Meeting attended by:

S. Raghothama (SIF)

C. Shivakumara (SSCU)

A. Suyambu (EE)

Prabhu Nott (CHE)

Giridhar M. (CHE)

Vathsala P. G. (BC)

T. Shankar (CSA)

A. M. Umarji (MRC)

Ram Seshadri (SSCU)

Diptiman Sen (CTS)

The primary purpose of the meeting was to decide issues that should be raised with the director in the next meeting. These issues may be separately raised with the registrar.

1. The director in the last meeting said that if faculty are satisfied with the new housing near the Janatha Bazar, this housing could be used as a model for further construction. The houses have not been ocuppied so far so it is not possible at the present time (and may remain difficult for the next six or so months) to find details of what might be unsatisfactory in the new housing. However, two things are clear.

1. There is very little area for parking.
2. There is very little spacing between the houses and the houses have not been staggered so that the houses have limited privacy.

1. We need to seek once again, an assurance from the director that the 45 acres of garbage cleared will release about 10 acres for housing (between 20 and 30 % of the area freed).
2. The unhappiness of the faculty with respect to Unit III is twofold regarding housing:

1. The allotment is inefficient despite repeated asurances. This is revealed for example by the time it is taking to allot the new houses.
2. The totally inappropriate manner in which the person in charge of Unit III responds to queries and requests particularly from young faculty. Many of the younger faculty of this institute have been subject to the arrogance of the person in charge of Unit III.

1. Telephones remain a serious problem. We must find out from the committee responsible about steps being taken before approaching the director.
2. Three letters have been written to Professor Seshan (who is in charge of Health Insurance) detaining FA misgivings with the newly introduced scheme (which is felt to be unsustainable). No response has been received.
3. There has been a recent rash of young faculty leaving the Institute. From the Electrical Sciences Division, this number totals 13 (our estimate) in the last few years. It is of great concern to the FA that (i) The Institute at large seems indifferent to these losses and (ii) there seems to be very little being done to compensate such attrition with new faculty hiring.

The FA has some suggestions regarding new hiring as well as faculty attrition.

o The hiring process should be more proactive.

o Start-up grants for young faculty should be boosted to at least Rs. 20 lakhs (for new faculty starting experimental programs).

The possibility of continuing funding into the second year should be looked into.

o Reasons for faculty unhappiness should be examined. These include poor housing and school/creche, a slow bureaucracy, poor infrastructure etc.

4. The FA is concerned with the deterioration of the library and the guest house.
5. The bridge/underpass connecting the KV campus to the main campus needs attenting to.
6. The promised light/sign at the New BEL Road entrance has not seen the execution.