BHUBANESWAR: State university teachers will begin an agitation from July 23 to press for an increase in the retirement age from 60 to 65. Their colleagues in central universities retire at 65."If the state government does not fulfil our demands, we will wear black badges to work between July 23 and July 31. Our members in every state university will stage an hour-long dharna from August 1 to 7. Then, we will organize a relay dharna from August 16 till August 31. We will also stage protests in front of the assembly on the issue," said convener of Federation of University Teachers' Association (Fouta), Santosh Tripathy.The teachers, organized under the aegis of Fouta, held a meeting at Utkal University on Sunday and said they would continue with the agitation if the state government did not fulfil their demands.Representatives of the teachers' associations of various state universities attended the meeting.The teachers also demanded that the government increase their salary according to the recommendations of the University Grants Commission (UGC) in 2016. The Union HRD ministry had approved the Seventh UGC pay scale and sent it for implementation in the states. " Odisha has started the process, but it has been delayed. The government should take immediate steps to increase our pay," said Tripathy.He said almost all the states had increased the superannuation age of university teachers from 60 to 65. "If the state government follows UGC norms and best practices, it should also increase the retirement age for us to 65," he asked. Tripathy said the state had an acute shortage of university teachers and guides for PhD scholars. An increase in the retirement age of these teachers would partly solve the manpower crisis, he added.The federation is also planning to stage a dharna on the occasion of Teachers' Day if the state failed to address their issues. It had also staged a dharna on September 5, 2015, to seek an increase in the retirement age.Sarbanarayan Mishra, general secretary of OUAT Teachers' Association, said the government would not have to bear any significant financial burden if the retirement age was hiked.The teachers also want the implementation of a career advancement scheme that would ensure time-bound and assured promotions and re-designation of reader to associate professor.

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