Abstract The purpose of the study is to know the awareness level of Media and Information Literacy (MIL) among the students of Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs). Media has a vital role in academics and society as well. Eventually, MIL has its great role to achieve the desired outcomes. It has been assumed that the IITians are adequately computer savvy so they have never been considered suitable for MIL training. A study was conducted on 1054 students of three IITs across the programmes (UG, PG, and Ph.D.) to find out the result of the assumption. Data were collected through questionnaire and later analysed using the statistical techniques. Statistical tests ANOVA and Chi-square were used to determine the significant difference and correlation between the factors to test the hypothesis. The results of the study revealed that students of IITs are considering MIL is a new term for them and broadly they are correlating MIL with knowledge of ICT. The study explains that MIL is entirely different from ICT skills. MIL training, first for the IITians, is considered valuable because they will be exceptional future teachers of the society for imparting media education directly or indirectly. The work is original and first of its kind where IITians were inquired for the need of MIL training in around academic context. The study impacts the society most especially in developing countries where media is becoming common in use but understanding of media messages is multifaceted to evaluate critically at various level. Keywords: Media Information Literacy, Critical Thinking, MIL Training Need and Role of Media and Information Literacy in IITs’ Perspectives Nirmal Chandra Uniyal*, Baljinder Kaur** Introducton Emergence of the Internet and convergence of print and digital media has changed the scenario of content creation and its consumption. Media formats are changing rapidly. So, demand of Media and Information Literacy (MIL) * Chief Librarian, Uttaranchal University, Dehradun, Uttarakhand, India. Email: chiefibrarian@uttaranchaluniversity.ac.in ** Assistant Professor, Department of Library and Information Science, Punjab University, Patiala, Punjab, India. is being felt crucial to access, analyse, and evaluate the media messages for appropriate use of media to survive and thrive in the digital world with absolute digital democracy. Judicious competence to evaluate the media messages into meaningful information is the prime aim of MIL. MIL is a convergence of Information Literacy (IL) and Media Literacy (ML); the research and teaching of IL and ML have their roots in different academic disciplines. ML originated within media and civic studies, whereas IL emerged from library and information science (UNESCO, 2013 p. 29). Conceptually, MIL is a fusion of many types of literacies and their competency values viz. access, evaluation, and use are similar and evaluated more or less with same indicators (Lau, 2013). However, ML is conceptualized as the knowledge and skills of individuals to analyse, evaluate, or produce media content and messages. The purpose of being an informed and media literate is to engage in an information and digital society, respectively, that one needs to be able to use, understand, inquire, create, communicate, and think critically. The phrase “Media and Information Literacy” refers to the teaching and learning processes and application of critical thinking to receiving and producing mass communication. This implies knowledge of personal and social values, responsibilities relating to the ethical use of information, as well as participation in cultural dialogue and the maintenance of autonomy in a context where infuences eroding that autonomy may be particularly subtle. MIL may be summed up as being centred on fve core competencies referred to as the “5Cs”, i.e., Comprehension, Critical thinking, Creativity, Cross-cultural awareness, and Citizenship (Moore, 2008). “Media and Information Literacy is a set of competencies that empowers citizens to access, retrieve, understand, evaluate and use, create as well as share information and International Journal of Information Studies & Libraries 3 (1) 2018, 1-12 http://publishingindia.com/ijisl/