New Delhi:
It's now a face off between the education minister and the IIT faculty on demands for pay hike. The latest round of battle has been sparked off by the minister's latest comments.
Here's what he said:
''If you think we are unjustified, I am willing to give them autonomy. But the issue is not about autonomy, it's about money,'' said Kapil Sibal, Union Human Resource Development Minister.
The statement has angered the teachers of IIT.
''I think it's very derogatory at the first instant, but we still want to give it a try and try to sort out any differences that we have with the ministry,'' said Saurabh Basu, IIT Guwahai.
''We had great regard for Sibal when he was Science & Technology Minister. But seems like something happens to these ministers when they get a second term. He is trivialising the issue by calling us money-minded,'' said R Gurunath, IIT Kanpur.
The 15,00 teachers of the Indian Institute of Technology, the country's premiere technical school with 15 branches, are demanding a pay hike and more autonomy.
The HRD minister has stuck to his stance: IITs are 100 per cent funded by the government, so no autonomy and the salary demands are beyond the government's means.
Kapil Sibal has welcomed dialogue but his latest statement is not going to make that easy.