No decision on scrapping reservation policy for IIT faculty recruitment, says Union Minister

Union Minister says IIT Madras has measures in place to tackle discrimination

The Union Minister for Education, Dharmendra Pradhan, said on Monday, through a reply submitted in the Lok Sabha, that no decision has been made yet on the recommendations of the Prof. V. Ramgopal Rao Committee to scrap reservation policies in the recruitment of faculty in the IITs.

He was responding to a question raised by DMK MP T.R. Baalu, enquiring about the committee’s report and the steps taken by the Centre for effective implementation of reservation policies for the Other Backward Classes (OBCs) in IITs and other Central universities.

A committee constituted by the Ministry of Education, with IIT-Delhi Director V. Ramgopal Rao as its head, to study ways to effectively implement reservation policies in institutions had recommended that the IITs be exempted from reservation policies in faculty recruitment.

In his reply, Mr. Pradhan said the committee’s report had been referred to the Standing Committee of the IIT Council after receiving responses from various Ministries.

“No decision has been taken on the recommendations yet,” he said.

Mr. Baalu also raised another set of questions regarding the alleged discriminatory practices against students and faculty on the basis of caste and religion.

He pointed out the recent allegation by an IIT-M faculty member. Responding to this, Mr. Pradhan said IIT-Madras did not discriminate on the basis of caste or religion.

He pointed out a number of initiatives being implemented by the institution, which included students’ outreach programmes to ensure the mental well-being of every student and research scholars, round-the-clock counselling service, a hospital on the campus and orientation programmes.