IMA opposes draft National Medical Commission bill

Agencies
December 17, 2017

The IMA has strongly opposed the draft Bill that seeks to replace the Medical Council of India with a new body, claiming it will cripple the medical profession.

The draft National Medical Commission bill was yesterday approved by the Cabinet.

It provides for the constitution of four autonomous boards entrusted with conducting undergraduate and postgraduate education, assessment and accreditation of medical institutions and registration of practitioners under the National Medical Commission.

Indian Medical Association president Dr K K Agarwal appealed to the prime minister to revise the draft bill in the larger interest of the medical profession.

According to the IMA, the NMC will "cripple" the functioning of the medical profession by making it completely answerable to the bureaucracy and non-medical administrators.

"Regulators need to have autonomy and be independent of the administrators. The National Medical Commission will be a regulator appointed by the administrators under their direct control," Aggarwal said.

It abolishes the Medical Council of India and "possibly" the section 15 of IMC Act, which says that the basic qualification to practise modern medicine is MBBS, he claimed.

"It takes away the voting right of every doctor in India to elect their medical council. Medical Council of India is a representative body of the medical profession in India. Any registered medical practitioner in the country can contest the election and every qualified doctor can vote.

"Abolishing a democratic institution and replacing it by a body in which majority are nominated by the government is certainly a retrograde step," Aggarwal said.

He further said that the draft Bill in its current form allows the private medical colleges to charge at will, nullifying whatever solace the NEET brought.

The government can fix the fee for only 40 per cent of the seats in private medical colleges, Aggarwal said.

Also, it inducts non-medical people into the highest body of medical governance changing its perspective and character forever and introduces schedule IV to allow AYUSH graduates to get registration in modern medicine.

"IMA appeals to the prime minister to recall the Bill and rectify these anomalies. Parliament has a larger role to protect the interest of the medical profession of the country," he said.

According to the draft bill, the commission will have government nominated chairman and members, and the board members will be selected by a search committee under the Cabinet Secretary.

There will five elected and 12 ex-officio members in the commission.

The draft bill also proposes a common entrance exam and licentiate exam which all medical graduates will have to clear to get practising licences, the official said.

As per the provisions of the draft bill, no permission would be needed to add new seats or to start postgraduate courses. PTI PLB DIP

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News Network
November 27,2025

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Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Thursday announced that he will convene a high-level meeting in New Delhi with senior leaders — including Rahul Gandhi, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar — to resolve the escalating leadership turmoil in Karnataka and “put an end to the confusion.”

Kharge said the discussions would focus on the way forward for the ruling party, as rumours of a possible leadership change continue to swirl. The speculation has intensified after the Congress government crossed the halfway mark of its five-year term on November 20, reviving talk of an alleged 2023 “power-sharing agreement” between Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar.

“After reaching Delhi, I will call three or four important leaders and hold discussions. Once we talk, we will decide how to move ahead and end this confusion,” Kharge told reporters in Bengaluru, according to PTI.

When asked specifically about calling Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar to Delhi, he responded: “Certainly, we should call them. We will discuss with them and settle the issue.”

He confirmed that Rahul Gandhi, the Chief Minister, the Deputy Chief Minister and other senior members would be part of the deliberations. “After discussing with everyone, a decision will be made,” he said.

Meanwhile, Siddaramaiah held a separate strategy meeting at his Bengaluru residence with ministers and leaders seen as his close confidants, including G. Parameshwara, Satish Jarkiholi, H.C. Mahadevappa, K. Venkatesh and K.N. Rajanna.
Signalling calm, the Chief Minister told reporters, “Will go to Delhi if the high command calls.”

Shivakumar echoed a similar stance, saying he too would head to the national capital if summoned by the party leadership.

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Agencies
November 22,2025

indiapak.jpg

New York/Washington: US President Donald Trump has again claimed to have solved the conflict between India and Pakistan, repeating his assertion during a meeting with New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani in the Oval Office.

Mamdani flew to Washington DC for his first meeting with Trump in the White House on Friday. Trump said he “enjoyed” the meeting, which he described as “great.”

During remarks in the Oval Office, with Mamdani standing next to him, Trump repeated his claim that he solved the May conflict between India and Pakistan.

"I did eight peace deals of countries, including India and Pakistan,” he said.

On Wednesday, Trump had said he threatened to put 350 per cent tariffs on India and Pakistan if they did not end their conflict, repeating his claim that he solved the fighting between the nuclear-armed neighbours and that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had called him to say “we're not going to go to war.”

Since May 10, when Trump announced on social media that India and Pakistan had agreed to a “full and immediate” ceasefire after a “long night” of talks mediated by Washington, he has repeated his claim over 60 times that he “helped settle” the tensions between India and Pakistan.

India has consistently denied any third-party intervention. India launched Operation Sindoor on May 7, targeting terror infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir in retaliation for the April 22 Pahalgam attack that killed 26 civilians. India and Pakistan reached an understanding on May 10 to end the conflict after four days of intense cross-border drone and missile strikes.

Mamdani emerged victorious in the closely-watched battle for New York City Mayor, becoming the first South Asian and Muslim to be elected to sit at the helm of the largest city in the US.

He had been the front-runner in the NYC Mayoral election for months and defeated Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa and political heavyweight former New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo, who ran as an independent candidate and was officially endorsed by Trump just hours before the elections.

Indian-descent Mamdani is the son of renowned filmmaker Mira Nair and Columbia University professor Mahmood Mamdani. He was born and raised in Kampala, Uganda and moved to New York City with his family when he was 7. Mamdani became a naturalised US citizen only recently, in 2018.

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News Network
December 5,2025

Mangaluru: In a significant step to curb online hate and intimidation, Mangaluru City Police have registered a suo motu case against multiple Instagram accounts accused of circulating alleged provocative and threatening content.

While monitoring social media activity on Tuesday, Kankanady Town PSI Anitha Nikkam identified the Instagram handle ‘team_targetttt_900’ for posting a hate message alongside images of lethal weapons. Another account, ‘team_nagara_900’, allegedly shared a threatening post targeting activist Bharath Kumdelu, tagging additional pages such as KARAVALI-OFFICIAL.

Several other accounts — including ‘immu_bhai.fan’, ‘target_boy_900’, ‘kings_of_manglore’, ‘team_target_boys.900’, ‘arshad_mangalore’, ‘target_ka19_ullal’, ‘team_target__’, ‘troll_tigersz_900’, ‘tr_group_900’, and ‘team_target_900’ — are also under scrutiny for spreading similar inflammatory material, police said.

Authorities have urged citizens, especially young social media users, to report suspicious pages and avoid engaging with groups that glorify violence or threaten individuals. Online hate can quickly escalate into real-world harm, and police stress that sharing or promoting such content can attract legal consequences.

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