NEW DELHI: The Centre's proposal to rename All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Delhi and 22 other locations has not pleased the apex institute's faculty body.
The Faculty Association of All India Institute of Medical Sciences (FAIMS) has expressed concern over the proposed exercise to rename all 23 AIIMS after regional heroes, freedom fighters, historical events or monuments of the area or their distinct geographical identity
The move, which is still under discussion, was denounced by the faculty members who termed it a decision that will bring identity loss to AIIMS and will demoralize its workers.
The faculty body has sought the opinion of its members on this issue with a response within two days.
"We at FAIMS seek your opinion on this very important issue, so that appropriate action from the our side should be taken on this regard," a letter addressed to the members read.
According to FAIMS, the renaming will take away the identity and recognition from the apex institute within the country and outside.
"Identity is linked with the name. If identity is lost, institutional recognition is lost both within the country and outside. That is why famous and established institutes have with the same names for centuries continued like Oxford, Cambridge and Harvard universities," Prof Achal Kumar Srivastava, President, FAIMS said.
The association equated AIIMS' brand identity with Indian Institute of Technology (IIT)s and Indian Institute of Management (IIM)s and noted these institutes are not proposed for name change.
"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 AIIMs. Indian Institute of Science, which celebrated its 100 years of productive life, also has not changed its name. 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 changed names to Kolkata, Mumbai and Chennai," it said in the letter.