Tuesday, October 07, 2008

UGC Pay Revision Committee report: a correction


Prof. M. Giridhar, a colleague in the Department of Chemical Engineering, writes in to point out an error in my earlier post. The specific correction is about the Chadha Committee recommendation that the number of years that'll make one eligible for full pension be reduced to twenty.

Here's his e-mail:

In your blog, you mention, "Chadha committee has asked that it be reduced to 20 years (from the current X years; at IISc, I believe X = 28)."

It is not 28 but 33. If you join IISc with a Ph.D, it is reduced to 28. However, if you joined IISc as a staff/scientist (as many did at some time) and you did PhD along the way, it is 33 years. The recommendation to reduce the period to 20 years is not an output of the committee. It was recommended by the [Sixth Pay Commission] for all staff and it is generally to be accepted.

The recommendation to reduce the period to 20 years is not an output of the committee. It was recommended by the sixth pay comm for all staff and it is generally to be accepted. Yes, good people are likely to leave but it is better for good (but frustrated) people to leave the system than work with medicore people and not get recognized.

The other recommendations are not likely to be accepted in toto. For example, professors of eminence will get the same pay as VC. That is not likely to happen.

Further, your article gives an impression (see the comments on your article) that [an IISc professor] will get the same pay as [a professor at, say, the Bangalore University]. It is not [correct]. The highest pay a Bangalore Univ professpr can get is the associate professor scale of IISc.

The 1500 Rs per month that is proposed is also not new. It is an extension of Rs. 4000 per year we [at IISc] get every year.

I asked Giridhar if the recommendation about 20 years was accepted by the Central Government for its employees, and he said yes. He also pointed to pages 363-365 of the Sixth Pay Commission Report (caution: it's a pdf, and it's over 650 pages1) for an analysis of this recommendation.

6 Comments:

  1. Anonymous said...

    My comment is to Prof. Giridhar.

    Dear Sir: Thanks for the clarification, but I don't fully agree with you on the salary scales. My comment was based on the old scales - but believe the new scales will have the same trends.

    Old scales:
    UGC Professor: 16400-450-20900-500-22400
    IISc Assoc. prof: 16400-450-20000
    IISc Professor: 18400-500-22400

    As per the above, the highest pay a Bangalore univ. professor can get is NOT that of an associate professor at IISc, BUT that of a FULL professor at IISc. Am I not right here? Or is there any catch?

    Aside, I can see in IISc, faculty with 40-50 papers still languish as assoc. profs, but can that be said of Bangalore university (say)? I don't think so. For uniform pay, shouldn't we have uniform work rules and promotion norms? Or is that too much to ask?

    -Kumar

  2. Anonymous said...

    A REPORT BY THE PROFESSORS , FOR THE PROFESSORS

    Appropos your report on the Chaddha report it should be added that it is a report by the professors , FOR THE PROFESSORS ONLY and
    the real gameplan of UGC and G K Chadha PRC Report was to deny the third promotion to teachers and it done so. It has introduced 3 types of professorial grades but no it will not give professors’ grade to college Readers.

    At a time when the 6th Pay Commission has categorically stated that at least 3 assured promotions should be given to both the military and civilian govt employees the UGC through its G K Chadha PRC Commission is denying this or put conditionalities such as peer review , student assessment , selective implementation in P G colleges which would deny 3rd promotion. See what they have done to the Reader’s grade. The Rs 12000-420-18300 grade has been downgraded to PB – 3 whereas equivalent grades in Central govt which end at Rs18300 and surprisingly with Rs 400 as the increment annually have been without much ado been upgraded to the Rs. 37400 - 67000 i.e ., PB -4 band. Lower scales in the Central govt ( for e.g., old scales of S-24 such as 14300-400-18300 and S -25 of Rs 15100-400-18300 have been upgraded to Rs. 37400 - 67000 ) but teachers who have a higher increment of Rs 420 in the old scale of 12000-420-18300 have been downsized to Rs.15600 – 39100 If this is not discrimination then what is ? It is against rules of the government apart from being against the principles of natural justice

    Teachers are the scums of the earth , so degraded that even existing scales should not be given the same upgradation as has been given to Central govt employess by the 6th CPC recently. It smacks of malafide intention.

