DUTA Press Statement, 13.11.2017

The negative features of the MHRD notification are as follows:

1. Misleading Information about the Pay Hike: DUTA expresses shock at the fact that the Government has misled the nation about the actual quantum of increase in pay for teachers across the country. Instead of the 22% to 28% increase as touted by the Government in the PIB release, the actual increase for different levels of teachers is the following:
   
   
2. No Resolution of Anomalies of the VI Pay Revision: The new pay matrix has been arrived at, in order to determine the minimum entry pay at different levels, by multiplying the pre-revised basic pay with a common multiplier without rectifying the mistakes in the earlier pay fixation or doing any cadre restructuring. This mechanical conversion has not addressed the glaring anomalies of the last pay revision without whose resolution this pay revision is redundant for most teachers, both incumbent and the new entrant, in terms of pay fixation and financial gains.
3. Lowest Hike for Incumbent Teachers: The fitment formula for incumbent teachers on 1.1.2016 is retained at 2.57 which amounts to a measly 14.27% increase: the lowest in independent India. This is starkly in contrast to the last two pay revisions where the minimum increase across all categories of teachers was 40% in basic pay (Refer to the table above).
4. Withdrawal of PhD/M.Phil increments: The most horrific recommendation of the MHRD notification on the Pay Revision of teachers is the withdrawal of the PhD/M.Phil increments, both at the entry level and in service. This is a retrogressive step as it amounts to discouraging research and taking away incentives for the same. More importantly, the advance increments at the entry level were meant to reward higher qualifications and to offset late entry into the teaching profession in order to attract talent. The withdrawal of the provision of the PhD/M.Phil increments has created an anomalous situation where the teacher with the maximum qualification (PhD) draws the least pay in his/her entire career profile (Refer to Annexure 1 for illustration).
5. Downgrading of College Teachers at Every Level: The MHRD notification has downgraded the college teachers at every level in the following manner:
   a) Assistant Professors at entry level are not given the higher pay proportional to their higher AGP 6000.
   b) Assistant Professors at pre-revised AGP 7000 are given a lower pre-revised pay and hence fixed at a lower minimum pay in the revised Pay Matrix.
   c) Assistant Professors at pre-revised AGP 8000 have been fixed at a lower minimum entry pay of 79800 instead of 85200 in the revised Pay Matrix.
   d) Associate Professors at pre-revised AGP 9000 are given a lower multiplier of 2.67 instead of 2.72 given to Professors though both were in the same Pay Band 4 in the pre-revised scale.(Refer to Annexure 2 for illustration).
6. Stagnation: The proposed pay matrix, in all levels from Associate Professors and above, end abruptly in a manner which would amount to stagnation at these levels very soon, maybe as early as 2020 (Refer to Annexure 3 for illustration).
7. No Professorship in Colleges: The MHRD notification contains no provision of Professorship in colleges, despite DUTA demanding the same for the last three decades and the UGC Pay Review Committee accepting the same in the last two Pay Revisions. This has left thousands of Associate Professors stagnating in the same level for years without any promotion.
8. Parity of Librarians and other Academic Staff with Teachers: There is no mention of parity of Librarians with teachers in terms of designation, service conditions and the age of retirement. Also no mention is made about the status of other academic staff like Instructors, Programmers etc in the revised pay revision.
9. Downgrading of Principals: The Principals have been downgraded from the level of the Professor to that of the Associate Professor after the completion of their tenure according to Point 4, Clause I of the MHRD notification.
10. Increased Disparity in Pay: The revised pay matrix has increased the disparity in pay across different levels of teachers owing to lack of uniformity in the quantum of increase for different categories of teachers. The ratio between the pay of the Assistant Professor at the entry level and that of the highest paid academician, the Vice-Chancellor, has increased from 1: 3.47 to 1:3.65.
11. No Allowances: Point 11 of the MHRD notification stipulates that till the Ministry of Finance decides on the revised allowances of teachers, all allowances will be paid according to the pre-revised pay structure. DUTA considers this delay in notifying the revised allowances a deliberate and insidious attempt to deny teachers their rightful entitlements. This delay compounds the financial hardship faced by teachers owing to the reduction in HRA from 30% to 24% and also no increase in Transport Allowance after the revision of pay.
12. No Reference to Pension Benefits:The MHRD notification gives no reference to the revised pension benefits for teachers in accordance to the provisions of the VII Pay Revision. This is again in sharp contrast to the earlier pay revisions where the revised rates of pension, family pension and other pecuniary benefits were notified in the same notification of revised pay structures.
13. Service Conditions: Recruitment and Promotion:Point no 15 of the notification categorically states that the service conditions of teachers according to the revised pay revision, namely the new regulations on Recruitment and Promotion, will be notified after the requisite changes on a later date. The lesson from the past experiences of the last pay revision clearly suggests that delinking the service conditions of teachers from the notification of the revised pay structure is a half-hearted exercise which does not reveal the real conditions attached with the VII Pay Revision. During the VI Pay Revision, while the MHRD notification on the pay revision of teachers was notified on 31.12.2008, the promotion scheme of teachers, Career Advancement Scheme 2010, including the atrocious system of API/PBAS, was notified by UGC on 30.06.2010, thus creating a situation where the promotion scheme was implemented retrospectively for teachers. DUTA is apprehensive that this time also the delay in notifying the regulations of promotion can lead to a similar situation and can increase the suffering of teachers already languishing for years without promotion.
14. Financial Assistance to Universities: Point 18 of the MHRD Notification categorically suggests that the revised pay of teachers in the colleges and the Universities is subject to the guidelines issued by the Ministry of Finance (Dept of Expenditure) vide OM No. 1/1/2016- E.III(A) dated 13.01.2017. The said Office Memorandum underlines the fact that the Central Universities are ‘autonomous institutions’ and hence are supposed to get only 70% of the enhanced financial burden on account of the Pay Revision, the rest to be met by the Universities through self-generation of resources. This is a frontal attack on the character of the public-funded institutions as it threatens to reduce funds to institutions of higher learning. This issue of reduction of funds is further underlined in Point 16, Clause (iv) where the State Universities have been allocated only 50% of Central assistance, and that too for a reduced period of 39 months, ie, till 31.03.2019, as opposed to the Central assistance of 80% for 51 months in the last pay revision. This is part of a policy assault launched by successive Governments to withdraw funding from Higher Education and also to starve Universities into penury and extinction. DUTA is alarmed by both point 18 pertaining to Central Universities and point 16 pertaining to the State Universities since both suggest the destruction of higher education in the country. The denial of funds to the States will inevitably lead to the collapse of their Universities and will eventually put more pressure on the Central Universities to accommodate students from the states.