Magadh University teachers demand 30% hike in pay

GAYA: Magadh University teachers have demanded a flat pay hike of 30% and enhancement of retirement age from the present 65 years to 70 years. The demand has been made through a presentation at the UGC regional workshop organised by the seventh pay review committee of the university body. The workshop, held in Benaras Hindu University, was attended by vice chancellors, teachers' association members and other university functionaries of the eastern zone.
MU Post Graduate Teachers' Association president Sunil Singh made the presentation containing 19-point charter of demands regarding improvement in the service condition of university teachers. Singh also demanded that Ph.D degree holders be exempted from clearing national eligibility test (NET) for being eligible for appointment to the post of assistant professors.
The other demands included scrapping of the present academic performance index (API) and revival of the earlier self-appraisal system. The presentation called the API as arbitrary, impractical and inequitable.
The demand for 30% pay hike is more than double of what the central government employees were given on the basis of the seventh pay commission report. The effective hike in the take home emoluments of the central government employees comes to about 14%.
Besides 30% pay hike and increase in the superannuation age, the MU teachers have demanded significant increase in the house rent allowance. The MU presentation also demanded hike in annual increment from the existing 3% of the basic pay to 5%. A demand for an annual grant of Rs 2 lakh per teacher was also made. The MU teachers demanded that the gratuity amount be increased from the existing Rs 10 lakh to Rs 25 lakh.