In the beginning of the 20th century in 1902, there were important engineering colleges at

(A) Roorkee

(B) Madras

(C) Kanpur

(D) Sibpur (Bengal)

(E) Poona

Choose the correct answer from the options given below:

The correct answer is A, B, D & E only.

To understand why this option is correct, let us look at the historical establishment of engineering colleges in India prior to 1902:
1. Roorkee (Thomason College of Civil Engineering): Established in 1847, it is the oldest engineering institution in India (now IIT Roorkee). Thus, it was active in 1902.
2. Madras (College of Engineering, Guindy): Established in 1794 as a survey school and grew into a college in 1859. It was a major engineering college by 1902.
3. Sibpur, Bengal (Bengal Engineering College): Established in 1856 (now IIEST Shibpur). It was actively functioning in 1902.
4. Poona (College of Engineering, Pune): Established in 1854 as the Poona Engineering Class and College. It was also fully functional in 1902.
5. Kanpur: The Harcourt Butler Technological Institute was established much later in 1920, and IIT Kanpur was established in 1959. Therefore, there was no engineering college at Kanpur in 1902.

Consequently, the engineering colleges present in 1902 were at Roorkee (A), Madras (B), Sibpur (D), and Poona (E), making A, B, D & E only the correct choice.