Dr Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank asks IIT Directors to hold a special placement drive for students with cancelled job offers

The All IITs’ Placement Committee (AIPC), in anticipation of problems, has reached out to all recruiting companies. They requested them not to rescind placement offers made for the academic year 2019-20. IIT Delhi director Ramgopal Rao personally wrote a letter to all recruiters not rescind job offers now. In the letter, he wrote to the recruiters, asking them to keep their offers. He also stated that IITians were bright young minds that can help the companies bounce back from the situation faster.

By March this year, the country’s top three Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs), had secured job offers for almost 4,000 students. Placement season is usually celebration time on campus but this year it is different.

Due to the Coronavirus Pandemic, a leading US-based consultancy rescinded its offer to 11 students across IIT-Delhi, IIT-Kanpur and IIT-Madras and six at IIM-Calcutta this week. Institutes have seen this as an early warning sign across campuses. This out a question mark over jobs secured by the graduating batch of these top engineering and business schools.

The HRD Minister has announced a special placement drive for IIT students whose offers were withdrawn due to Coronavirus outbreak. This move might bring happiness to the students but we still await the details. HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal assured the students that they would get a chance to appear for new placements.

I have also asked all IIT directors to hold special placement drive for the students affected by cancelled job offers.

Remember, we are in this together & the only way to win this battle against #CoronavirusPandemic is to fight it together as one!@PMOIndia@PIB_India

— Dr Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank (@DrRPNishank) April 8, 2020 

India has seen unemployment as one of the biggest concerns brought on to the world due to Coronavirus. Economies have spiralled under the stress of the pandemic and many people are now jobless. This has affected the young graduates the worst. In the latest numbers, within two weeks of the National Lockdown, the unemployment numbers in India tripled to about 24 per cent.

In the wake of special placement drive, IIM-Bangalore will reach out to recruiters, who were interested in participating in the placement drive this year but the schools turned them away. They will check if these companies are still keen on hiring.

One of the IIM directors told Indian Express that although US companies are faster to rescind offers, Indian companies take a longer time to come to such decisions. But, most of the IIT students have been picked by global recruiters, he added, thus it will be chaotic.