Dalit scholar's struggles expose flaws in faculty hiring in Telugu states

Hyderabad: The working class in the country has celebrated May 1, Labour Day, with discontent, hoping for a better tomorrow. While the political parties and left organisations held high-pitched meetings on how the rights of the workers have been violated by successive governments, the story of a Dalit assistant professor sheds light on the plight of PhD holders being reduced to ‘adda coolies’ (workers picked up from labour addas on roads) in the two Telugu states.

Dr Swaroop, 40, a native of Vijayawada, had earned his doctorate in political science from the University of Hyderabad in 2022. After a year-long stint as a guest faculty, he applied for the position of an assistant professor in Mohan Babu University, Tirupati, in its school of liberal arts, which turned out to be physically non-existent after he joined the service.

There were quite a few assistant professors (economics, anthropology, sociology and political science) including an associate dean in the school of liberal arts in October 2022 who were recruited along with him.

Swaroop and the new recruits were shocked after joining their duties, when they found that there was neither that department, nor any infrastructure created to run that school in the university.

“To show the University Grants Commission that arts courses were also being offered to gain university status, faculty was recruited. But in reality these social sciences programs were not being offered. As per the National Education Policy of 2020, individual social sciences programs need to be established, and a multi-disciplinary approach should be cultivated across various disciplines. Hence, social sciences faculty could be utilised to also teach the science students. But this was not done,” claims Swaroop, speaking with Siasat.com.

In the absence of a full-fledged setup, these assistant professors were allegedly used by the university administration to escort the students and their parents into the campus, to provide counseling to them and to run office chores. This was nothing related to teaching respective subjects to the students, who were also non-existent in these streams.

A few months later, all the recruits resigned and left, except Swaroop, who worked there for a year and a half.

“After 6 months, the university administration told us that there was no work load, and they made us sit in the security office at the main gate of the campus,” recalls Swaroop.

In the absence of any recruitment of teaching faculty in the universities in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana for the past 11 years or so, Swaroop continued to work at Mohan Babu University, even as others who were recruited along with him started resigning one by one.

“Initially I was offered Rs 55,000 per month on a consolidated basis. However, to seek recognition from UGC as a state private university, it was submitted by the administration that all the faculty members were being offered central government seventh pay commission pay-scales. As per the norms, an assistant professor needs to be paid in the pay band ranging between Rs 57,500 to Rs 92,500,” Swaroop notes.

He was paid Rs 55,000 for 16 months, and in the last 2 months his salary was cut-short by 50 percent, and was paid only Rs 27,500. Pay-slips were also generated for that amount, making it difficult for him to secure a job in a good pay-scale in any other institutions.

In February 2024, he was allegedly made to resign by the university administration.

While the university claimed various reasons for its decision, Swaroop alleges discrimination, manipulation of facts and malpractice.

Swaroop approached the National Commission of Scheduled Castes, Andhra Pradesh Higher Education Regulatory and Monitoring Commission, and has submitted representations also to the chief minister of AP, minister of education, deputy superintendent of police (Tirupati west), superintendent of police (Tirupati), AP director general of police, the president of India, UGC, the Union minister of education and others, alleging injustice meted out to him.

Almost a year has passed, but there has been no relief or justice served to him.

Meanwhile, he received a call from GITAM Deemed University, Rudraram campus in Sangareddy district recently, offering him an assistant professor of political science post in the school of education.

As he has a bachelors in education, combined with a PhD, his profile was shortlisted, and he cleared the interview of the selection committee of GITAM. Along with the details of other faculty recruited, his details were also uploaded on the university’s website as a recruited faculty member.

“An affidavit was taken from me, assuring that I wouldn’t work for any other institution on a regular basis, until another regular faculty is recruited for that post,” Swaroop says.

Just couple of days ago, he received a call from the GITAM human resources department, informing him that he was not selected for that position due to low grades in his BEd.

Now Swaroop is at the cross-roads of his life, with a disturbed start in his professional career, with no recruitments in public universities of AP or Telangana in sight, and having lost trust in the private universities.

Interestingly, in Telangana the private universities are having a free hand in the absence of a regulatory mechanism to put a check on such manipulations. As per sources, the private and deemed universities in Telangana don’t come under the purview of the Telangana Council of Higher Education.

The Council has already placed a proposal before chief minister A Revanth Reddy to bring these private universities under its purview, the decision of which is pending before the chief minister, who also holds the education portfolio.

At an age where people like him are married and enjoying with their families, Swaroop remains single, despite exceptional educational credentials, though coming from an under-privileged Madiga community which has been facing discrimination since ages.

Neither SC categorisation, nor tall-talk of those in power about the empowerment of Dalits can assuage the situation which deserving professors like Swaroop continue to face, even as private universities continue to make merry, by flouting and working around the rules and guidelines in the system.

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