After classes were called off recently on 25th August by Professors here at IIT-D, the BSP team interviewed the Secretary of Faculty Forum, S.S. Murthy to know the precise reasons behind the strike. So here is the interview with our interviewer Siddharth Bhattacharya:

Siddharth: Good evening sir, I would like to ask you some questions on behalf of the students.
Q: What do you feel about the Sixth Pay Commission’s Rule on IIT Professor’s salaries?
Prof. Murthy: I have said earlier as well and stick to my point that the guidelines were far below our expectations. This had been diluted by the Govardhan Mehta Committee as well, composed of the members of IIT also. The reduction of Rs. 500 in the Academic Grade Pay is not at all warranted.

Q: What were the main clauses of the Govardhan Mehta Committee Report and what was the Government’s response?
A: The Committee Report was created by the Government itself- the HRD ministry. But later, the reaction of the Secretaries and the bureaucrats became strange, the reasons are not known. Mainly, the Govardhan Mehta Committeerecommended pay scales for the employees. It was counterproductive as the government responded in a negative way.

Q: Kapil Sibal, i.e. the HRD Minister has commented ‘IIT teachers get more salary, selection for the next promotion, unlike the University Grants Commission (UGC) where it is automatic, resulting in disparity.’ Would you justify these comments and their viewpoint?
A: The comparison is totally faulty. UGC is not the competitor to IIT, it is basically the industry. Suppose a person has to make a decision if to join IIT faculty or not. The other choice will be the industry and not some other college. IIT scales were always above UGC, there was no comparison even in the 5th pay commission. If the matter is of disparity, it has always been there. We provide excellence here. As professors of IIT, we do things far beyond teaching which includes research and expertise. So UGC is not the correct match. Obviously, as per the market demands someone with expertise in mechanical gets paid more than someone in history, and comparing us with other colleges hardly makes a sense.

Q: Can recession be a cause for this?
A: Recession is a recent thing. It’s a negative way of looking into the problem. IITs shouldn’t depend on recession for getting faculty.

Q: Why do you think protests would be an effective measure? Was it a coordinated step of all the IITs or designed independently for each? Was there any pressure from outside?
A: There was absolutely no pressure from anyone. There always has been coordination among all the IITs. Historically, IIT has behaved in dignity. Same was the case this time. What we did was highly peaceful and didn’t disturb anything in IIT. What does a child do, when a mother beats him? He cries. That’s not protest; but just a way to show dissatisfaction. Same is the case with us. It is wrongly being dubbed as protest, it is just a reaction. I can’t tell of the future, but may be the protests will increase. But we have always acted within ethics and shall always.

Q: In the history of IITs, strikes have never been a part. This is the first time. Considering rapport and public image of IITs, how difficult was it to take such a decision?
A: It was painful, and not at all a happy thing for us. It was a desperate measure and we tried our best to avoid it. But as I said earlier, it is still not a strike but expressing our concerns. It would be untruthful to call this a strike.

Q: The common public notion is that already salaries of Professors at India’s premier institutes like IITs is very high and they get a lot of research grants. Would you like to disillusion them?
A: No, I do agree funds are brought in here. But they must understand the research grants do not go into our pockets, not a single penny. The money from research is used to help students and is utilized for development. It is a sign of our capacity. I am one of the senior most professors and the amount of funds brought into here by me, is more than my entire life’s salary. Our salaries are not high according to our potential and qualifications. Nowadays, a decent home costs about Rs. 1 crore. Out of that, about Rs. 30,000- 40,000 is spent in EMI itself (Equated Monthly Installment).  We deserve a good quality of life as well and we require money for a basic quality of life. How is it that people in other government jobs are being paid more than us?

Q: Would you like to statistically justify some of your points?
A: Oh yeah, the students who leave us get starting packages higher than us. No one is interested to take up teaching. Air India pilots earn more than us. Even Professors in China and Pakistan earn more than us. In USA and Canada, the equivalent for such a job is about Rs. 4-5 lakhs a month. We are treated as inferior even to the Babus of the Government.

Q: Many people have criticized this to be against the national spirits. They believe either the Professors should go to the high-paying institutions initially, or be happy with what they have. Do you agree with them? Do you regret not having worked with the free-markets?
A: We have made many sacrifices throughout our life, which not everyone who speaks has made. We have worked hard to establish brand equity which is so rare globally, even more than BHEL or Indian Oil. How can we be blamed for that? All this has not fallen from the sky, and is a result of hard work, integrity and perseverance by our dedicated faculty. We can all leave if we want, and I know I will get paid at around Rs. 2 lakhs a month, if I go somewhere else. But the situation here is so dismal, IIT-Punjab can’t even manage faculty. I don’t at all regret my decision of working with IIT s. We came with a passion, as we were research oriented, and enjoyed teaching. We wanted to help the country, so we came and it still holds. Our problem is basically the humiliation that has been inflicted on us. I mean how is the reduction of Rs. 500 from our AGP justified? This is just humiliation.

