The country may soon witness bigger and more vehement protests because for the first time ever, IITs and IIMs are uniting to taken on the government.
It's a battle for better pay and greater autonomy for these world-class engineering and business institutes. The IIT and IIM professors are now working towards a joint charter of demands to give to HRD Minister Kapil Sibal.
"We are together for the first time since it's an issue that concerns both of us. It's not just the money, but the ministry's intentions to micro-manage everything in the institutes is something we are opposed to," said Bharath Sheth, from IIT Bombay.
The government snubbed the recommendations of the teachers for their pay hike:
- IIT professors wanted a 100 per cent hike, but the government was not ready for it
- IIM professors wanted over a 50 per cent hike, but the government says only 22 per cent
- Another bone of contention, especially for the IITs, is that the HRD Ministry has control over recruitment and promotions of teachers
The government interference extends to the ministry's decision to limit professors attending conferences.
"As a principal, I will hate seeing my teachers going to classrooms without proper research thus not having insight into the subjects they are going to teach. Less research means poor standard of teaching," said Professor Anil Gupta, a senior faculty at IIM-A.
To finalise its standpoint on the issue, IIM-A has called its Board of Governor's meeting on September 25 at Udaipur. Interestingly, representatives of the HRD Ministry and Gujarat government, the two stakeholders, will also remain in the meeting.
The first meeting between the IIMs and IITs is on Monday. The next few weeks could make or break the driving force of India's world class institutes.