    UGC's past record in this regard speaks volumes in this regard. IT has withdrawn such 3rd promotion scheme after initiating its implementation in 2000.
    The FEDCUTA has consistently pointed out that the Professorship (promotion) which was introduced in 1998 in DU colleges was withdrawn unilaterally by the UGC in October 2000 smacks of its utter disregard for the teaching community. This is the stage where maximum stagnation occurs . ie., at the Reader’s level.. The FEDCUTA demanded the Professors grade be given to the college teachers’ in their memorandum to the chaddha commission . This is what they got!
    It is pertinent to mention that many years earlier in the meeting between the HRD Minister and representatives of AIFUCTO, DUTA and FEDCUTA held on 16.8.1998, it was clarified “that a Reader with a minimum of eight years of service will be eligible for promotion as a Professor under the CAS. ” Accordingly, the UGC vide its 1998 Notification introduced Professorship (promotion) and laid down the method of promotion. A College teacher of Ramjas College in Delhi University got promotion to Professorship. However, despite the aforementioned agreement, the CAS for Professorship in colleges was unilaterally withdrawn by the UGC on 6th October 2000.

    Now when merely graduates in the civil service and in defence forces will enjoy 3rd assured promotion teachers who have to have PHD degrees just to get into the service apart from regularly updating their qualifications through seminar / symposia attendance , publications etc throughout their career are treated as beggars that they can be thrown any crumbs and they’d take it .


    - Dr Sangram

  3. Giri@iisc said...

    Dear Dr. Kumar:

    Thank you for your comment. I had meant that the starting scale for a professor in an University is the same as that of an associate professor (AcP) in IISc. The ending scale is, of course, different. In the new scale, I believe that the grade pay of the IISc AcP will be same as that of a prof. in an university.

    Further, in the UGC scale, a professor has to put in 15 years of experience as a professor before reaching the salary of 22400. In IISc, I would reach the salary of 22,400 after 15 years after joining as an assistant professor. This is not normal, but possible in IISc.

    I do not know of *many* associate professors in IISc who are *languishing* as associate professors who have 40-50 journal papers. Maybe I am wrong.

    Thank you and best regards,

    Giridhar Madras
    http://giridharmadras.googlepages.com

  4. Anonymous said...

    Dear all,

    Ref : The Newsreport of NBT SUGGESTING rEADERS HAVE BEEN RECOMMENDED pb 4

    It should not be a time for us to rejoice or feel flattred at the information provided by NBT for the following reasons :-

    a) The report is not substantiated by quoting any authoritative source for its source of

    information.

    b) those who can substantiate and authoritatively expatiate on it

    are silent about it.

    c) Teacher representatives of the FEDCUTA etc are also in

    the dark.

    d) So it is logical to be a little sceptical about the news revealed

    by NBT It should make us apprehensive that the UGC and others ha-

    ve other plans , provisions which they 're sure to force down our collec-

    tive throats such as student assessment , peer review et.al before

    they give us these new scale even if we hypothesize for a moment that

    they would be given

    ARE WE READY TO FACE SUCH THREATS ? ESPECIALLY IN THE CONTEXT THAT THE 6th CPC DID NOT LAY OUT SUCH RIDERS WHILE UPGRADING THE SCALES OF CENTRAL GOVT EMPLOYESS. WERE THEY FOR EXAMPLE TOLD THAT PUBLIC ASSESSMENT, DEPARTMENTAL REVIEWS (INTRA OR INTER MINISTERIAL) WOULD BE MADE BEFORE GIVING THEM THE NEW SCALES OR SELECTING THEM FOR PROMOTIONS UNDER THE NEW RULES FOR GIVING THE PAY SCALES


    WHY ONLY THE TEACHING

    COMMUNITY SHOULD BE SADDLED WITH SUCH RIDERS ?

    A little introspection should be the order of the day

    - Dr Subhendu Raj

  5. Anonymous said...

    The sixth pay commission recommends (and the UGC chadda committee concurs and the IIT/IISc committee also will concur) that all women (staff/faculty) will be given six months maternity leave and 2 years child care leave for every child. For two children, the government will pay five years full salary to the women employee.

    How come no one has commented on that? Is that politically incorrect?

  6. Anonymous said...

    Dear friends, I joined as associate professor in the pay scale of Rs.10000-325-15500 in 2004. After 6th UGC Pay revision my pay scale fixed at Rs.!5600 - 39100 with AGP of Rs.7000.
    Please clarify whether the above fixation is correct?