Its all connected

In September 2009,there was the unseemly spectacle of Indias premier professors going on a hunger strike. Faculty from the prestigious Indian Institutes of Technology were protesting anomalies in their pay structure. The Sixth Pay Commission recommendations,they felt,placed the IITs between two stools. On the one hand,it disproportionately benefited Central university faculty; on the other hand,it did not provide the IITs with the perks that institutes of excellence such as CISR and DRDO enjoy. The standoff between IIT faculty and the human resource development ministry was finally resolved with the ministry promising more incentives. Now comes news that the committee tasked with coming up with a Performance Related Incentive Scheme PRIS has arrived at a formula.

Under the PRIS,faculty will be rated on four criteria,from teaching and publications to outside consulting and contributing to the organisation. Faculty ratings will be linked to monetary incentives ranging from 10 to 30 per cent of the basic salary. In addition,the PRIS will rate the IITs themselves. Such a scheme is not novel; premier scientific organisations such as ISRO,DRDO and CISR already have it. Besides,linking pay to performance seems necessary given that most IITs suffer a faculty shortage ranging from 20 to 30 per cent. But in the seniority-driven world of Indian higher education,the obvious takes a while.

It is of course logical that institutions of the IITs stature be given the perks similar to premier research organisations. But the question can be asked in reverse. Why should performance-linked pay be confined to only institutions of excellence? Would not all universities benefit from better teaching,and a sharper focus on research? Of course,to ask these questions is to demand a thorough reform in higher education.