, followed by quizzes at IIT Delhi (Nihilanth 2005) and IIM Calcutta (Nihilanth 2006).

The unique aspect of Nihilanth is its rolling nature - the festival goes from one institute to another every year. No institute can claim ownership to the festival.

The list of quizmasters who have conducted quizzes at Nihilanth includes Siddharth Basu, Arul Mani, Gautam Ghosh and Satyajit Chetri, all of the country's most respected quizmasters.