Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan

Draft for Circulation Not to be cited

resources, it is important that the state also commit (35%/25%/10%) the resources as per the center-state share upfront. Such a commitment from the State government will help in timely disbursement of grants for the implementation of the State higher Education plan. In addition to the state providing its share, it must also ensured that the monies are transferred to the State Councils within the time stipulated by RUSA. It is highly essential to also ensure separate fund creation and pooling systems so as to take the RUSA allocations out of the regular budgetary stipulations. Experiences in other CSSs show that sometimes states do not transfer the matching grants in time to the institutions without which no progress can be made on the plans, as the institutions do not have enough funds to embark for any activity. Hence, the timely disbursal of the matching grants through a dedicated channel is essential.
4.8.5 Filling faculty positions

The faculty forms the backbone of any good educational institution. State Universities in most cases suffer from acute faculty shortages, both in terms of poor student-faculty ratios as well as a large proportion of faculty positions (out of those sanctioned) remaining vacant. In the previous sections, we have explored the reasons behind the faculty shortages; mostly the lack of financial resources restricts the states from appointing faculty. Long bureaucratic processes for appointing faculty as well as ban on faculty recruitment in some states further exacerbate this problem. However, for any significant changes in quality, in some cases even for the routine functioning of institutions, it is necessary to appoint full time faculty in adequate numbers. Hence, the States must ensure that the faculty positions are filled on a phase-wise manner. If any state has imposed a ban on regular recruitment of faculty, the State must ensure lifting of all bans on recruitment, and requisite proof must be produced. States must also present a coherent action plan to fill up all the vacant positions in a time bound manner. This should also take into account the ideal student faculty ratio and the states must be aware of this requirement. Not more than 15% of the faculty positions can remain vacant at any time in the state. If any state has more than 15% faculty positions remaining vacant by the end of first year of RUSA, such states may lose the entitlement for any further grants. The appointments made as well as the faculty already appointed must be remunerated according to UGC regulations and the latest pay scales as prescribed. The procedural bottlenecks in the recruitment processes must also be actively eliminated.