PREZ, PM TO STALL IIM BILL IN ITS CURRENT FORM

Concerned over the “missing provisions” for reservation in appointment and admissions in the IIM Bill 2017 as a “constitutional violation”, a global network of the alumni of the prestigious Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) have sought “urgent intervention” of President Ram Nath Kovind and PM Narendra Modi in the matter.

In a letter, they urged inclusion of clear provisions in the bill for reservation in appointment of faculties and admission of students to various doctoral programmes at the premier B-schools.

The bill that seeks to provide power to award degrees, along with greater autonomy to the premier B-Schools is pending in the Rajya Sabha, after approval from the Lok Sabha. The letter states that IIMs do not provide “any reservation” benefit to candidates applying for executive MBA programs and fellow programs .

“Due to these acute shortcomings, we believe that the IIMs are not ready for autonomy and rushing through the bill in its current form must be avoided,” the Global IIM Alumni Network, with members working across the world, said in the letter.

It points to the diversity data, obtained under the Right to Information Act from top 10 IIMs and states that it shows “severe under-representation” of the Scheduled Castes (SCs), Scheduled Tribes (STs) and Other Backward Classes (OBC) groups at teaching and research levels.