Most of the 1,500-odd faculty members of the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), who observed a day-long fast to express their dissatisfaction with the modified notification of the Union Ministry of Human Resource and Development (MHRD), reiterated that their protests were not just over pay increases but the ministry's attempt "to micro-manage the IITs".
The IIT-Bombay faculty forum said all faculty members performed their normal teaching and other academic duties while on fast. Besides, a day-long panel discussion on “IITs and the IIT System: Vision for 2030” was also held.
"Under the new pay scales, a bright fresh PhD cannot enter the IIT system as a teacher in a permanent position. Also, 60 per cent of professors necessarily have to languish in a lower salary than their remaining 40 per cent peers, not because they are not bright enough to meet the criteria, but because the government has done away with the "Flexible Cadre Structure", which has been at the core of excellence of the IIT system.
"In the fixation of existing faculty to appropriate scales, a ratio of 9:1, 4:1 and 5:1 (for assistant professor, associate professor and professor respectively) is being used up to a limit by MHRD for IIT scales, while it is 2:1 in the case of Sixth Pay Commission fixation for the central government employees. The pay fixation rules have been changed for IITs and as a consequence the benefit of the initial higher basic pay has not percolated down. The same rules/principles as used in the case of 6th CPC fixation for the central government employees should be applied to IITs," a media release from IIT-Bombay said.
"Our strike is no more only about pay scale. It is now about the overall autonomy of IITs. Earlier, choosing a certain number of faculty members was left to the IIT systems but that's not the case anymore. At IITs, we are fighting against these extraneous restrictions, which will affect our productivity," said U A Yagnik, dean, academic programme and student affairs, IIT-Gandhinagar.
Unlike the larger and older IITs, where the mandated faculty strength is 500 to 600, the newer ones have been sanctioned a strength of 60 members.
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At-IIT Roorkee, for instance, most of the 400 faculty members observed the hunger strike that the All India IIT Faculty Federation (AIIITFF) called. The faculty members are of the view that salary is a narrow way of looking at the agitation. The institute’s student strength will increase from 4,000 to 8,000 in three years and it will have to make a lot of effort to get adequate faculty, they asserted.
“The issues that we are raising are very important because they will affect the quality of the institutes in the long run. The 40 per cent cap on promotion of professors to senior grade is a major one. We are also concerned that with the number of students set to increase by 54 per cent in the next three years owing to the other backward classes (OBCs) and general intake, we will find it difficult to hire the required faculty members,” said D K Paul, Dean of faculty affairs, IIT-Roorkee.
On the IIT Kharagpur campus, of 540 faculty members, around 120 went on fast. “Despite observing the hunger strike, our professors conducted classes as usual. There were certain issues with the government for which faculty members have chosen to protest in a silent way,” said an official at the institute.
He added that after the ministry’s modified order allowing for a pay increase to assistant professors after they complete three years of service, there was a feeling in the campus that dialogue with the government would prove beneficial. “Our (faculty) federation is in dialogue with the ministry and other than a few differences, we are well taken care of,” the official added.
“No doubt, hiring faculty for the newer IITs and IIMs will be difficult because we ourselves face challenges in hiring quality faculty members. But we have taken the responsibility of mentoring IIM Trichy, so we will do our best” noted Pankaj Chandra, director of IIM-Bangalore.
But there are some faculty members who believe that protest is unbecoming for a big brand like IIT. An IIT faculty member, on condition of anonymity, said: “The MHRD is not insensitive. The current faculty protest is not good for IITs’ image. They should have face-to-face discussions and solve the issue.”
The AIIITFF, according to another senior faculty member who did not wish to be named, is now planning to call for a working meeting with all the stakeholders of the IITs — the MHRD, IIT directors and board of governors — to look into the issue of making teaching an attractive profession.