Overview
- MTech and first‑year PhD students must log at least 50 hours a week, staff are set at 40, and senior PhD scholars are expected to match supervisors’ 70–80 hour weeks though only a 50‑hour minimum is officially recorded.
- Attendance has been tracked in pilot mode since Oct. 16, with department‑wide implementation scheduled for Nov. 1.
- Entry check‑ins rely on RFID access cards and facial‑recognition devices, and time at shared facilities such as NNFC, MNCF and the Microscopy Facility must be logged separately.
- Students have protested and petitioned the director on Oct. 14, citing stress, privacy risks and what they call “spy‑like surveillance”; a council survey found 97% deem mandatory hours unhelpful and 96% report added stress.
- Department chair Mayank Shrivastava says the rules improve transparency and accountability, while an IISc tender for 7,000 access cards has heightened fears of an institute‑wide rollout and a review is expected later in the semester.