IIT Delhi main gate, in New Delhi on July 27, 2019 . | Photo Credit: SANDEEP SAXENA

In at least two Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and three Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs), the share of faculty belonging to the General Category exceeds the 90% mark. In six other IITs and four other IIMs, the share is 80-90%. These conclusions are based on Right to Information (RTI) replies received from these institutions individually on various days in September 2024.

The Centre mandates reservation of 27% in faculty positions for candidates of Other Backward Classes (OBC), 15% for those belonging to Scheduled Castes (SC), and 7.5% for those belonging to Scheduled Tribes (ST) in both the IITs and IIMs as a part of its policy which covers nearly all Central educational institutions.

In IIM Indore, 106 of the 109 posts (97.2%) are held by faculty belonging to the General Category. There are no faculty belonging to the SC or ST reserved categories in IIM Indore, according to the RTI reply received on September 20. In IIM Udaipur, more than 90% of the faculty belong to the General Category. In IIM Lucknow, 95% of the faculty belong to the General Category. In six of the IIMs analysed, there is no faculty member who belongs to the ST category. In IIM Bangalore, where there were protests demanding proper implementation of reservations in faculty recruitment, over 85% of the faculty belong to the General Category.

In IIT Mumbai and IIT Kharagpur, 90% of the over 700 faculty positions are held by people from the General Category. In the Mandi, Gandhinagar, Kanpur, Guwahati, and Delhi IITs, 80-90% of the faculty belong to the General Category.

Overall, in the 13 IIMs for which relevant data could be ascertained through RTI requests, 82.8% of faculty members are from the General category, 5% from the SC category, 1% from the ST category, 9.6% from the OBCs and the rest split across Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) and the quota for the physically challenged. 

Chart 1 shows the category-wise share of faculty members in select IIMs which shared data.

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Overall, in the 21 IITs for which data were shared, 80% faculty are from the General Category, 6% from the SC category, 1.6% from the ST category, 11.2% from the OBC category, and the rest split across the EWS and the quota for the physically challenged. 

Chart 2 shows the category-wise share of faculty in select IITs which shared data.

While the overall figures show a smaller share than what is mandated, not all IITs and IIMs are the same. In IIT Patna, for instance, 38% of the faculty are OBC, followed by 22% who are SCs, and 13% who are STs; 12% are from the General Category. In the IITs in Bhilai and Indore too, around 50% of the faculty are from the General Category.

Similarly, among the IIMs, 51% of the faculty in IIM Jammu are from the General Category, 19% are SC, 5% are ST, 23% are OBC and 2% belong to the EWS category.

For the RTI requests, only some IITs and IIMs had given the sanctioned strength and vacancy across various posts. Among the seven IIMs which had shared vacancy data, 256 vacancies were listed. Of those, 88 were for the OBC category, the highest among all categories, followed by 54 from SCs. There were 30 unfilled posts among STs too.

Among the 11 IITs which had shared vacancy data, 1,557 vacancies were listed. Of those 415 were for the OBC category and 234 were for the SCs. There were 129 unfilled posts among STs too.

The RTI requests were filed by Gowd Kiran Kumar, national president of the All India OBC Students Association

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