Mumbai: Luring requires no effort if the perks are high and in the field of employment what does one need if he is placed in one of the prestigious centrally funded technical institutions (collectively called CFTIs) of the country.

It is needless to say that, the CFTIs are regarded globally as centres of excellence and is considered to be India's ticket to making it big in the industrial and entrepreneurial world.

However, here comes a shocking news. The nine CFTIs, which include the esteemed Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) are currently facing a serious faculty crunch of more than 3000 professors, that is, about one-third of the sanctioned strength of the institutes.

The Union Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry has rather a grimmer scenario to offer. The statistics for instance, reveal that one-third of the teaching posts at the IITs and National Institutes of Technology (NITs) are lying vacant.

The premier Indian Institute of Science (IISc) at Bangalore does not have even half the teachers it needs; the same situation prevails at the three Schools of Planning and Architecture (SPAs).

In fact, all the CFTIs - whether it is the lone Indian School of Mines (ISM) at Dhanbad or the NITs dotted across the country - are currently functioning without the requisite number of teachers.

The IITs have the largest share of the crunch with an overall deficit of 1284 teachers out of which 222 teachers fall short at IIT- Bombay alone.

The dean of the faculty affairs at IIT-Bombay, A.K. Suresh, explains the crunch due to their policy of rolling recruitment where the post is filled as soon as a suitable candidate is found.

"Moreover, we hire the faculty on contractual basis and take care of their immediate needs," he added.

The elite engineering institute, IIT-B, by 2014 will reach its expected maximum capacity of 8000 students and by then it would have to ensure enough number of professors to maintain a healthy student-teacher ratio.

The situation runs out to a similar phase at IISc, which is a pioneer at the science and education front in contemporary technologically important fields, and the SPA, a specialised university, the only one of its kind that provides training in different aspects of human habitat and environment.

The effect of the faculty crisis can be easily gauged in these institutions of repute, which are the cutting edge of technical knowledge pursuit.

Experts have also mulled over the grim situation and feel that the inability to find adequate and qualified professors may seriously hamper India's ability to groom top-notch engineers, scientists and businessmen of the future.

The government has been trying hard to recruit qualified individuals to teach at CFTIs but has found the going tough.

Very few students who graduate from the CFTIs come back to teach, preferring to move abroad or accept lucrative jobs in the private sector.