Some tid bits on IITs on offer as 'starters' before the 'mains' are served in this article. These are my very personal opinions and understanding of various situations. No one needs to agree or disagree.
· In 2003 IITians incurred the wrath of HRD Minister Murali Manohar Joshi when they invited him to attend the very first PanIIT meet in San Francisco and asked him to play second fiddle to Bill Gates. A cheap shot by IITians in USA, I should say.
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Back in India after the PanIIT meet in USA, HRD Minister MMJ, not happy that IIT alumni donated millions to Alma Mater, that he could not lay his hands on, so he created the Bharat Siksha Kosh insisting that all alumni donations should fall into this Govt Controlled Pot. . There were no donations and the scheme died a natural death as was expected
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MMJ was amongst the first HRD Minister to erode IIT’s autonomy by appointing IIT Directors and also proposing the Idea of ten Deemed IITs. Some of us alumni who realised what was happening, created the Save IITs petition endorsed by over 4500 IITians
Luckily MMJ and NDA lost an election that they could not lose. None of the IIT Senates or IIT Boards raised too many objections then, like they are doing now, when senior Professors were overlooked for appointment as Directors and HRD Minister handpicked them. As an aside MMJ even proposed that Astrology should be taught in all IITs as a Science subject.
Today HRD Minister Kapil Sibal insists IITs autonomy will not be eroded, knowing well that IITs lost their autonomy a decade ago. HRD has since controlled the IIT Council made up of Babus appointed by HRD and also IIT Directors who were appointed by HRD and are all puppets on strings.
We cannot blame these Directors of IITs as one cannot bite the hand that feeds. That would be Namak Haram requiring Hari Kari.
We cannot blame these Directors of IITs as one cannot bite the hand that feeds. That would be Namak Haram requiring Hari Kari.
The IIT Council comprises the minister-in-charge of technical education in the Union Government (as Chairman), three Members of Parliament, the Chairmen of all IITs, the Directors of all IITs, the Chairman of the University Grants Commission, the Director General of CSIR, the Chairman of IISc, the Director of IISc, the Joint Council Secretary of Ministry of Human Resource and Development, and three appointees each of the Union Government, AICTE.
The Current IIT Council that bull dozed IIT representatives consists of 30 members with five directors of IITs as members, a Committee where even if all seven IIT directors were united they do not have the numbers to pass any resolution . The numbers are stacked in favour of the HRD Minister who is also the Chairman of the IIT Council.
If autonomy was to be restored in all IITs, the first step would be to ensure that the HRD Minister is not the Chairman of IIT Council and also to ensure that each and every member there is a well wisher of IITs like alumni and faculty members and not some one who wants to pull IITs down.
· In 2006 HRD Minister Arjun Singh, who was disillusioned that he was not appointed Prime Minister by Sonia Gandhi, took his wrath on IITs and IIMs and ensured IITs were further eroded by forcing 49% reservation on IITs and IIMs. IIT Senates did not object too much to this either. If they did no one heard about it. India’s Supreme Court ruled in the Govts Favour and Reservations in IITs & IIMs were to stay. PIL from Prof Indiresan opposing Reservation in IITs was dismissed by the Supreme Court.
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By 2005 many of us concerned IIT alumni, realised there were major problems associated with IIT JEE. 500,000 thousand students were taking the JEE exam and it was just impossible to correct so many JEE answer Papers (500,000) x 3 manually.
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Some of us alumni started the IIT Global Save IIT JEE discussion group in 2005 as we sensed trouble
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In 2006 the Chandi Committee of IITM, in charge of IIT JEE introduced the multiple-choice format for JEE, to ease the burden on faculty members correcting so many answer papers.
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Again in 2010, when we knew there were moves to scrap JEE, IIT alumni again created the Save IIT JEE Petition in 2010, which was endorsed by 2500 IITians.
I initiated this move and am truly indebted to 30 odd IIT Alumni who volunteered and contributed so whole heartedly in writing he text for the petition.
I initiated this move and am truly indebted to 30 odd IIT Alumni who volunteered and contributed so whole heartedly in writing he text for the petition.
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With each IIT acting independently or not bothering at all, and whistle blowers exposing gaping holes in JEE, HRD ministry was convinced that they had to do something to fix JEE and block the influence of JEE Coaching schools. Very laudable objective and nothing wrong with that.
