Union Minister Arjun Singh has taken a big step backwards from the untiring pursuit of his proreservation agenda.
After the Union human resource development ( HRD) ministry under him first said all educational institutions — including the socalled institutions of excellence as they are now defined — would have reservation in faculty positions, it has done a turnaround.
The institutions of excellence include the Indian Institutes of Technology ( IITs), the Indian Institutes of Management ( IIMs) and AIIMS. At Wednesday’s meeting of the IIT Council, the apex body governing the IITs that is headed by Singh, it was announced that the government had already moved a Bill in Parliament to exempt them from implementing quotas in teaching posts. Concern over “ dilution of quality” is now being cited as the reason for this.
Taking refuge behind the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes ( Reservation in Posts and Services) Bill, 2008 which was introduced in the last session of Parliament and has been passed by the Rajya Sabha, the ministry abandoned moves to have quotas in faculties at these top institutes.
“ There is a provision in the Bill that institutions of excellence will get exemption from implementation of reservation. Once the Bill is passed, there will be no reservation in IIT faculty,” said higher education secretary, HRD ministry R.P. Agrawal on Wednesday.
He described them as institutes of “national importance”. The official’s statement barely conceals the fact that the ministry, and Singh, were forced to fall in line after enthusiastically playing the quota card. There was no explanation from the ministry on the belated realisation that IITs and IIMs were institutions of “national importance”.
The truth is, Singh’s climbdown, to now exclude the faculties of these institutes from quota, follows pressure from IIT directors and even Prime Minister Manmohan Singh over the past year. During this time, the HRD ministry and the IITs have been in a confrontation on the issue.
While the ministry insisted that the premier technical institutions implement reservations in teaching faculty, this was resisted by the IITs.
The Bill, which is yet to be passed by the Lok Sabha, specifies 47 institutions which would be exempted from implementing quotas in faculty once the Bill is passed. They include the seven IITs, six IIMs, National Institutes of Technology (NITs), Aligarh Muslim University (AMU), Delhi University, Banaras Hindu University (BHU), All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) and the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Research (PGIMER) in Chandigarh.
Arjun Singh wanted to have quotas in the faculties of these top institutes after he had successfully implemented the OBC quota in student admissions in the IITs. But, on the faculty reservation issue the IIT bosses bypassed him to take their case to the Prime Minister.
IIT Guwahati director Prof Gautam Barua said, “When the Prime Minister came to our institute in August last year, I had told him on behalf of all the IITs about our concerns on faculty quota. Just as the department of space and the department of atomic energy are exempt from reservation in faculty positions, the IITs being institutions of national importance should also be exempt. The PM had assured me that he would look into the matter.” The Prime Minister said he would consult CNR Rao, his scientific advisory council chief, on the issue. In his speech at IIT Guwahati, the Prime Minister had said, “ I have taken note of the point that Gautam Barua has made with regard to the reservation issue. I will take that with me and bring it to the notice of my cabinet colleagues.” Meanwhile, protest marches were held and memorandums presented to the Prime Minister, saying the proposal for quotas in faculties should be scrapped. The IIT directors conveyed to the Prime Minister their concerns about dilution in quality.
The HRD ministry had sent out a circular in June last year asking the IITs to implement reservation for SC, ST and OBC categories, adding up to 49.5 per cent while recruiting faculty.
The IITs in accordance with the HRD circular were required to reserve 27 per cent of the positions for OBCs, 15 per cent for SCs and 7.5 per cent for STs from the assistant professor level.
But the IITs stood their ground.
At the standing committee meeting of the IIT Council in July last year they said they would not implement these quotas. The HRD ministry, on its part, stood by its decision.
The bone of contention between the ministry and the IITs was the level at which quota was to be implemented. The IITs maintained that quota in faculty should be implemented at the entry level — lecturers positions — only.
But, the HRD ministry said lecturers held contractual posts.
The assistant professor’s post should therefore be considered as the entry level post and quotas should be implemented at that level, the ministry insisted.
The ministry knew that the bulk of recruitments at the IITs take place at the assistant professor level. On the flip side, this was also why the IITs were averse to implementing the HRD ministry’s circular.
The Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes ( Reservation in Posts and Services) Bill, which is pending before the Parliament says, “ There shall be no reservation where appointments are made to posts higher than the lowest grade of group ‘ A’ posts in institutions of national importance.” An IIT Delhi faculty member said even though the IITs are at present working at 60 per cent faculty strength, there could not be a fall in quality. “ Faculty members are employed on the basis of caste. We only look for competence and the research background.” As an IIT director put it, “ Quality has always been the major concern. We would not and will not compromise on quality as far as selection of faculty goes.” Prof Barua said in a regime of faculty shortage, quota did not make sense. Even the “ few good applicants” that the IITs attract would have to be turned away if there are quotas for faculty positions, he said.
With the HRD ministry coming around to seeing the IITs point of view, the government might have placated these institutions and others like them . An IIT director said: “ We are overjoyed. It seems the PMO’s intervention has helped us in resolving the matter favourably.” IIT- Delhi director Prof Surendra Prasad said, “ We are happy that our concerns have been addressed by the government.”
Courtesy: Mail Today
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