Kolkata:
Teachers at India's premier engineering colleges, the IITs, will go on a one-day hunger strike on September 24. They will continue to teach through that day, but on fast.
This extreme measure has been taken to press for their demands for a pay hike and greater flexibility in promotions. The professors will send a memorandum to the ministry of Human Resources Development on Tuesday setting a deadline of October 1.
For four hours they debated their demands and a possible plan of action. At the end of it, representatives of India's seven IITs, who met in Kolkata on Monday, announced the most drastic action so far in their pursuit of demands for better pay and promotion processes.
The teachers of the seven IITs have basically three demands:
- Flexible cadre structure and no quantitative restrictions on any post.
- Better pay packet for entry positions so that the best talent can be attracted.
- An institute-wide performance related incentive scheme.
These demands will be placed in a memorandum to be sent to Kapil Sibal on Tuesday, calling for a meeting between the minister, the IIT directors and faculty.
The IIT teachers have set a deadline for the minister's response, the deadline of October 1. If their demands are not met by then, the confrontation between them and the government can only get worse. Waiting on the wings, the IIMs who may just follow suit.