Imperative to ensure adequate faculty strength at IIMC: I&B secy Khare

Underlining the need for adequate faculty strength at the Indian Institute of Mass Communication, Information and Broadcasting Ministry Secretary Amit Khare said the institute should seek approval for creating the entire range of posts that are mandated for such institutions.

Chairing the 139th Meeting of the Executive Council of the IIMC, Delhi, he said as the institute moves towards a 'Deemed to be University' status, it was imperative that it ensures an adequate faculty strength, according to an official statement.

This means that the existing faculty are given proper avenues of career advancement. Positions which then continue to remain vacant should be filled through recruitment, he said.

At the meeting, the IIMC Executive Committee also approved permanent faculty positions for all regional IIMCs.

Khare underlined the requirement of IIMC to seek approval for creating the entire range of posts that UGC mandates for such institutions, which can then be filled as an when the need arises.

He also directed that a proposal of filling up of vacancies of the non teaching staff also be put up to the ministry at the earliest.

The committee also approved new faculty positions for the IIMC campuses at Dhenkanal, Aizawl, Amravati, Jammu and Kottayam.

Khare emphasised that IIMC must look at international partnership as a means of spreading India's soft power.

He concurred with suggestions of the executive committee members that IIMC should look at fruitful working relationships in ASEAN countries and also with the Central Asian region, the statement said.

Members raised their concern about the need for greater education on fake news, it said.

The committee also agreed to name the main road within the IIMC after former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who passed away this year.

Khare said an annual lecture be also instituted in the memory of the former Prime Minister. It could be slotted around his birth anniversary, he said.