Q: Can you provide a bit more insight into that?
A: Yeah absolutely. Professors are paid less than Government Secretaries. There are two concepts, one is sukha(comfort); the other is aanand (happiness). Even by climbing the Himalayas, a sanyasi can be happy. What he lacks is the comfort. So, why are we IIT Professors treated like Sanyasis by society?
Don’t we deserve comfort? We are happy with our jobs, what we want is comfort to fulfill our basic needs.

Q: Why do you think research should be preferred when the nation is at stake? Don’t you believe salaries in the defence and industries sector shall be increased rather, for they drive the nation’s security and economy?
A: See, maybe everyone’s income has to be increased. Even farmers suffering from drought needs more money and need to be elevated. Rather the appropriate question we should ask is why so much money is spent on elections. The money deposited in Swiss Bank by our people, is far more than the money in the whole of India. One of the main reasons why India is facing global problem is because it has been ignoring research. China has enhanced its R&D (Research and Development) in the past few years, and we who generated UPS at a quite rapid rate 5 years ago are now importing it from them. Ignoring research deters the economy in fact, for this leads to high imports. Like this, the engineering colleges may have to be closed. Research is central to development, integral to the progress of a nation and leads to creation of knowledge. Without it we will be forced to be slaves of someone else’s goods. Even the defence equipments are generated by science only, like by DRDO (Defence Research and Development Organization).

Q: Does this decision hamper competition against American universities? What can be the other repercussions if the pay scales remain such?
A: Yeah of course, as I said- this diminishes India on the global scale. There is a lack of incentives in the market for teaching and people will be more satisfied with R&D. Institutions are not just buildings. For best performance we need the best quality of teachers and students. All this is surely going to dilute the brand value of IIT and the good students may move somewhere else. Like we have the example of students being beaten up in Australia racially, why do they have to go somewhere else? It is just because there is a lack of opportunities in this country. We may just see people who are really enthusiastic about teaching, rather than giving up their interest will be teaching in US. We can’t actually blame them for all the brain drain. They can indeed move to the MNCs (Multi-National Companies), where they will get better opportunities in R&D. It happens that we may get some 100 applicants for a lecturer in some college in India, in IITs it is approximately 3. All this will harm the nation in the long run.

Q: The arrears which the Government agreed to pay 40% in the second installment approximately cost them Rs. 29,733 crore. Shouldn’t this be invested in eradicating factors like poverty rather?
A: Nobody is stopping them from eradicating all such things. It’s just that the amount spent by MPs is far higher for their own purposes. Frankly, there is no dearth of money in the nation. It’s just that the priorities are not set correctly. What is happening is that the rich is being richer, and the poor is becoming poorer. How do so many children in the country afford so lavish parties? There is enough money in the country. I never even gave Rs. 10 to my son for parties, and now after completing B. Tech. from IIT here, my son is studying abroad from US. These statistics can often be misleading. What we want is just a life of honesty and integrity.

Q: So in the end, what suggestions would you like to give?
A: Investment in education is there in our nation by the Planning Commission, but it should be increased for teachers as well. I believe increasing the number of IITs is a good step, but with a correct and appropriate investment. If not increase our salary, why decrease and humiliate us and make us feel inferior to the Babus? I believe the pay for Assistant Professors should be minimum Rs 50,000 and that of our Associate Professors Rs 70,000. India has abundant talent, but we are unable to tap it. The life of a professor includes much struggle and sacrifices including their families, to get the grants. There are a lot of administrative difficulties as well, which people may not understand. So at least, they shouldn’t humiliate us. All this effort and valuable time invested by us should be respected, and dealt with in the same spirit. I am not doing it for myself; I will retire in a few years. I am doing it for the betterment of education, for IITs to lead our nation’s global uprising. A few 100 rupees won’t matter, we are indeed working selflessly. What I would dearly suggest is- there be an expert committee of industrialists, well-settled alumnus like Rajendra Pawar, let them speak, and then they will all understand. What I mean is that the Babus aren’t our stakeholders but the educationalists, our students and the industry. Our major demand is the autonomy status of IIT, which we once enjoyed by an Act of Parliament in 1961. Our autonomy has now been curbed. Everything including the composition of our teachers is decided by them. Lots of constraints have been put on us. We are fighting for that, and people are missing the point actually. We have been restricted by regulations, till now we have done a reasonably good job. We want our own decisions. Another major grievance is the lack of medical facilities. Faculty is not eligible for medical faculties after retirement. It is just like dumping the cow after it has stopped giving milk. We should get equal perks as other people in government.

Q: Thank you sir, for this extremely enlightening interview.
A: It’s my pleasure in helping in working with BSP.