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Representation of SC/STs in faculty of IIT-Madras meagre, reveals RTI query
The Hindu
As on March 31, 2021, the number of SC and ST teachers was 16 and 3, respectively, just above 3% compared to the strength of 577 teachers belonging to the Open Competition and OBC categories; prestigious institute also admitted fewer women Ph.D. candidates from disadvantaged backgrounds
The Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT-Madras) has, in a reply to a query under the Right to Information (RTI) Act, informed that the representation of faculty members belonging to the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe categories is only 19, which is just above 3% compared to the strength of 577 teachers belonging to the Open Competition (OC) and Other Backward Class (OBC) categories.
As on March 31, 2021, IIT-Madras had 515 professors, associate professors and assistant professors belonging to the Open Competition (Unreserved) category, on its rolls.
While the strength of faculty belonging to the OBC category was 62, the number of SC and ST teachers remained at 16 and three, respectively.
In the ST category, there was one professor, no associate professors and two assistant professors.
With regard to the number of women candidates admitted to various Ph.D. programmes in the institute in 2018-19 and 2019-20, it was informed that 196 candidates from the General Category had been enrolled into Ph.D. programmes during the two academic years.
The number of research scholars in the OBC (non-creamy layer) category was 74, Economically Weaker Section was five and SC and ST categories were 27 and five, respectively.
The IIT-Madras authorities were responding to an application filed under the RTI Act by one Sai Charan, who sought to know the department-wise, category-wise and gender-wise representation of staff/candidates for the three academic years starting 2018-19.