Ahmedabad:
IIM-Ahmedabad has broken away from the protests and accepted the salary hike for teachers the government has proposed.
"We have decided to go by the suggestions from the Ministry as far as salaries of faculty members are concerned. This matter also has been discussed in the Board of Governors and Board has agreed to the proposal," said Dr Samir Barua, Director, IIM-Ahmedabad.
IIM Ahmedabad had also been asking for autonomy for years.
It had not been accepting government funds for seven years to push that demand - a demand now on the backburner.
Insiders say IIM-Ahmedabad is not pushing the issue of autonomy as feverishly as before because the people on the Board who led the autonomy battle in this campus have either resigned or retired. The new Board would rather take the money and let go off the autonomy.
Naturally not everyone is happy here.
"Prime Minister should now give a patient hearing to our plea. Government expects us to deliver the best and so we expect rewards from the government. If nothing works, we should call the Parliamentarians to our campus and raise the issue of salary hikes to get justice," said Dr Anil Gupta, Senior Faculty, IIM-Ahmedabad.
With the country's top IIM backing out, it gives the HRD Ministry an opportunity to break up the IIM protests across the country for good.
Also the IIT protests also stand to lose a powerful ally.