Dalit History Month | IIM Ahmedabad RTI Reveals 99 of 100 Filled Faculty Posts from General Category
New Delhi – As the Bahujan community observes Dalit History Month in April, a recent Right to Information (RTI) response from the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIM-A) has brought to light the category-wise distribution of its faculty positions. This revelation comes at a time when the struggle for the implementation of reservation policies in higher education continues.
RTI Findings
The RTI application was filed by Gowd Kiran Kumar, National President of the All India OBC Students Association (AIOBCSA), on January 28. According to the data shared in the RTI response, IIM Ahmedabad has a total of 120 sanctioned faculty posts for Professors, Associate Professors, and Assistant Professors combined. Out of these, 100 posts are filled and 20 remain vacant.
According to the data, out of the 100 filled positions, 99 belong to the General category, while only 1 position is filled by an OBC candidate at the Assistant Professor level. Alarmingly, there are no filled positions reported from the SC, ST, EWS, or PwD categories.
Context of the Revelation
This RTI revelation highlights the ongoing challenges in implementing reservation policies in higher education institutions. On January 29, the Supreme Court stayed the University Grants Commission (Promotion of Equity in Higher Education Institutions) Regulations, 2026, which means that the earlier 2012 regulations remain in force.
Similar RTIs filed by Gowd Kiran Kumar in the past have shown a consistent pattern of heavy dominance of the General category in faculty positions across various Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs). The findings indicate that IIM Ahmedabad has become a den of upper-caste dominance.
Statistics on Faculty Representation
- Total number of posts: 120
- Total filled posts: 100
- General category: 99
- OBC: 1 (Assistant Professor)
- SC: 0
- ST: 0
As per the data, across 13 IIMs, 82.8% of faculty members belong to the General category, while representation for SCs stands at 5%, STs at 1%, and OBCs at 9.6%. These figures fall drastically short of the mandated quotas of 15%, 7.5%, and 27%, respectively.
Comparative Analysis with Other Institutions
A 2024 response from IIM Indore revealed that out of 150 faculty positions, a staggering number of vacancies in reserved categories have been left unaddressed. Of the filled positions, 106 are held by General Category candidates, leaving 41 positions vacant. There were only 2 Assistant Professors from the OBC category, while none were from SC or ST categories.
Furthermore, an RTI response from IIM Calcutta indicated that out of 126 sanctioned faculty positions, 73 were filled by unreserved candidates, resulting in an overfill of 20 positions beyond the allocated limit. The data also showed that 20 unfilled positions were still available for General candidates.
Other Notable Findings
Additional findings from IIM Tiruchirapalli revealed that 83.33% of OBC, 86.66% of SC, and 100% of ST faculty positions were vacant, despite all General Category positions being filled. These statistics reflect a pervasive issue across premier institutes where over 80% of faculty members belong to the General category.
Data from various IITs such as IIT Delhi, Kharagpur, Kanpur, and others reveal a consistent pattern of overrepresentation of the General category and a severe shortfall in the representation of OBC, SC, and ST communities.
Faculty Data from IITs
- IIT Palakkad: Out of 161 faculty members, 121 (75.15%) are from the General category.
- IIT BHU (Varanasi): Of the 344 faculty members, 79.36% are General, while 11.63% are OBC.
- IIT Kharagpur: 775 faculty members with 91.22% from the General category.
- IIT Gandhinagar: Among 135 faculty, 85.93% are from the General category.
- IIT Patna: Out of 390 sanctioned posts, 228 are filled, with OBC representing 38.16%.
Conclusion
The data from various IITs and IIMs clearly indicates a lack of diversity among faculty members and highlights the challenges faced in implementing reservation norms for faculty recruitment and promotion. The ongoing struggle for social justice and equitable representation in higher education remains a pressing issue that needs to be addressed.
Note: The statistics and findings presented in this article are based on RTI responses and may vary over time as institutions continue to address these disparities.