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The IIT Faculty Federation all these years was a body that fought for pay rises for IIT Faculty and defended Faculty rights etc. and not much more
Today Prof A.K.Mittal who is the Secretary of All India Faculty Federation of IITs, has led from the front right from the beginning and opposed HRD Proposal of having one common exam . The Senates of IITK and IITD followed the AI-IIT-FF push, much later.
Today Prof A.K.Mittal who is the Secretary of All India Faculty Federation of IITs, has led from the front right from the beginning and opposed HRD Proposal of having one common exam . The Senates of IITK and IITD followed the AI-IIT-FF push, much later.
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What is not clear is that if All India IIT Faculty Federation is Opposed to the HRD proposal, how is it that the faculty association of IIT Madras has instituted a committee without Deans or Director and put forward the current proposal that HRD is trying to finalise.
One would believe that all India IIT Faculty Federation should have reined in IIT Madras Faculty association early in the piece.
One would believe that all India IIT Faculty Federation should have reined in IIT Madras Faculty association early in the piece.
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As no solutions were forthcoming from the IITs, HRD appointed the Acharya Committee to look into the idea of a Common Entrance exam and to Report to IIT Council.
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The Acharya Committee interviewed a whooping ‘2063’ ( being sarcastic here) through an opinion poll in a country of 1.2 billion population, with 4,500,000 students wanting to do engineering annually, and 5 lakh students sitting for the JEE and with nearly 200,000 alumni and may be a few thousand Faculty members they could have interviewed to get a bigger picture.
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The Acharya committee report almost gave HRD whatever result the committee was asked to find. Interestingly there were no protests from IIT Faculty Federation or any of the IIT Senates then either, opposing the Acharya Committee Report.
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When the Indian Govt creates a Committee, the expected findings are pre-determined and the committee has to create a dummy document to endorse the HRD proposal. May sound cruel but that is the way the Govt Works to bluff the population and the media. People stop objecting the minute as expert committee says we have studied the problem and this is our finding.
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For some unknown reason HRD Minister was not pleased with Acharya Committee report and created a newer committee headed by Dr.Ramaswamy in 2011. Not surprisingly all IIT Directors bar Prof Acharya were dropped from Ramaswamy committee, to eliminate all dissent I presume
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Then the nation is told by HRD Minister that IIT Council members have unanimously agreed on the new proposal. How unanimous we do not know :-) . In political parlance unanimous is not 100%.
IIT JEE is now is in ICU on a respirator and as good as dead and suddenly we have IIT Kanpur Senate challenging HRD decision to take into account Board exam results, normalise it and give it weightage for the CET or ISEET or JEE Main, what ever HRD wishes to call it. AI IIT Faculty federations then meet the PM, who consoles them and promises to have a discussion with HRD Ministry.
In most democracies under such dire circumstances the PM will take the problem into his hands and resolve the dispute. Not Man Mohan Singh of India , a good man may be but totally inept as a leader.
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IITD Senate meets and decides to back IITK to conduct its own exams.
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Currently the main issue is not what is going to be implemented but about implementing the changes in 2013.
Why 2013 ?
Because UPA II will have to face elections in 2014. So HRD would like to do as much damage before he steps down as HRD Minister.
Why 2013 ?
Because UPA II will have to face elections in 2014. So HRD would like to do as much damage before he steps down as HRD Minister.
I, as an individual have followed what we call the JEE saga since 2005 understand the issues at hand and have offered solutions to Senior IITM Faculty members in 2006. The response “what makes you think some one like you from Australia knows more than all IIT Faculty members put together ?.” Not the reaction that was expected.
Recently when I enquired the reasoning behind the solution offered by IITM Director and IITM Senate which formed the basis of the NEW HRD proposal the response from a senior faculty member was interesting when he said “Well, if 90% of IITM faculty, who have debated this for year, come to a conclusion – and if they are fools, let that be. It was IITM’s proposal which got carried…”
Fair enough but would be nice if we knew how they arrived at this conclusion considering many IIT Alumni, Faculty and Senates are opposed to this proposal.
Many of us alumni are befuddled by the fact that IIT Madras senate did not discuss this with the Senates of IITK, IITB, IITKgp and IITD. The least that they could have done is for all Directors to meet and discuss and come up with a robust solution. If this took place, alumni are not aware of this.
Many of us alumni are befuddled by the fact that IIT Madras senate did not discuss this with the Senates of IITK, IITB, IITKgp and IITD. The least that they could have done is for all Directors to meet and discuss and come up with a robust solution. If this took place, alumni are not aware of this.
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