Monday, April 19, 2010

JNU and Reservations


It's sad to read Anuradha Raman's Outlook story on the ongoing 'debate' within JNU on faculty reservations:

Given [Vice Chancellor] Bhattacharya’s ambivalence on reservation -— amply demonstrated, faculty members say, in two meetings of the academic council and the last executive council meeting of April 6—many at the university think his continuance will thwart any effort to introduce reservations in the faculty. In fact, the meeting of the executive council—the highest body in the university—was marked by a vicious debate. It was even decided to refer the matter to the solicitor-general of India, prompting executive council member P. Sainath to ask why the highest legal officer of the country should opine on the administrative matters of a university, especially when the university had submitted to the Supreme Court in 2008 that it would implement faculty quotas in two years.

3 Comments:

  1. Supratim said...

    Hi Abi,
    I am just curious as to whether IISc, IIT's and IISER's implement reservations not just at the entry (Assistant Professor) level but also at the Assoc. Prof. and Professor levels ? If yes, are they required to do so by law or is it done voluntarily ?

  2. Abi said...

    @Rational Observer: All I know is what is in the public domain: see, for example, this recent report about reservation in the IITs.

    And, here's what IISc website's faculty recruitment page says: "Women candidates and applicants belonging to the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes are especially encouraged to apply."

  3. Supratim said...

    Thanks for the pointers. It is interesting to note that the IISc ad is ambiguous about the implementation of reservation at the Assoc. prof. level. They certainly have not indicated that any position at the Assoc. Prof. level is exclusively reserved. Also, IIT's have the clause which says if a "suitable" candidate is not found in the reserved category in 1 year, the position will be filled by a general category candidate. We all know what that means. Are such clauses applicable only to IIX's or also to universities ?