IIT faculty shows strength – though at a wrong front contd..
October 2, 2009
Some of the arguments for higher pay are that they are the leading minds in their respective fields and there is a significant opportunity cost for them to continue as faculty. The fact they forget is that IIT is a platform to work. Teaching is not their final job. They can take industrial projects and can earn money.
Had all of them being capable and competitive of private sector, at least some of them would have moved out. Not everyone is here for charity. Actually no one is here for charity. It’s not like judges where we want them not to look outside for earnings. In IITs you want professors to take projects and do consultancy and cater industries and government projects. Their asking for more salary indicates their incompetence and failure in doing that.
Another argument given is the opportunity cost involved in doing Phd. Some clever calculations are made which show that if a person is not doing Phd after BTech and working; then he will earn and save this much. Then, what about not doing BTech in the first place and what about 15 years of schooling? It’s all about building up your capabilities, so that you will have the potential of earning much more at a later stage.
IIT professors are not just to teach, they are here to do research and earn while teaching. As the teaching job is secondary of a greater goal, the pay is also a supplement of the opportunity they get. Had they opened a consultancy outside it would have taken them crores to set up a fraction of this infrastructure (machinery and equipments).
I must be sounding insolent and rebellious, but one should look at the level of research after 50 years of IITs. It may sound obstinate but only then research will start in this country. Otherwise the lazy souls will remain happy in the pseudo research they do and the sacrosanct image society bestows on them.
Last but not least, what a wonderful way of protest- Strike, hunger strike, abstinence. IIT worker’s union on strike!!!
You are the omniscient intellects! Write articles, awake people, gain some support from the common man (which is not difficult, as he already considers you divine), Call Kapil Sibal for public debates, write articles in media and if nothing happens, then go for such frivolous measures.
