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By:

Quaid Najmi

4 January 2025 at 3:26:24 pm

Seventy-six mayors ruled BMC since 1931

After four years, Mumbai to salute its first citizen Kishori Pednekar Vishwanath Mahadeshwar Snehal Ambekar Sunil Prabhu Mumbai: As the date for appointing Mumbai’s First Citizen looms closer, various political parties have adopted tough posturing to foist their own person for the coveted post of Mayor – the ‘face’ of the country’s commercial capital. Ruling Mahayuti allies Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Shiv Sena have vowed that the city...

Seventy-six mayors ruled BMC since 1931

After four years, Mumbai to salute its first citizen Kishori Pednekar Vishwanath Mahadeshwar Snehal Ambekar Sunil Prabhu Mumbai: As the date for appointing Mumbai’s First Citizen looms closer, various political parties have adopted tough posturing to foist their own person for the coveted post of Mayor – the ‘face’ of the country’s commercial capital. Ruling Mahayuti allies Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Shiv Sena have vowed that the city will get a ‘Hindu Marathi’ person to head India’s richest civic body, while the Opposition Shiv Sena (UBT)-Maharashtra Navnirman Sena also harbour fond hopes of a miracle that could ensure their own person for the post. The Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) optimism stems from expectations of possible political permutations-combinations that could develop with a realignment of forces as the Supreme Court is hearing the cases involving the Shiv Sena-Nationalist Congress Party this week. Catapulted as the largest single party, the BJP hopes to install a first ever party-man as Mayor, but that may not create history. Way back in 1982-1983, a BJP leader Dr. Prabhakar Pai had served in the top post in Mumbai (then Bombay). Incidentally, Dr. Pai hailed from Udupi district of Karnataka, and his appointment came barely a couple of years after the BJP was formed (1980), capping a distinguished career as a city father, said experts. Originally a Congressman, Dr. Pai later shifted to the Bharatiya Janata Party, then back to Congress briefly, founded the Janata Seva Sangh before immersing himself in social activities. Second Administrator The 2026 Mayoral elections have evoked huge interest not only among Mumbaikars but across the country as it comes after nearly four years since the BMC was governed by an Administrator. This was only the second time in the BMC history that an Administrator was named after April 1984-May 1985. On both occasions, there were election-related issues, the first time the elections got delayed for certain reasons and the second time the polling was put off owing to Ward delimitations and OBC quotas as the matter was pending in the courts. From 1931 till 2022, Mumbai has been lorded over by 76 Mayors, men and women, hailing from various regions, backgrounds, castes and communities. They included Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Parsis, Sikhs, even a Jew, etc., truly reflecting the cosmopolitan personality of the coastal city and India’s financial powerhouse. In 1931-1932, the Mayor was a Parsi, J. B. Boman Behram, and others from his community followed like Khurshed Framji Nariman (after whom Nariman Point is named), E. A. Bandukwala, Minoo Masani, B. N. Karanjia and other bigwigs. There were Muslims like Hoosenally Rahimtoola, Sultan M. Chinoy, the legendary Yusuf Meherally, Dr. A. U. Memon and others. The Christian community got a fair share of Mayors with Joseph A. D’Souza – who was Member of Constituent Assembly representing Bombay Province for writing-approving the Constitution of India, M. U. Mascarenhas, P. A. Dias, Simon C. Fernandes, J. Leon D’Souza, et al. A Jew Elijah Moses (1937-1938) and a Sikh M. H. Bedi (1983-1984), served as Mayors, but post-1985, for the past 40 years, nobody from any minority community occupied the august post. During the silver jubilee year of the post, Sulochana M. Modi became the first woman Mayor of Mumbai (1956), and later with tweaks in the rules, many women ruled in this post – Nirmala Samant-Prabhavalkar (1994-1995), Vishakha Raut (997-1998), Dr. Shubha Raul (March 2007-Nov. 2009), Shraddha Jadhav (Dec. 2009-March 2012), Snehal Ambedkar (Sep. 2014-March 2017). The last incumbent (before the Administrator) was a government nurse, Kishori Pednekar (Nov. 2019-March 2022) - who earned the sobriquet of ‘Florence Nightingale’ of Mumbai - as she flitted around in her full white uniform at the height of the Covid-19 Pandemic, earning the admiration of the citizens. Mumbai Mayor – high-profile post The Mumbai Mayor’s post is considered a crucial step in the political ladder and many went on to become MLAs, MPs, state-central ministers, a Lok Sabha Speaker, Chief Ministers and union ministers. The formidable S. K. Patil was Mayor (1949-1952) and later served in the union cabinets of PMs Jawaharlal Nehru, Lah Bahadur Shastri and Indira Gandhi; Dahyabhai V. Patel (1954-1955) was the son of India’s first Home Minister Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel; Manohar Joshi (1976-1977) became the CM of Maharashtra, later union minister and Speaker of Lok Sabha; Chhagan Bhujbal (1985-1986 – 1990-1991) became a Deputy CM.

