Here is a paradox. While most medicos do not prefer serving in rural areas, the cream of IITs is not allowed to work in the not-so-glamorous turf.
Raghavendra (name changed), an IIT Delhi product, didn’t expect his dream of serving rural India would be a Herculean task. He resigned as design analyst from Mercedes Benz in Bangalore to join IIIT-Nuzvid in Andhra Pradesh to teach rural students, but he is thoroughly disappointed.
It has been more than a year since he was issued the appointment letter as Assistant Professor, but till today, the recruitment process has not been taken up by the institution. He is one of the 85 such professionals whose future is hanging in balance.
The recruitment process is said to be kept in abeyance owing to procedural issues. “I have a passion to teach rural students, but I realised it was a huge task than becoming an IIT graduate,” the IITian said with a tinge of sadness.
It is turning out to be eternal wait for the 45 professionals who wanted to work at IIITs in Nuzvid, Idupulapaya and Basara. The three IIITs were established in 2008 under the Rajiv Gandhi University of Knowledge Technologies (RGUKT) for giving fillip to rural students with the best of industry environment and quality education. More than 6,000 students passed out from these institutions this year.
The entire episode is frustrating for Dr. Prasad (name changed) from IIT-Madras. The Nuzvid resident and a post-doctoral fellow in Metallurgy from New Zealand came back with a specific mission to serve his homeland but in vain. “It is such a frustrating experience. I can earn 30 times more than what is offered here, but money is not my motivation. I want to do something for my country, but it doesn’t seem to be happening. I can no longer wait,” he said.
RGUKT Vice-Chancellor Prof. R.V. Raja Kumar, on his part, said he had done his best to clear the logjam, but of no use. “We could attract the cream from IITs and NITs. Still, so much needs to be done. More importantly, we need permanent staff. Imagine a world class institution running with 100 per cent temporary staff. I hope it will be fixed by the new government,” he said.
The present faculty members of the three IIITs are also not happy, as there has been no revision of salary since their recruitment.
The issue has been highly politicised by some forces in the erstwhile Congress government, according to a source. “The V-C is a senior faculty from IIT-Kharagpur, and he did a great job in building the institutions. Apparently, he may also call it a day if things don’t change on the ground,” said a top official of a Central university. Last, but not the least, the response from the government on the issue is, “we will look into the matter.”
