Faculty Association seeks opinion on proposal to assign names to all AIIMS

The Faculty Association of AIIMS-Delhi has sought opinion of its members on a government proposal to give specific names to all the 23 AIIMS in the country and contended that it will lead to loss of its identity.

In a note circulated among its members, the association said "identity is linked with the name and if the identity is lost, institutional recognition is lost both within the country and outside." And, that is why famous and established universities such as Oxford, Cambridge and Harvard continue to have the same name for centuries.

"In India, IITs have a name recognition which gives them an institution's identity and there is no proposal to change it. The same is true for IIMs," according to the note signed by association president Dr Achal Kumar Srivastava and general secretary Dr Harshal Ramesh Salve said.

Also, the sense of identity is so strong that Calcutta, Bombay and Madras Universities continue with the same name even though the cities they are located in have change