IIT faculty to go hungry till Sibal acts

Chennai, Sep 24: Despite union human resources development (HRD) minister Kapil Sibal's rejecting their proposals, the members of the All India IIT Faculty Federation (AIIFF) would proceed with their hungry strike on Thursday, Sep 24.

“Our intention is not to counter him (Sibal). We are concerned that under the revised appointment conditions it will be difficult to attract talented faculty, especially on contract basis,"said AIIFF president professor M Thenmozhi.

"The minister is saying we are being unreasonable but our demands are reasonable. We have decided to go ahead with the proposed fast agitation on Thursday."

As a part of the 'working day agitation,' panel discussion on 'IITs and the IIT System: Vision for 2030" would be held on the IIT Madras campus.

Thenmozhi rejected Sibal's claim that all issues put up by the professors were addressed.

"The ministry has laid down that all post-doctoral fellows shall be appointed as assistant professor on contractual basis. We are asking why such a clause only for the IITs? Are PhD holders appointed on contractual basis in universities and other higher educational institutions?," he asked.

"Contract appointments should be the prerogative of the individual institutes and should remain such. It should not be part of any notification. Fresh PhDs should be considered eligible for the post of assistant professor (regular cadre). The minister has come out with his response on the issue but we still feel we have a point to discuss with him."

HRD ministry announced that only 40 per cent of the professors would eligible for a monthly academic grade pay of Rs 12,000 subject to performance evaluation.

OneIndia News