Govt Medical Colleges Battle Faculty Shortage

The National Medical Commission’s new rules allow non-teaching hospitals to step in, but experts warn of risks.

In a significant and far-reaching policy shift aimed at tackling the shortage of teaching faculty in government-run medical colleges across the country, the National Medical Commission (NMC) has introduced a new set of regulations. These updated norms now allow non-teaching government hospitals that have a bed capacity of more than 220 to be officially designated as medical teaching institutions, thereby expanding the pool of eligible facilities that can contribute to medical education and training.


Once these hospitals are officially notified, doctors currently serving in them will become eligible to take on roles as teaching faculty for both undergraduate and postgraduate medical courses. This important policy shift is anticipated to offer a much-needed lifeline to numerous government medical colleges that are presently struggling to maintain their recognition status due to severe shortages in qualified teaching staff.


However, members of the medical community have expressed growing concerns regarding the practical implementation of these new regulations at the ground level. A number of these non-teaching government hospitals already grapple with their own staff shortages. And the added burden of academic responsibilities could place a further strain on an already overstretched healthcare workforce. Experts have cautioned that while the regulation may appear to address faculty shortages on paper, it risks compromising the overall quality of medical education. This risk can only be mitigated if it is supported by concrete steps in recruitment, capacity building, and adequate infrastructure development.


The ongoing faculty crisis in India’s medical education system has reached an alarming level. Despite repeated advertisements, recruitment drives, and urgent appeals by state authorities, a large number of teaching posts in government medical colleges continue to remain vacant across the country. A recent evaluation conducted by the Maharashtra University of Health Sciences (MUHS) highlighted the severity of the problem. It revealed that more than 50 per cent of sanctioned teaching positions in several state-run medical colleges remain unfilled. The situation is even more critical in newly established institutions — for instance, in the government medical college at Ratnagiri, a mere 18 per cent of the approved faculty positions have been filled.


According to the norms laid down by the National Medical Commission (NMC), every medical college is required to maintain at least 90 per cent of its sanctioned teaching staff to retain its official recognition. Falling below this critical benchmark can have serious consequences, including the potential cancellation of the college’s recognition status—an outcome that would particularly affect the continuation and approval of postgraduate programmes. The gravity of the situation had left many institutions on the brink, prompting urgent intervention by the NMC.

 

Previously, only non-teaching government hospitals with a bed capacity exceeding 330 were eligible to be considered for designation as teaching institutions. This higher threshold significantly limited the number of hospitals that could contribute to medical education.


However, with the revised guidelines now lowering the minimum requirement to 220 beds, a much larger number of government hospitals across the country can now qualify for teaching status.


Further, under the new Medical Institutions (Qualifications of Faculty) Regulations, 2025, the NMC has relaxed several norms to broaden the faculty base: Specialists with at least 10 years of clinical experience can now be directly appointed as associate professors. Doctors with 2 years of experience can be appointed as Assistant Professors even without completing a senior residency. Doctors holding super-specialty degrees but working in broad-speciality departments will now be formally recognised as faculty in their respective speciality departments. To start a postgraduate course, earlier norms required three professors and one senior resident. Now, just two faculty members and two students are sufficient. A simultaneous launch of undergraduate and postgraduate programmes is now permitted.


This sweeping regulatory overhaul is closely aligned with the Union Government’s announcement in the Budget 2025, which outlined an ambitious plan to add 75,000 new medical education seats across the country over the next five years. One of the most significant obstacles to achieving this target has been the persistent and widespread shortage of qualified teaching faculty, a challenge that the new policy changes are specifically designed to address.


The NMC has defended its decision, stating that the emphasis has shifted from rigid service-duration criteria to teaching ability, experience, and academic merit. The move is also seen as a strategic effort to better utilise the existing workforce within government healthcare services.


While the reforms promise to expand medical education infrastructure, their success will depend on how effectively these new faculty appointments are integrated without compromising the quality of training and patient care.


(The writer is a senior journalist based in Kolhapur.)

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