Mumbai: The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has allocated Rs 7,380.43 crore for healthcare in its 2025-26 budget of Rs 74,427 crore, focusing on hospital redevelopment, disease prevention and expanded medical services.

To increase capacity, 3,515 new beds will be added through municipal hospital redevelopment. Intensive care and neonatal ICU services in suburban hospitals will also be expanded. The Hinduhridaysamrat Balasaheb Thackeray – Aapla Dawakhana initiative, which has 250 centres and 33 polyclinics, has benefited 90 lakh patients so far.

New Aapla Dawakhana Centres To Come Up In City

In the coming year, 25 new Aapla Dawakhana centres and three physiotherapy centres will be set up. Free diagnostic tests, including X-rays, ECGs, CT scans, MRI and mammography, will be provided at municipal rates through private labs.

Under a public-private partnership model, private institutions will operate and maintain hospitals for 30 years. These include the 490-bed Bhagwati Hospital in R/North Ward, a 300-bed hospital transferred from MMRDA in M/East Ward, as well as the Punjabi Galli Diagnostic Center, Jakhadevi Multi-Specialty Clinic and Vikhroli Parksite Hospital.

Several specialty medical services and hospital upgrades are planned. Nair Hospital will get a new oncology and emergency department, while Cooper Hospital will have a 150-bed cancer unit equipped with Linear Accelerator radiation therapy. IVF and dialysis services will be expanded at KEM, Nair, and LTMG Hospitals. The redevelopment of LTMG Hospital will include a new nursing college and an oncology building.

A ‘Zero Prescription Policy’ will ensure that all required medicines are available in municipal hospitals. The ‘Aarogya Seva Aaplya Dari’ initiative will introduce door-to-door health check-ups. DNB medical courses will be expanded, with new specialisations in ENT and Anesthesia.

Cancer Screening Initiative

In terms of disease prevention and cancer screening, 30 lakh citizens will be screened for hypertension, while an HPV vaccination program will be launched for girls aged 9 to 14 to prevent cervical cancer. A ward-wise cancer care model will be implemented to screen for oral, breast and cervical cancer.

Efforts to eliminate tuberculosis include distributing kits with masks, sanitizers, and spittoons to all TB patients. A Next-Generation Sequencing pilot project at Kasturba Hospital will improve TB diagnosis. A new BPaL regimen for MDR-TB treatment will be introduced.

Initiatives Benefitting Pregnant Women & Children

Maternal and child healthcare initiatives include 38 ‘Maa Mitra’ helpdesks to track high-risk pregnancies, automated voice calls and SMS alerts for pregnant women and infant immunization, cochlear implant surgeries for children with hearing disabilities at AJB ENT Hospital, and the establishment of two new Nutrition Rehabilitation Centres for malnourished children.

The immunization and disease surveillance program will conduct 52,000 vaccination sessions annually across Mumbai. A Typhoid Sentinel Surveillance program will be introduced in nine health centres.

Mumbai, Feb 3: India’s stock markets on Monday were trading lower as weak global cues and a decline in Asian markets weighed on investor sentiment.

The benchmark indices, Sensex and Nifty, struggled throughout the day, with most sectors witnessing losses.

At the closing bell, the BSE Sensex had dropped 319.22 points, or 0.41 per cent, to settle at 77,186.74, while the Nifty was down 121.10 points, or 0.52 per cent, to close the trading session at 23,361.05.

The decline in the Indian share market is due to US President Donald Trump’s decision to impose a 25 per cent tariff on imports from Canada and Mexico, along with a 10 per cent duty on Chinese goods.

Trump argues that these measures are necessary to protect American borders and curb illicit activities.

Out of 50 constituent stocks on Nifty, 35 closed in the red as the exchange was in negative territory throughout the trading session.

Heavyweights like Larsen & Toubro, Tata Consumer, Hero MotoCorp, Coal India, and Bharat Electronics are among the top losers on NSE with losses extending up to 4.67 per cent.

On the other hand, 13 stocks managed to stay in positive territory, led by Bajaj Finance, Shriram Finance, Mahindra & Mahindra, Wipro, and Bajaj Finserv, which recorded gains of up to 5.12 per cent.

Most sectors were in the red, except for IT, which went up by 0.39 per cent and consumer durables, which rose 0.33 per cent.

The biggest losers were metal stocks, which fell 3 per cent, and oil & gas stocks, which declined 2.80 per cent.

Other sectors facing pressure included FMCG which was down by 2.14 per cent, PSU Banks was down by 2.02 per cent, and realty declined by 1.20 per cent.

The Nifty Bank index was also under pressure, slipping 0.61 per cent, along with financial services, healthcare, and pharma stocks.

The broader markets also struggled, with the BSE SmallCap index falling 1.85 per cent and the BSE MidCap index losing 1.29 per cent.

Meanwhile, India’s market volatility index, India VIX, rose 2.30 per cent to 14.42.

New Delhi, Feb 3: After providing a big relief to the Indian middle class in the Union Budget 2025-26, the government is all set to present a new Income Tax Bill this week which would further simplify the entire tax system, bringing sweeping reforms.

The current Income Tax Act was enforced in the country in 1961 and now, the new Income Tax Act is being made according to the needs of the 21st century to replace the existing law, according to sources close to the development.

While presenting the Budget in the Parliament, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the country needs a new Income Tax regime and a bill for this would be introduced in this session — in all likelihood on February 6.

A review committee was formed for the new Income Tax law in the country to replace the earlier cumbersome law. According to sources, the new Income Tax Bill has been prepared by the government on the recommendation of the committee.

In this era of technology and massive digitalisation, taxpayers can perform several things online on his or her own. In such a scenario, there will be smooth changes in the new I-T Bill for the common man who can understand it seamlessly online. This is an attempt to make the system simple and convenient for common people,

If sources are to be believed, this bill is slated to be tabled in the Parliament on February 6. The simplification of this bill can be understood in a way that there are about 6 lakh words in the old Income Tax Act, which will be drastically reduced to about 3 lakh in the new bill, easy for taxpayers to comprehend.

The government is working on simplifying the language of the new Income Tax Bill. Actually, in the current Income Tax rules, the interpretation of one rule or the other can be different — creating confusion for taxpayers.

The earlier Income Tax law has been changed so many times and with so many additions, it became more incomprehensive for the common man.

The Parliament passed the Income Tax Act, which came into force on April 1, 1962. Since then, several amendments have been made, again and again, making it all the more complicated.

Now, as part of the process of its simplification, the government felt the need to create a new I-T Bill so that people could understand it easily.

If sources are to be believed, people are also afraid that after the implementation of the new Income Tax rules, the government will abolish the old tax regime.

But, according to sources, no such plan is there with the government yet. According to the government, about 78 per cent of taxpayers have already shifted to the new tax regime. Still, according to sources, the government is not in the mood to make any major changes to the old tax regime.

On the other hand, if sources are to be believed, the government is also trying to reduce people’s dependence on government schemes for investment so that people invest more in other assets, ranging from mutual funds and SIP to the stock market, which can be beneficial for people.

Along with this, the government’s intention behind giving such a big relief to the taxpayers is to increase private consumption which would directly benefit the health of the economy.