For IIT faculty,bonus linked to performance is in the works

“While it’s very difficult to define and assess performance in academia,a distribution curve is being worked on which will help assess a faculty member’s performance for the year — on a scale from Average to Excellent,” a highly placed source told The Indian Express.

“There will be a scientific way of developing this distribution curve depending on teaching outcomes,research work,publications,etc. Based on performance on all these parameters,a faculty member would be eligible for PRIS.” The PRIS will be based on the Sixth Pay Commission,sources said.

The IIT faculty have been protesting the revised pay orders for more than a month now and said they will go on a hunger strike on September 24. Other Centrally funded institutes like IIMs and NITs to which this pay order also applies are considering following suit.

“IIT Directors have already communicated to faculty federations that PRIS will be shared with them at a meeting on September 25. In light of this,we have asked faculty federations to refrain from holding any hunger strike,” an IIT director said.

He added that directors would also “clarify” teachers’ apprehensions about government interference in faculty selection and disincentives for foreign-degree holders. Both these,he said,were based on “wrong interpretation” of the order.

Today,the All India IIT Faculty Federation (AIIIFF) rejected the second pay order issued by the HRD Ministry last week calling it as an interference in the selection process.

The first HRD notification on August 18 introduced a new cadre of contract-based entry level “Lecturers” at a salary of Rs 30,000 besides effecting pay hikes for IITs/IIMs. These were,however,lower than what was proposed by the Goverdhan Mehta-led committee which was set up the Ministry to suggest pay hikes for these institutes in the light of the Sixth Pay Commission. IIT faculty also argued that there was a disparity in pay scales offered to their counterparts in other institutes of excellence like ISRO.

The ministry’s revised notification last week factored in some of these demands. It did away with the term “Lecturer,” redesignated entry-level faculty as “Assistant Professor” but kept it at the same salary structure of Pay Band (PB) 3 — Rs 15,600 -39,100 — with an Academic Grade Pay (AGP) of Rs 6,000 as proposed for the “Lecturer” post.

The faculty’s key demands now are:

• Abolish entry-level contract-based posts and replace these with a regular cadre with higher salaries to attract quality faculty

• Allow recruitment of PhDs at Assistant Professor-level without three years of experience mandated by the notification

• An increase in AGP for Associate Professors and Professors

• Hike in Professional Development Allowance (PDA) from Rs 3 lakh to Rs 5 lakh for three years; a ‘Scholastic/Special Allowance’ to all faculty as given at ISRO/DRDO.