Data obtained through the Right to Information Act reveals that faculty members from Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST),and Other Backward Classes (OBC) constitute 13.1% of teaching staff at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur and 21.9% at IIT (BHU) Varanasi .
At IIT-Kanpur, the total number of faculty stands at 581, with 76 members belonging to these communities. Specifically,this includes 25 from SC, five from ST,and 46 from OBC. In contrast, IIT-BHU has 374 faculty members,with 82 from these groups—30 SC,five ST, and 47 OBC.
However,representation diminishes significantly at professor level across both institutes. At IIT-Kanpur, none of the 257 professors are from SC or ST backgrounds, while only three are OBC. overwhelming majority, 254 professors,are from the unreserved category.
IIT-BHU's figures are similarly stark. Of its 129 professors,11 are SC, one is ST,and two are OBC, leaving 113 from unreserved category. The data indicates pronounced disparity in representation, particularly at the higher academic ranks.
Assistant professors show a different trend . At IIT-Kanpur, among 193 assistant professors,17 are SC, four are ST,and 36 are OBC . situation is comparable at IIT-BHU,where out of 157 assistant professors, 15 are SC,four ST, and 38 OBC. This suggests that while entry-level positions are more diverse, the upper echelons remain largely homogeneous.
In the associate professor category, IIT-Kanpur has 128 members,including eight SC,one ST,and seven OBC. Meanwhile,IIT-BHU has 88 associate professors,with four SC and seven OBC,but no ST representation.
Both institutes have a significant number of vacant faculty positions. IIT-Kanpur has 957 sanctioned faculty roles, with 376 currently unfilled . IIT-BHU has 608 sanctioned positions, with 234 vacancies. IIT-BHU's administration noted that they operate under a "flexi cadre system," complicating the calculation of category-wise sanctioned and vacant positions.
The data was released in response to two separate RTI applications submitted in January by Gowd Kiran Kumar, a resident of Hyderabad. IIT-Kanpur's response was issued on February 6,while IIT-BHU provided its data on February 24.
When approached for comments, IIT-Kanpur officials expressed concerns about the accuracy of the data. Director Manindra Agrawal stated that information was "imprecise" and promised a more detailed response soon. In contrast,IIT-BHU's Public Relations Officer Utkarsh Shrivastava confirmed accuracy of their data but indicated that additional details would be available later.
The findings raise questions about the inclusivity of India's premier engineering institutions and highlight the ongoing challenges in achieving equitable representation among faculty members from historically marginalized communities.
