DUTA Press Release; 13 Feb 2018

A delegation of DUTA office-bearers met the UGC officials today to deliberate upon the MHRD notification dt 2.11.2017 on the VII Pay Revision along with the initial response to the Draft Regulations 2018 uploaded on 09.02.2018 as a Public Notice. The delegation comprising of the DUTA President Rajib Ray, Vice-President Sudhanshu Kumar,  Secretary Vivek Chaudhury, Joint Secretary Alok Ranjan Pandey and the Treasurer Najma Rahmani, apprised the UGC  delegation comprising the UGC Chairman, the Secretary and other officials about the retrograde recommendations of the VII Pay Revision as well as the worrying features of the Draft UGC Regulations 2018. The main focal points of the deliberation today are as follows:

1. Threat of Reduced Funding: Clause 18 of the MHRD notification on the pay revision reiterates the OM dt 13.01.2017 of the Govt of India according to which 30% of the total funding is to be generated by the institutions themselves in order to get the 70% funding of the Government. This marks the death-knell for public funded higher educational institutions as  institutions will be starved of funds or massive fee hike will throw out students from socially and economically deprived sections. All sections of the University community, namely, the students, teachers and the non-teaching staff, have come together against this draconian provision to resist the onslaught on Higher Education.

2. Retrograde recommendations of the VII Pay Revision: The VII Pay Revision notified by the MHRD has been the worst in independent India, amounting to only 14.27% increase in the basic pay of teachers as compared to minimum 40% increase in the last two pay revisions. Further the MHRD notification has led to the withdrawal of the PhD/M.Phil increments to disincentivise research, downgrading every level of Assistant Professors with lower pay, early stagnation of senior teachers at the level of Associate Professors, Professors and Principals, no promotion to Professorship in colleges, no resolution of the anomalies of the last pay revision, parity of Librarians with teachers both in promotion and the age of retirement, parity of other academic staff like computer programmers and instructors with teachers, delinking of revised allowances and pension from the pay revision and other retrograde provisions which will drive away talent from the teaching profession.

3. Anxieties of the Draft UGC Regulations 2018: The Draft UGC Regulations contain provisions which have increased the difficulty level and the qualifications both at the level of direct recruitment and promotion of teachers at different levels. The proposed screening criteria gives more weightage to UGC scores compared to higher degrees like PhD and also accord irrational parameters of quantification for academic qualifications and requirements of publication. The insistence on PhD both for direct recruitment and promotion of teachers to various levels is inimical to the cause of academics. The attempt to make PhD mandatory for promotion to the level of Associate Professors in colleges with retrospective effect along with the refusal to count the period of study leave for promotion of teachers amount to in effect denial of promotion to teachers altogether. There is no clarity about the relaxation given to the cases of promotion pending since 2009 owing to the retrospective implementation of the discredited API/PBAS in the VI Pay Revision.

4. Second tranche posts in DU colleges: The second tranche of teaching posts given to DU on account of OBC expansion from 2007-2010 amounting to thousands in number, has not been released in most colleges. This has created hardships both for the students and the teachers of these colleges to ensure quality in the teaching-learning process and also to fulfill the requirements of choices/electives in the CBCS structure.

5. Stepping Up: DUTA delegation took up with the UGC officials the matter of stepping up of pay of senior teachers drawing less salary than their juniors having same qualifications. This has been a major anomaly of the last pay revision which has remained unresolved despite the Supreme Court giving a judgement in favour of the affected teachers.

The UGC Chairman, after giving a patient hearing to the DUTA delegation, has promised to examine the matters positively and has sought a detailed feedback on all the pending issues.It was decided by both the parties to meet after one month, that is, March 12, 2018 to take stock of the situation and to proceed further.

In the light of the above-mentioned issues which are very grave and pertinent in nature, DUTA has decided to step up it’s agitation to put pressure on the Government to desist from its anti-teacher, anti-education education policies. As part of this agitation, DUTA Executive has decided to have a joint March of DUTA-DUSU-DUCKU to the MHRD at 12 noon on Friday, February 16, to defend public funded higher education. Named as Shiksha Bachao Rally, this joint March of teachers, students and non-teaching staff, is meant to generate public opinion among society at large so that a nationwide movement can be made possible to save education from the onslaughts of privatisation and commercialisation.


Attachments:
(i) Note on Draft Regulations
(ii) DUTA letter to UGC, 13.02.2018