The sixth no-pay commission

The cabinet's decision on 6th pay comission for IITs seems to activelydiscourage bright prospective faculty from ever attempting to apply toIITs.

The reasoning is clear. A person who wants to pursue a career in academicsshould have a PhD at the least to ever apply for an Assistant Professorposition in IITs. After which he gets a salary of 30,000+ and is placed inPB-3 as per the said decision. However, the same person can try for aprofessorial position in a UGC college.

The pathetic scenario is that an IIT Assistant Professor, earning PB-3salary, who had to devote 4 to 5 years of his life in getting a PhD, cancoach a college sponsored M. Tech student with 4 to 5 yearsteaching/industrial experience. After getting an M. Tech degree (and nothaving wasted the 4 to 5 years trying to get a Ph D degree), the studentcan become an Associate Professor in a UGC college and earn a PB-4 salary.

No faculty in IIT is mad after money. But, all IIT faculty are humans andin the present society they do need enough money and enough dignity. Wedeserve a salary that befits a faculty in a premier institute. We deservea salary that reflects and compensates for the compulsary Ph.Dqualification. Thus, the salary should definitely be one position above aUGC scale, if not higher.

The announcement from the MHRD has been very disappointing. It seems to bean inconsiderate step and I fear it may lead to many young faculty losingtheir interest in working for the IITs. They cannot be blamed for losinginterest as the paymaster is not ready to acknowledge that an IIT facultyis more qualified that an equivalent faculty in any other engineeringcollege.

* We have to be more academically qualified even at the entry level.
*Mere teaching is seldom considered as finishing the job requirement inIIT.
* We do a considerable amount of research and bring in industrial projectsamounting to crores of rupees.

If the view is that the students make up the reputation of an institutionand the faculty is just incidental, then better scrap the facade of havingpremier institutes. Scrap the compulsary PhD requirements. A brightstudent should be able to succeed in any arbitrary institute. What is thecompulsion of having a premier institute? What is the requirment ofmaintaining higher standards for a lesser recognition? Why should thefaculty of IIT be active in research? If an IIT faculty is competentenough to acquire funding through projects, he can as well acquire thesame while being in a UGC college (where he has a better chance of gettinga post. More colleges and less stringent requirement).

If the faculty of IITs are not part of the cause for reputation of IITs,why should they be required to be more qualified and competent?