Less than a third of the total vacant faculty positions for reserved categories were filled by Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and central universities between 5 September 2021 to 4 September 2022, Education Ministry data revealed earlier this month.
This is despite all the IITs and central universities being directed by the Education Ministry under the Mission Mode Recruitment Drive to fill up vacant faculty positions under the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Other Backward Classes (OBC), and Economically Weaker Section (EWS) categories by 5 September 2022.
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But here's what the latest data revealed:
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The data was released by the government in response to a question in Lok Sabha by S Venkatesan of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) about recruitments made under the Mission Mode and vacant positions in IITs and central universities.
Nine of these 13 IITs cited the 'flexible cadre structure' for faculty positions, under which the sanctioned strength of faculty is not fixed and institutes are free to recruit any grade of faculty.
IITs follow the flexible cadre system for the appointment of faculty. Due to the lack of a fixed, sanctioned strength, following reservation norms often becomes a concern.
'All Vacant Seats in IITs Not Identified'
This is not the first time that IITs have failed to fill the vacant faculty seats for SC, ST, and OBC candidates. As per the data released by the Ministry of Education in February 2022, only 11.96 percent of the total faculty in IITs were from SC, ST, OBC, and EWS categories.
According to the Government of India, 10 percent of seats are reserved for EWS candidates, 27 percent for OBCs, 15 percent for SC candidates, and 7.5 percent for ST candidates. This sums up to a total of 59.5 percent of the total seats.
However, the data presented in Lok Sabha in February showed that out of the 6,511 faculty members already teaching in IITs, only 779 were from reserved categories.
The same data revealed that a total of 4,370 faculty positions were vacant in 23 IITs across all categories.
Citing the same data, an IIT Bombay-based group, Ambedkar Periyar Phule Study Circle (APPSC), claimed that the latest data of vacant faculty positions under reserved categories highlighted by the Ministry of Education is underplaying the actual number of vacant positions.
"If you look at the data released in February, the number of faculty from the reserved categories in IITs is already very less. Therefore, most of the vacant seats should be occupied by the candidates of the reserved categories," a member of the APPSC told The Quint.
"For example, as per the data released in February 2022, IIT Bombay had 532 vacant seats across all categories. Whereas, the number of faculty from reserved categories already in position was 26 out of 693. Therefore, by logic, most of the vacant seats should be filled up by candidates from the reserved categories. But IIT Bombay only identified a backlog of 77 vacant positions for SC, ST, and OBC candidates under the mission mode recruitment drive," they added.
Zero Hiring at JNU, BHU & Other Top Universities
The Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) identified a total of 85 vacant faculty positions for SC, ST, and OBC candidates in September 2021. The university failed to hire any candidates for these posts during the one-year period of the Mission Mode Recruitment Drive.
Similarly, Banaras Hindu University (BHU) identified 114 vacancies, none of which were filled.
According to the data, many top universities, like the University of Delhi and the University of Allahabad, did not identify any vacant positions in 2021.
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