IITians wake up
Hundreds of faculty members of IIT Bombay and Roorkee went on mass casual leave on Monday to protest disparities in pay package approved by the Ministry of Human Resources Development (HRD) under the Sixth Pay Commission. Over 200 professors of IIT-Bombay held a silent march on the Powai campus. Over 400 professors of IIT Delhi followed suit. IIT-Madras and IIT Kharagpur professors had gone on leave, on Friday.
Nationally, the average annual pay for professors in U.S. public universities is $115,509. Compare this to what Indian professors of the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) get annually - a paltry $12,000. Although the cost of living in the U.S. is higher, the gap in the salaries of the professors needs correction. Is this what the nation builders get in return for putting in years of hard work into educating and mentoring the future of the nation?
Ever heard of Naveen Jain, the CEO and Co-founder of Intelius? He graduated from IIT Roorkee in 1979. Vinod Khosla? The Co-founder of Sun Microsystems graduated from IIT Delhi in 1976. Bharat Desai, Chairman and CEO of Syntel graduated from IIT Bombay. Arun Sarin, former CEO of Vodafone graduated from IIT Kharagpur. The list goes on. In 2006, two final year students of IIT Bombay landed a job with New York based software group, Lime for $80,000 per year, with a $10,000 signing bonus. The question is, why is the government paying so less to the very people who play such an important role in educating the brightest minds in the country.
Hundreds of faculty members of IIT Bombay and Roorkee went on mass casual leave on Monday to protest disparities in pay package approved by the Ministry of Human Resources Development (HRD) under the Sixth Pay Commission. Over 200 professors of IIT-Bombay held a silent march on the Powai campus. Over 400 professors of IIT Delhi followed suit. IIT-Madras and IIT Kharagpur professors had gone on leave, on Friday.
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