1,500 IIT teachers start hunger strike

For the first time, about 1,500 teachers of prestigious IITs across the country went on a hunger strike today on the issue of pay structure, They did not, however, boycott their classes.  

The All India IIT Faculty Federation went on the strike after the charter of their demands, which included withdrawal of 40 per cent cap on promotion of professors to senior grade, did not elicit response from the Ministry of Human Resource and Development (HRD).  

"We had asked for a meeting with the HRD Ministry representatives on the issue. But there is no response. Hence, we went on with the agitation," Federation president Prof M Thenmozi of IIT-Madras said.  

Sibal had said the government wants to give more freedom to the over dozen institutes provided they come up with futuristic vision to achieve excellence.  

"IITs are brand institutes. We respect them. We want to give them more freedom to achieve excellence. If they discuss their vision plan, we are ready to give them more autonomy," he had said.