New Delhi, Jan. 23: The Centre is weighing a controversial proposal to finance faculty salaries at the new IIMs that are three to four times higher than what top government teachers and scientists are now paid.

Critics have described the proposed monthly salaries of Rs 3-4 lakh as “absurd” and discriminatory.

The salary proposal has come from R.C. Bhargava, the chairperson of IIM Ranchi, which is one of the four new Indian Institutes of Management set up last year.

Bhargava has argued that the new B-schools need just such a pay package to attract high-quality faculty, possibly Indians from US business schools, and build up their brand image.

Union human resource development (HRD) minister Kapil Sibal discussed the proposal at a meeting with IIM directors and chairpersons on October 13.

“The (faculty) salaries are likely to be in the range of Rs 35-50 lakh a year,” say the minutes of the meeting, accessed by The Telegraph under the RTI Act.

The minutes add that the additional secretary (technical education) “informed that this proposal... was being examined in the (HRD) ministry”.

Under Bhargava’s plan, the new IIMs at Ranchi, Raipur, Rohtak and Trichy will each receive Rs 50 crore as interest-free loan. The money will be placed in a fixed deposit, with the interest funding the teacher salaries. The B-schools will repay the loan in five equal instalments, the first of them coming five years after the money is lent.

Bhargava has proposed that these teachers would be appointed on contract, with a provision for renewal after two to three years. The new IIMs will recruit the faculty themselves.

M.N. Buch, the chairperson of the Indian Institute of Information Technology, Gwalior, has described the proposed salaries as “absolutely absurd”.

“This will lead to inequality among educational institutions. The proposed salary, if accepted, will suggest that senior professors in the IITs, the Indian Institute of Science and major research bodies are less important than their counterparts in the new B-schools,” Buch said.

Indian Institute of Technology and IIM professors, as well as senior scientists in leading research bodies such as the Defence Research and Development Organisation, are now paid Rs 67,000-79,000 a month. If their perks are taken into account, the package is worth Rs 1 lakh to Rs 1.2 lakh a month, an IIM teacher said.

Even the 12 National Research Professors, who are selected by a panel headed by the Prime Minister, are paid a monthly honorarium of Rs 75,000 apart from perks that are worth about Rs 40,000.

The Centre had introduced the National Research Professorship scheme in 1949 to honour distinguished academics and scholars. The current 12 include author Mahasweta Devi, chemist C.N.R. Rao, mathematician C.S. Sheshadri, scientist and educator Yashpal and chemical biologist Goverdhan Mehta.

Buch said the Centre should concentrate on improving the standard of education in all institutions across the country, and not “focus on certain specific institutions”.

“One can ask the government what it is doing to encourage teachers in colleges in remote areas. What is being done to improve facilities in colleges in small towns?” he said.

If faculty salaries shoot to Rs 35-50 lakh a year, the B-school students will have to fork out nearly Rs 20 lakh as annual fees, Buch said.

“Can a student from a poor family pay this kind of fee? The proposal should be rejected.”

All higher-education institutions in the country face a faculty shortage but the problem is acute in the new IIMs.

For instance, IIM Rohtak director P. Ranesh is the only permanent teacher in the institute. The situation is no different in the Ranchi and Raipur IIMs, which are operating with help from their mentor IIMs and visiting teachers. IIM Trichy is yet to start functioning.

Two more IIMs are being set up in Udaipur (Rajasthan) and Kashipur (Uttarakhand).

Mismatch

Proposal: Let the four new IIMs offer monthly salaries of Rs 3-4 lakh to recruit top-class teachers

How: With the help of interest-free govt loan of Rs 50 crore to each new IIM

Controversy: Senior IIT and IIM professors and research scientists are now paid Rs 67,000-79,000 a month (Rs 1-1.2 lakh including perks), roughly the same as the 12 National Research Professors