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By:

Asha Tripathi

14 April 2025 at 1:35:28 pm

Stop Comparing, Start Growing

Success does not grow in comparison; it grows in focus. Over the years, women have made significant strides in every sphere of life. From managing homes to leading organisations, from nurturing families to building successful careers, women have proved that strength and resilience are deeply rooted in their nature. Financial independence has become a significant milestone for many women today, bringing with it confidence, dignity, and the freedom to shape one’s own destiny. However, along...

Stop Comparing, Start Growing

Success does not grow in comparison; it grows in focus. Over the years, women have made significant strides in every sphere of life. From managing homes to leading organisations, from nurturing families to building successful careers, women have proved that strength and resilience are deeply rooted in their nature. Financial independence has become a significant milestone for many women today, bringing with it confidence, dignity, and the freedom to shape one’s own destiny. However, along with growth has come another silent challenge — the tendency to constantly observe, compare, and sometimes even compete with the journeys of others. But a crucial question arises: Is it necessary to track the growth of others in order to grow ourselves? From my personal experience of more than two decades as an entrepreneur, I have realised something very powerful — true growth begins the moment we stop looking sideways and start looking within. A Small Beginning I had a flourishing career of teaching abroad, but when I restarted my career after moving back to India, my beginning was extremely small. My very first assignment was a simple home tuition for a single student, and the amount I earned was meagre. There was nothing glamorous about it. No recognition, no large batches, no big earnings. Just one student and one opportunity. But instead of worrying about how others were doing, how many students they had, or how much they were earning, I made a conscious decision—my only focus would be on improving myself. I focused on teaching better, preparing better, and becoming more disciplined and consistent. And slowly, without even realising it, things began to grow. One student became two, two became a small group, and gradually, over the years, the work expanded beyond what I had initially imagined. Looking back today, I can confidently say that the growth did not happen because I competed with others. It happened because I competed with myself yesterday. Comparison Creates Noise When we keep watching others' journeys too closely, we unknowingly divert our own energy. Comparison creates unnecessary noise in our minds. It brings doubts, insecurities, and sometimes even negativity. Instead of walking our own path with clarity, we start questioning our speed, our direction, and our worth. True success grows through focus, not comparison. Every woman has her own story, her own pace, and her own struggles that others may never see. The path of one person can never be identical to another's. So comparing journeys is like comparing two different rivers flowing towards the same ocean — each with its own route, its own curves, and its own rhythm. As women, we already carry many responsibilities. We balance emotions, relationships, work, and society's expectations. In such a life, the last thing we need is the burden of comparison with one another. Instead, what we truly need is support for each other. When women encourage women, something extraordinary happens. Confidence grows. Opportunities multiply. Strength becomes collective rather than individual. There is enough space in the world for every woman to create her own identity. Each of us can build our own niche without stepping on someone else's path. Choose Encouragement Envy weakens us, but encouragement empowers us. Rather than questioning how someone else is progressing, we can ask a more meaningful question: "How can I grow a little better than I was yesterday?" Lift As You Rise Today, after twenty years of experience, the most valuable lesson I have learned is simple yet profound — focus on your own work with honesty and dedication, and success will quietly follow you. We, women, are capable, resilient, and creative. We do not need to pull each other down or compete in unhealthy ways. Instead, we can lift each other up while building our own dreams. Because when one woman rises, she does not rise alone. She inspires many others to believe that they can rise, too. And perhaps that is the most beautiful form of success. (The writer is a tutor based in Thane. Views personal.)

Vacancies, Not Merit, Driving PG Admissions Policy

Anger over relaxed admission norms sparks nationwide backlash; the deeper structural failures demand scrutiny.

A large number of vacant seats in the third round of counselling for postgraduate medical admissions has pushed policymakers into a controversial corner. In a bid to fill these seats, the Medical Counselling Committee’s decision to sharply lower cut-offs has triggered widespread criticism from across the medical fraternity. The National Medical Commission (NMC) has publicly expressed its disapproval, professional associations of doctors have warned of serious consequences for patient care, and the matter has now reached the Supreme Court. Against this backdrop, a fundamental question confronts the Union government: will it prioritise the quality of medical education or dilute standards merely to fill vacant seats?


For the 2025–26 academic year, India has 80,291 postgraduate medical seats. Of the 31,215 seats available in the third round of counselling, as many as 17,623 remained vacant. In addition, 11,837 ‘virtual’ seats created due to upgradation also went unfilled, even after 135 new seats were added. Traditionally, postgraduate medical admissions have been intensely competitive. This year’s unprecedented vacancies, however, prompted the Medical Counselling Committee to relax eligibility norms for the third round.


As a result, the cut-off for the general category has been lowered from the 50th percentile to the 7th percentile, while for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes it has been reduced to zero percentile — effectively allowing candidates with minus 40 marks to qualify. Given that the NEET-PG examination follows a negative marking system, even candidates with negative scores out of 800 can now become eligible for admission.


This decision is as startling as it is risky. Allowing candidates who have effectively failed the examination to enter postgraduate medical programmes raises serious concerns about academic standards and, more critically, about the quality of future patient care. Medical professionals across the country have flagged precisely this issue. The government must now decide whether it wishes to produce merely degree-holding doctors or invest in building a healthcare system strengthened by rigorously trained specialists.


The controversy also demands a more uncomfortable introspection: why did the system reach a point where such drastic dilution of cut-offs appeared necessary? The answer lies less with the students and more with structural deficiencies in medical education.


In the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic and the acute shortage of medical manpower it exposed, the Union government accelerated the expansion of medAical seats across the country. However, this expansion has not been matched by a commensurate investment in faculty strength and infrastructure


Maharashtra, often considered among the better-performing states, offers a telling example. Of its 25 government medical colleges, 10 have less than 50 per cent of the required teaching staff. At the newly established Ratnagiri Government Medical College, faculty availability stands at just 11.76 per cent of NMC norms, with not a single department having a professor. According to a report by the Maharashtra University of Health Sciences, not a single new teacher has been appointed across 25 medical colleges. The NMC has also issued show-cause notices to several states, including Tamil Nadu, over inadequate faculty strength.


Such shortages inevitably place an excessive burden on existing faculty, directly affecting the quality of training. If this is the condition at the undergraduate level, it is hardly surprising that students struggle to meet minimum benchmarks in postgraduate entrance examinations. When the source itself is depleted, the outcome is bound to reflect that deficit. Seen in this light, vacant postgraduate seats are not an aberration but a symptom of deeper systemic neglect — and a warning about how much quality has already been compromised in undergraduate medical education.

The issue is now under judicial scrutiny, with a public interest litigation challenging the relaxation of NEET-PG cut-offs. The petition argues that the very purpose of the exam — introduced to curb donation-based admissions and ensure merit-driven selection — has been undermined. Medical associations have echoed this concern, warning that short-term administrative fixes could have long-term consequences for healthcare delivery.


At stake is more than the fate of a single admission cycle. The government’s response will signal whether India intends to protect the integrity of postgraduate medical education and strengthen its healthcare workforce, or whether it is willing to trade standards for numbers. The future credibility of Indian medical education may well hinge on that choice.


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

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