IIT Kharagpur's Faculty and Alumni to go on a Hunger Strike
NEW DELHI, July 15, 2013 /PRNewswire/ --
The Indian Institue of Technology (IIT) Kharagpur Faculty Members and Alumni are Joining Hands and Going on a Hunger Strike on July 17th in IIT Kharagpur
In an Unprecedented Show of Solidarity, Students, Faculty and Alumni are Also Launching Nationwide Protests Starting the Week of July 15th
The protests centers around the inordinate delay in confirming Prof. Partha Pratim Chakrabarti as the next Director. In July 2012, the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) constituted search cum selection committee selected Prof. Partha Pratim Chakrabarti to be IIT Kharagpur's Director. Prof. Chakrabarti is an exceptional scholar (President Gold Medallist, 1985, IIT Kharagpur), an inspiring teacher (loved and respected by an entire generation of IIT Kharagpur students and researchers), an outstanding researcher (one of the youngest winners of the S. S. Bhatnagar award, he has also published papers in internationally acclaimed journals, which are also widely cited), and an able administrator (Dean of Sponsored Research and Industrial Consultancy, IIT Kharagpur from 2004 to 2012.) Thus, Prof. Chakrabarti is ideally suited to be IIT Kharagpur's Director.
Prof. Chakrabarti's appointment is pending CVC clearance. IIT Kharagpur's Board of Governors has cleared Prof. Chakrabarti once in March 2012 and again in March 2013 of any wrongdoing. CVC is still holding on to the clearance due to unknown reasons, even though the CVC rules specify cases must be resolved within two months of filing a defense statement (CVC Guideline No. 000/VGL/18, dated 23rd May 2000). IIT Kharagpur's faculty, student and alumni community are disappointed at the excessive delay in appointing Prof. Chakrabarti as the next Director.
In a General Body Meeting of the IIT Teachers Association held on the 11th of July 2013, a resolution has been passed calling for a hunger strike on the 17th of July, and a silent procession during the Convocation where Pallam Raju, the Cabinet Minister in charge of Human Resource Development is expected to attend. The alumni of the institute are organizing simultaneous protests in Delhi, Bangalore and Kolkata on the 20th of July at India Gate, Freedom Park and Park Street respectively.
The alumni movement is being chaired by Mr. Arjun Malhotra, a distinguished IIT Kharagpur alumnus and the co-founder of HCL and Headstrong Inc. "This is a pivotal moment in IIT Kharagpur's history and its future as it embarks on Vision 20-20 - a bold initiative to be a top 20 institute in the world in the next 20 years. Such an inspiring vision requires an extraordinary person and a capable leader at its helm. Prof. Chakrabarti is just such a person and leader. He has the caliber to transform Nehru's, BC Roy's and our founding fathers' dream of building and sustaining an institution of global pre-eminence that is dedicated to the service of our nation into a reality. PPC for Director, a grass roots alumni movement that is closely working with faculty members and students, is focused on clearing Prof. Chakrabarti's good name and appointing him as the next Director of IIT Kharagpur on or before July 29, 2013," says Mr. Malhotra.
About the Situation and Call for Action
Please review the whitepaper which includes summary of the situation and documents from the RTI's etc. at http://goo.gl/zQUjr
About IIT Kharagpur
The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) at Kharagpur was the first IIT established in 1951. IIT Kharagpur is also the largest and most diverse of the IITs. Since 1951, IIT Kharagpur has been a trailblazer in academics, research and service to the nation. Its alumni have gone on to establish successful new ventures and are holding key positions in corporations and research universities in India and around the world, such as Prith Banerjee (CTO, ABB); R. Gopalakrishnan (Executive Director, Tata Sons); Pradeep Khosla (Chancellor, University of California, San Diego); Arjun Malhotra (co-founder, HCL and Headstrong Inc.) and Sundar Pichai (SVP, Google).
Primary Media Contact : Aneesh Reddy, [email protected], 91-9903365411
Secondary Media Contact : Damyanti Bansal, [email protected], 91-9810893188
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