Directors of IITs, IISc, IISERs, NITs
HRD Ministry
Editor, Current Science
Dear Prof.Chakraborty, Director of IIT BBSR
I read the following report in The Telegraph (Kolkata) relating to faculty recruitment at IIT Bhubaneswar.
http://www.telegraphindia.com/
Career first class should not be a criteria in IITs, IISERs and any other higher educational institutes in India. There are many students not having career first class in India are doing extremely well later on in research and teaching in institutes out side India and sometime with in India. I found few students without having career first class in India are publishing in Science and Nature from institutes in Europe and America and many are no less than any of the faculty in any national institute in India.
IIT BBSR has adopted a criteria similar to IIT Kharagpur, which requires a career first class, unfortunately this is totally absurd. A student coming from a village and other social circumstance may not perform so well in the beginning of the career but when s/he gets right kind of infrastructure, facilities and guidance s/he may do better and excel.
In abroad many institutes evaluates PhD, research experience, Publication, recommendation, teaching experience and time to time MSc degree during recruitment. In this respect selection of Dr Pani is relevant by IIT BBSR.
At certain point of the career when the candidate is a regular PhD holder with 3 years of postdoc experience, first class in matriculation, +2 and BSc grade are irreverent and rarely make any difference over research and teaching potential of the candidate.
The criteria as adopted in many American Institute like ours largely focus in research, publication, recommendation, future research proposal and teaching philosophy.
If some one has proved his/her ability in the higher level later on in his career, then there is no point in stopping him/her due to some of his/her grade in schools or college life. This is ridiculous when the candidate has proved his/her potential in the higher level.
The present selection criteria by some of the national institutes including IIT Kharagpur, IIT Bhubaneswar etc to have a career first class indeed exclude some of the excellent candidate who could excel in research and teaching in the international and national level. However, excluding requirement of career first class may bring few more applications which may not be qualified for the recruitment of such premier institute at the national level, but this could be easily sort out based on research and teaching performance during processing the application, in this case at least a deserving candidate is not left out due to career grades in school and college.
All the directors of IITs, IISERs, NITs, IISc and other premier national institutes in India are highly qualified and internationally well recognized researcher, I hope all of them along with HRD ministry will look into this matter while recruiting in the assistant professor level and above so that a deserving researcher and teacher is rewarded and does not suffer due to irreverent career evaluation.
Thank you and best regards
Digambara Patra
..............................
The Telegraph (Kolkata), Feb 20, 2011
| Teacher scan on Orissa IIT |
| BASANT KUMAR MOHANTY |
| New Delhi, Feb. 19: The Indian Institute of Technology, Bhubaneswar, is in the glare because of violation of norms in the appointment of faculty. At the centre of the controversy is institute director M. Chakraborty. Documents with The Telegraph show that Chakraborty flouted eligibility norms in the appointment of two assistant professors. He also violated government guidelines to appoint a faculty member past the age of 65 as the dean (faculty). The Central Vigilance Commission has registered a case against these alleged irregularities and forwarded complaints to the human resource development ministry. Set up in 2008, IIT Bhubaneswar was originally mentored by IIT Kharagpur. So, IIT Kharagpur director Damodar Acharya served as director of IIT Bhubaneswar till a regular director was appointed. In August 2008, IIT Bhubaneswar advertised for the post of assistant professors. The ad stated that all applicants had to have PhD degrees with a first class or equivalent in all preceding degrees, as well as at least three years of teaching/research/industrial experience. However, Sabyasachi Pani, an applicant for the post of assistant professor of mathematics, did not have a first class or equivalent at the Class XII level. But he was appointed. Briefly in early 2009, Chakraborty, who was deputy director of IIT Kharagpur, took over as the institute’s officiating director when Acharya stepped down because of student unrest. During that period, Chakraborty asked for applicants’ files and noted that Pani “may be called for interview as he is fulfilling shortlisting criteria”. Accordingly, Pani was called for an interview and selected. But several candidates who had got first classes throughout their careers were rejected. In May 2009, Chakraborty was appointed as the first director of IIT Bhubaneswar. A selection panel headed by him appointed Rajan Jha as assistant professor of physics. But documents show Jha had less than three years of research/teaching experience when he was appointed. Chakraborty also appointed S.C. De Sarkar, who was above 65, as the dean (faculty). According to the guidelines, the Visitor’s approval should have been obtained before employing faculty members past 65. “The allegations are being investigated,” a ministry source said. Chakraborty could not be contacted for comment. IIT Bhubaneswar chairperson P. Rama Rao said he had received the complaints forwarded by the HRD ministry. “We have also given our reply to the ministry on these complaints. You can get that information from the ministry,” he said. |
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