After the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bhubaneswar, IIT Gandhinagar in Gujarat joins the list of those violating the reservation policy of faculty members hailing from Other Backward Classes (OBC), Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (ST). Recently, IIT Bhubaneswar made headlines for having a dismal representation of SC/ST and OBC faculty members.

These revelations were learnt from the RTI filed by All India OBC Students Association (AIOBCSA) National President Kiran Kumar Gowd. According to IIT Gandhinagar's response dated September 10, there are zero OBC, SC, and ST professors.

Moreover, among the 135 total professors at the institute out of the allocated strength of 190 professors, the professors under these marginalised categories are

OBC category

Associate Professor: 3

Assistant Professor: 5

SC category

Associate Professor: 1

Assistant Professor: 6

ST category

Associate Professor: 0

Assistant Professor: 4

According to the RTI, the category-wise vacancies in the institute are:

UR: 4

OBC: 27

SC: 11

ST: 5

EWS (Economically Weaker Section): 4

PwD (Persons with Disabilities): 4

IIT Bhubaneswar

According to the RTI dated September 6, IIT Bhubaneswar has 12.96%, 5.6% and 0.4% of representation of faculty members hailing from OBC, SC and ST categories, respectively.

Other IITs which were known for flouting the reservation policy earlier are IIT Madras and IIT Bombay. Reports suggest that the reservation policy at these premier institutions as per norms needs to be:

SC: 15%

ST: 7.5%

OBC: 27%

Upset over the matter, AIOBCSA National President Kiran Kumar Gowd urged the central government to take immediate action and take measures to encourage inclusivity.