IITs, IIMs to jointly meet government in early Oct to resolve issue
Over 3,000 faculty members of the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) will go on a one-day hunger strike on September 24 to protest against the modified notification of the Union ministry of Human Resources Development (MHRD) which, among other things, ignores their demand for a pay rise.
The IIT faculty will, however, continue to take classes and mentor the new IITs.
A couple of days ago, the technology institutes had decided to adopt Gandhian methods of protests. So, instead of staging protests, taking casual leave or going on strike again, they decided to send the MHRD a daily mail highlighting their work.
Representatives of the IITs and Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) have also simultaneously decided to hold a joint meeting with the MHRD in the first week of October to resolve the tussle over pay, promotion and appointment "once and for all".
In addition to higher pay and allowances, the All India IIT Faculty Federation (AIIITFF) has also been demanding a flexible cadre system that allows the institutes to promote and admit professors on the basis of merit. The Federation reasons there should not be any restriction on the number of teachers in the categories of assistant professors, associate professors and professors, as envisaged in the recently-announced new pay scheme.
M Thenmozhi, President of AIIITFF, told reporters here today: "We want promotions and admissions for faculty to IITs to be strictly merit-based instead of depending on a set of rules. The MHRD's revised order (of September 16) does not address our key concerns on issues of autonomy. We want a flexible cadre system."
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Till the revised MHRD order was published, the IITs, IIMs, Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Indian Institutes of Science, Education & Research (IISERs) and National Institute of Industrial Engineering (NITIE) followed what is known as a flexible cadre system that allowed them to promote faculty based on their performance, irrespective of their age and experience. This allowed for several brilliant lecturers and PhDs to become professors by their early thirties.
Moreover, the hiring policy at these institutes allowed for lateral entry, so Indian professors at international institutes (like Harvard or MIT) could join.
The new recruitment rules for professors — articulated in a revised pay notification for faculty at these institutions on September 16 — has put an end to this flexibility. The faculty at these institutes now need 10 years’ experience before they become eligible for professorships — irrespective of performance.
Four of these 10 years must be spent as associate professors at the IITs, IIMs, IISERs, NITIE or IISc, for these institutes to hire the faculty member as a professor.
"We will issue a memorandum to the ministry once again highlighting our views and requests," added Thenmozhi.
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Sep 19: IITs turn to ‘Gandhigiri’ to persuade govt to increase pay