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By:

Bhalchandra Chorghade

11 August 2025 at 1:54:18 pm

Healing Beyond the Clinic

Dr Kirti Samudra “If you want to change the world, go home and love your family.” This thought by Mother Teresa finds reflection in the life of Panvel-based diabetologist Dr Kirti Samudra, who has spent decades caring not only for her family but also thousands of patients who see her as their guide. As we mark International Women’s Day, stories like hers remind us that women of substance often shape society quietly through compassion, resilience and dedication. Doctor, mother, homemaker,...

Healing Beyond the Clinic

Dr Kirti Samudra “If you want to change the world, go home and love your family.” This thought by Mother Teresa finds reflection in the life of Panvel-based diabetologist Dr Kirti Samudra, who has spent decades caring not only for her family but also thousands of patients who see her as their guide. As we mark International Women’s Day, stories like hers remind us that women of substance often shape society quietly through compassion, resilience and dedication. Doctor, mother, homemaker, mentor and philanthropist — Dr Samudra has balanced many roles with commitment. While she manages a busy medical practice, her deeper calling has always been service. For her, medicine is not merely a profession but a responsibility towards the people who depend on her guidance. Nagpur to Panvel Born and raised in Nagpur, Dr Samudra completed her medical education there before moving to Mumbai in search of better opportunities. The early years were challenging. With determination, she and her husband Girish Samudra, an entrepreneur involved in underwater pipeline projects, chose to build their life in Panvel. At a time when the town was still developing and healthcare awareness was limited, she decided to make it both her workplace and home. What began with modest resources gradually grew into a trusted medical practice built on long-standing relationships with patients. Fighting Diabetes Recognising the growing threat of diabetes, Dr Samudra dedicated her career to treating and educating patients about the disease. Over the years, she has registered nearly 30,000 patients from Panvel and nearby areas. Yet she believes treatment alone is not enough. “Diabetes is a lifelong disease. Medicines are important, but patient education is equally critical. If people understand the condition, they can manage it better and prevent complications,” she says. For more than 27 years, she has organised an Annual Patients’ Education Programme, offering diagnostic tests at concessional rates and sessions on lifestyle management. Family, Practice With her husband frequently travelling for business, much of the responsibility of raising their two children fell on Dr Samudra. Instead of expanding her practice aggressively, she kept it close to home and adjusted her OPD timings around her children’s schedules. “It was not easy,” she recalls, “but I wanted to fulfil my responsibilities as a mother while continuing to serve my patients.” Beyond Medicine Today, Dr Samudra also devotes time to social initiatives through the Bharat Vikas Parishad, where she serves as Regional Head. Her projects include  Plastic Mukta Vasundhara , which promotes reduced use of single-use plastic, and  Sainik Ho Tumchyasathi , an initiative that sends Diwali  faral  (snack hamper) to Indian soldiers posted at the borders. Last year alone, 15,000 boxes were sent to troops. Despite decades of service, she measures success not in wealth but in goodwill. “I may not have earned huge money,” she says, “but I have earned immense love and respect from my patients. That is something I will always be grateful for.”

Dhaka’s Dangerous Drift

Muhammad Yunus’s theatrics distract from Bangladesh’s perilous geopolitical and democratic drift.

If Professor Muhammad Yunus hoped to steer Bangladesh into a calm democratic harbour, his tenure as interim leader is instead dragging the country into stormier waters. The Nobel Peace Prize winner and social entrepreneur, once celebrated for bringing microfinance to the world’s poorest, now seems overwhelmed by the chaos of real-world governance. His threat to resign last week may have been meant to jolt political parties into cooperation. Instead, it has exposed the limits of moral authority in a deeply polarised nation teetering on the edge of political and economic breakdown. In the event, Yunus has decided to stay on, if reports are to be believed.


Bangladesh’s interim government, in place since last August following mass student protests that ended Sheikh Hasina’s increasingly autocratic rule, was always going to face formidable challenges. But Yunus has compounded the difficulties by indulging in public melodrama when firmness and discretion are needed. His repeated hints at resignation, his open frustrations with political factions, and his cabinet reshuffles betray a leadership style more academic seminar than statecraft.


The political climate is combustible. The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), long antagonistic toward both Hasina’s Awami League and the military, has seized on Yunus’s equivocation to press harder for concessions, notably a fixed election date. BNP supporters continue to flood the streets of Dhaka, demanding justice for what they claim was the fraudulent 2020 mayoral election, a lingering scar from the Awami League’s rule. Yunus, by promising elections by June 2026 but offering no fixed roadmap, has given his critics ample ammunition.


Behind the scenes, more serious confrontations are brewing. General Waker-Uz-Zaman, the army chief, has insisted that elections be held by December 2025. The military’s growing impatience is not simply about scheduling. A rift is widening between Yunus’s civilian administration and the armed forces over several strategic issues, notably the proposed “humanitarian corridor” into Myanmar’s Rakhine state, a move opposed by the military. Yunus’s appointment of a National Security Adviser, bypassing the military chain of command, appears a deliberate attempt to curtail army influence. But instead of strengthening civilian control, it has only provoked institutional resistance.


Yunus’ relationship with the Awami League soured more than a decade ago when he briefly floated the idea of forming a political party. Since then, he has lived in a space between admiration abroad and suspicion at home. His appointment last year as head of the interim government was welcomed by Western capitals and a fatigued civil society but not by Bangladesh’s political class, which sees him as an outsider with little grasp of local power dynamics.


Last week’s resignation theatrics resemble less a democratic reckoning than a courtly drama. Leadership demands not just moral clarity, but strategic acumen and the ability to manage conflicting interests. Yunus has so far displayed neither.


The geopolitical stakes are rising. With India cooling relations following Hasina’s ouster, Bangladesh finds itself increasingly isolated. Economic growth forecasts have been slashed. The World Bank warns that Bangladesh may experience its slowest growth in nearly four decades. Foreign investment is stagnant, and the government’s fiscal leeway is narrowing. China, which courted Hasina with infrastructure promises, is watching the chaos with measured detachment. Meanwhile, the U.S., an early champion of Yunus, is more preoccupied with global flashpoints elsewhere.


Bangladesh sits at the crossroads of South and Southeast Asia, straddling fragile migration routes, Islamic militancy risks, and a region-wide arms race. Its fate affects the stability of not just India’s eastern flank, but also the Bay of Bengal’s maritime security. The interim government’s appeasement (nay, courting of) Islamists risks turning the situation into a pressure cooker.


Bangladesh needs a technocratic government, not a theatrical one. Yunus must understand that the credibility of a transition government depends not on his personal aura, but on his ability to facilitate consensus among political actors and institutions. If he is unable to mediate with the military, communicate clearly with the public, or uphold the authority of civilian institutions, then the real question is whether he still deserves to lead.

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