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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.”

Sweet Power Plays

BJP

In Maharashtra, the political landscape is deeply entwined with the sugar industry, a sector that has historically bolstered the ambitions of political figures from Vasantdada Patil to Sharad Pawar. With less than a month to go for the Assembly polls, Ajit Pawar’s hold over sugar factories and cooperatives in western Maharashtra will now be put to the test with the Mahayuti coalition, particularly the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), banking on the Deputy CM to score big for the ruling alliance in this region.


It is almost axiomatic to note that the cooperative sugar sector has been the backbone of the state’s rural economy in western Maharashtra, traditionally dominated by the Congress and the undivided Nationalist Congress Party (NCP). The BJP’s ascent in 2014 and the subsequent decade was marked by shifting allegiances in this belt, with former Congress leaders such as Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil, Vijaysinh Mohite-Patil and Harshavardhan Patil (to name a few) switching allegiances to the saffron party, reflecting a trend of fluid political loyalties among sugar magnates. Harshavardhan Patil recently switched back to Sharad Pawar’s NCP (SP) as did Mohite-Patil, Pawar’s old confidante who has served as the state’s Deputy CM in the past.


As Ajit Pawar’s faction emerges from a split NCP, the political stakes have transformed. Ajit Pawar, with his extensive ties to both private and cooperative sugar mills. has previously held influential positions within entities personifying the prosperous economy of this region, like the Maharashtra State Cooperative Bank. The cooperative sugar network is crucial for electoral success here, holding sway over more than 70 of the state’s 288 Assembly seats.


Until the 2009 Assembly elections, the Congress and NCP held a dominant position in Western Maharashtra, both in terms of seat count and vote share. However, since 2014, the BJP has made significant inroads in the region, although it has not yet surpassed the combined seat count of Congress and NCP. In the 2019 Assembly elections, out of the 70 seats in Western Maharashtra, the undivided NCP secured 27 seats, the Congress 12, while the BJP managed to win 20 seats and the undivided Shiv Sena took five.


Today, Sharad Pawar’s NCP (SP) faction has only seven MLAs from the sugar belt as opposed to Ajit Pawar’s faction, which commands 26. Yet, the Lok Sabha election, which saw Sharad Pawar administer a severe drubbing to the Mahayuti, particularly Ajit’s faction and the BJP, sees a buoyant NCP (SP) confidence of reasserting its dominance in this belt.


To break Ajit’s stranglehold over sugar cooperatives here, the canny Sharad Pawar is now promoting fresh faces to combat the ruling NCP. In Ambegaon, after Dilip Walse-Patil shifted to Ajit’s faction, Sharad Pawar is now promoting Devdatta Nikam, a longtime manager of the Bhimashankar cooperative sugar mill founded by Walse-Patil. Likewise, in Kolhapur’s Kagal constituency, Pawar senior is fielding royal Samarjeet Ghatge to challenge the Ajit camp’s senior leader Hasan Mushrif, while in Ahmednagar’s Akole, he has picked Amit Bhangre.


For it is in western Maharashtra that the stakes for Ajit are the highest and the outcomes uncertain—much like the fluctuating price of sugar itself.

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