Govt clears pay hike for professors at IITs, IIMs

Yielding to the year-long demand of IIT faculty members, the Centre has decided to offer experienced and senior faculty members a Higher Administrative Grade (HAG) Pay of Rs 67,000-Rs 79,000 — the highest government pay scale accorded at the Additional Secretary level since the Sixth Pay Commission came into effect.





The move is good news particularly for professors.

In its earlier order, dated August 18, 2009, the HRD Ministry had said that those appointed as professors must have a PhD with first class or equivalent with a very good academic record and a minimum of 10 years of experience with an academic grade pay of Rs 10,500 per month.

Forty per cent of these every year, the ministry order had said, would be eligible to move to Academic Grade Pay (AGP) of Rs 12,000 per month after six years of regular service in AGP of Rs 10500 per month subject to performance evaluation based on research publications, PhD supervision, teaching and consultancy services, etc.



Now, in a new order dated September 15, 2010, the Ministry has said that instead of movement up to AGP of Rs 12,000 per month, 40 per cent of the professors would move to HAG.

"It has now been decided in consultation with the Department of Expenditure to extend the HAG scale of Rs 67,000-Rs 79,000 without any Grade Pay in place of AGP of Rs 12,000 per month. The AGP of Rs 12,000 per month does not exist anymore," the HRD notification states.



The IIT teachers, during their agitation last year, had sought a HAG pay or higher for senior faculty. "We are glad this has been notified. This was one of our key demands, which has been much delayed by the Ministry," Prof M Thenmozhi, president, All India IIT faculty Federation, said.



Recently, members of the IIT faculty federation had also met HRD Minister Kapil Sibal, demanding HAG and its implementation from 2006 with retrospective effect.

They also wanted it to be extended to larger sections of faculty and not only to 40 per cent of the professors.



The new pay-scale will apply to professors at IITs, Indian Institute of Science (IISc) Bangalore, Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs), National Institute of Industrial Engineering (NITIE), Mumbai and Indian Institutes of Science Education & Research (IISERs).

Source: Indian Express

Mandarin will soon be part of the CBSE curriculum.

HRD Minister Kapil Sibal said this was the best way to introduce China to India. MANDARIN, the language spoken by the majority of the Chinese, will soon be part of the CBSE curriculum as India and China discussed modalities on Wednesday to train a large number of Indian teachers to acquire the language skills necessary to make it part of the course.



"China is a powerful neighbour and is emerging as a biggest consumer of global resources. The best way to introduce China in India is to introduce its language at the primary level so that our kids develop interest and knowledge about China," Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal said.



The issue figured high on his talks with China's Education Minister Yuan Guiren, who promised to work out modalities to train Indian teachers in Chinese language in India.

"Let us get enough Indians to learn Chinese. Let us have a lot of Chinese trainers in India who will teach the school students. That is how we evoke interest in our kids about China," Sibal told Indian journalists here.

"I told Yuan I am willing to introduce Chinese in the BSE system as a course. I cannot do that unless I have standards and a there is a test. That cannot happen unless I collaborate with you," said Sibal, who also took part in the World Economic Forum in the Chinese city of Tianjin.



The Chinese side said that a two-way programme can be worked out to train about 200 teachers. Some can come here to learn and others can learn in India through different methods, Sibal said.
Sibal said he has already spoken to CBSE chairman Vineet Joshi and obtained his consent to make Chinese part of its curriculum.



Sibal has also proposed to China to extend its sponsorship programme to exchange scholars from universities in different subjects on the lines of Full Bright Scholarship.

India as a reciprocal gesture will support equal number of students, he said.



Sibal visited Peking University and held discussions with its officials on various subjects. To deepen the cooperation among universities, 10 Vice-Chancellors of India and China would meet here next month to discuss specific issues of collaboration.

Source: Indian Express