Small is beautiful; but bigger is better

[Guest guest]

“Man is small, and, therefore,small is beautiful " , argued EF Schumacher in

his 1973 book.

For years, MGIMS inspired by Schumacher’s philosophy, admitted no more than

65 students each year. Incidentally Schumacher considered Mahatma Gandhi as

the greatest ‘People’s Economist’ and was deeply influenced by Gandhi. But

then, when the entire nation is obsessed with hundred– recall the

collective sighs of dejection that used to envelope the country each time

Sachin would miss this magical number - MGIMS too decided to grow from 65

to 100.

This year, MGIMS plans to admit 100 and not 65 students. *Insha Allah* and

MCI willing- not necessarily in that order. The Medical Council of India

has provisionally permitted MGIMS to do so- based on its assessment of

faculty strength, and facilities in the labs, library, school and the

hospital. Now MGIMS, waiting for the final approving nod, is hopeful that

the approval letter shall soon appear in the Dean’s mailbox. The PMT 2012

results were announced last weekend and MGIMS may soon revise the list of

chosen ones- 35 students shall be added to the list.

So, the MGIMS campus- hostels, lanes, not-so-green gardens, corridors and

coffee houses shall have more first-year students than MGIMS had ever had.

Does it also mean that the number of empty rows in the 8 am class in the

Anatomy lecture hall- a familiar scenario these days- shall also go down?

Well, that is a 100 rupee question.

SP Kalantri

Department of Medicine

MGIMS