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The Union human resources ministry has turned a blind eye to the issue of a severe staff crunch at the IITs but has leapfrogged to turn these coveted institutes into medical colleges. A look at the recent staff crisis will reveal the sorry state of affairs. IIT-Kharagpur leads the pack with 299 vacancies and is followed by IIT-Bombay with 222. For IIT-Roorkee, it is 194 while the number in IIT-Madras is 138 and IIT-Delhi 78.

There are 69 vacancies in IIT-Kanpur, 65 in IIT-Guwahati and 48 in IIT-Ropad. Many of the IITs, in order to tackle a severe cash problem, had sought permission to start courses in medicine and various expert panels constituted to look into the issue had given their nod.

But the health ministry was not keen on allowing these institutes to start medical courses directly and suggested they begin Ph.D programmes that entail collaboration between engineering and medical science.

However, another move by the government - of allowing up to 10% foreign nationals as teaching staff - could turn out to be beneficial for the IITs by enhancing the quality of education. There is one fear though. Will the IITs be able to attract the best faculty from abroad with the measly salaries that is being paid to the lecturers and professors now? If faculty from premier institutes in the US and UK are brought in with fancy pay packets, the current lot will also have to be paid on par.

Otherwise, there is likely to be turmoil that could result in a series of stirs that will take a toll on the functioning of the institutes. Moreover, will the government come forward to dole out money to pay for the higher wage bill? That seems unlikely. The only way this can be sorted out is by ramping up private sector funding.

A comments column in a premier daily has scoffed at the government’s idea, saying that the IITs cannot even run their hospital properly, so how will they be expected to run a medical college. It added this step could also lead to constant tiffs between the medical and engineering students, who would want to establish their supremacy.

Even as our government eyes to transform the IITs into the likes of MIT, Stanford, CalTech & Princeton, it is not willing to provide funds to enhance the poor infrastructure at these institutes and refurbish the shabby student hostels.

So, how will the Centre expect the IITs to bear the burden of an additional bunch of medical students and hi-tech hospitals with specialised equipment? Although additional tuition and other fees could partly offset the costs, the financial burden will have to be mainly borne by the IITs.

Moreover, the introduction of medical courses, notwithstanding a cash crunch, could dilute the brandname of the IIT as the Mecca of engineering.