People Track

Dr. Ahmad Abdul Hai is son of Padma Bhushan, Dr. M.A. Hai and comes from a distinguished family of educationists. Dr. Ahmad was professor and head of the department of surgery at Patna Medical College Hospital and is currently Managing Director and Chief Consultant at Hai Medicare and Research Institute, a 450-bed super-specialty multi-disciplinary tertiary care hospital in the making. This is the first centre in Bihar to be recognised for DNB Training in Anaesthesiology and General Surgery in December 2005 by the National Board of Examination, New Delhi. Dr. Ahmad has been a teacher of surgery for over three decades and has guided more than 50 post-graduate students pursuing PH.D. Moved by the rampant illiteracy among the masses, he has taken up the challenge of achieving “100 per cent literacy for all” under the aegis of Forum for Literacy Awareness and Muslim Education (FLAME) of which he is the founder chairman.


The Association of Surgeons of India (ASI) appointed Dr. Ahmad as the chief editor of the “ASI Text Book of Surgery”, published by Tata McGraw Hill. The second edition is expected to be launched in 2007.


Dr Ahmad firmly believes that the best gift the Muslim community can be given is education. Presently, he is president of the Khadimul Islam School in Patna which was set up in the poorest area of old Patna 10 years ago. Today, over 1100 students are studying here.

Afreen Jamadar, a student of Anglo-Urdu Girls High School, Azam Campus, topped Pune Division’s SSC merit list this year with 96.40 per cent. For the youngest daughter of Sikandar Jamadar, a Crime Detection Branch constable posted at Yerwada, bagging the top slot was sure to happen after systematic hard work. Afreen stays in a two-room police quarter in Somwar Peth with her mother, father, sister Shaheen and brother Imran. “ I did not join any private tuition. On many occasions I used to skip my meals. I studied till late night and woke up at four a.m in the morning. After Fajr prayers, I devoted the rest of the day for studies. I want to be a computer engineer and develop softwares like Google,” says Afreen.

(Maharashtra Herald)

Bagging the third rank with 95.60 per cent marks in the SSC Pune Division was not an easy task for Shehnaz Sardar Magdum of Anglo Urdu Girls High School. Living in Survey No 24, Paude Chaal, Bopodi slums, Shehnaz would spend two hours each day commuting to school and back home, to study through the evening upto late night. The life of Magdums took a tragic turn 12 years ago after the sudden death of her father Sardar Magdum, an electrician who died of an electric shock. Shehnaz lives with her sister Shehbaz and mother in a small room with the daily financial needs being fulfilled by her 70-year old grandfather, Sultan Badshah Khan. Shehnaz wants to pursue MBBS and will be completing her HSC from Rangoonwala Talent and Research Scheme, Azam Campus. Says her grandfather Sultan Khan: “She is the first girl in the family to pursue education. Although we don’t have the resources we will toil hard to ensure she gets the best education.”

(Maharashtra Herald)

ShahabuddinYaqoob Quraishi, secretary in the ministry of youth affairs and sports, is appointed the third Election Commissioner of India for a five-year term. Quraishi is a Haryana Cadre IAS officer of 1971 batch. Qureshi will fill the vacancy in the three-member commission arising out of elevation of N. Gopalaswamy as the new Chief Election Commissioner. Incumbent CEC, B. B. Tandon demitted office last month . The other EC is Navin Chawla. Qureshi has held several key positions including that of Special Secretary in the Health Ministry, Director General of National Aids Control Organisation (NACO) and DG, Doordarshan. He has also served as DG of Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangathan, the country‘s largest rural youth development agency. Quraishi is a post-graduate in history. He completed his Ph.D in Communication and Social Marketing. He has authored two papers, “Islam, Muslims and Family Planning in India”, and “Islam and AIDS”.

You can follow your profession as well as your dreams. Saad Khan and Asif Iqbal’s passion for theatre has taken shape into meaningful Plays. Saad Khan, 23, is a mechanical engineer by profession. As a playwright, he has so far written and directed six plays. Recently his sixth major production, “Friends will be Friends” was staged at Chowdiah Memorial Hall in Bangalore. Saad says that he was inspired to write this Play when he saw an old group photograph of his father along with his friends and when asked about them, he realised that his father had no idea about his old friends in the photo and with this concept, he worked on the script. His mother Mrs Sabiha was a newsreader on Doordarshan and currently is a lecturer in a college in the city. The play was produced by Silverblue Productions, Bangalore, managed by Executive Producers Asif Iqbal and Diah Kamat. It is affiliated to Silverblue Productions, UK and Paris. Living in Paris for eight years Asif returned to India recently. An architect by profession, Asif is striving to present Plays that have mass appeal and strike a chord in the hearts of people through a strong social message. Asif can be reached at silblue@gmail.com

Dr. Muhammad Abdul Bari was elected the new secretary general of the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) recently. He succeeds Sir Iqbal Sacranie. Bari is an educationist and 52 years old. He was elected at the seventh annual general meeting of the MCB. Previously, he was assistant secretary general of the body. He was born in Bangladesh and gained his Ph.D and PGCE from King’s College, London and a management degree from Britain’s Open University. The new deputy secretary general is Dr. Daud Abdullah. The MCB also elected Ms. Unaiza Malik as the new treasurer along with 37 central working committee members.

Ruqayyah Collector, 26 was elected as the first Muslim woman to sit on the National Union of Students (NUS) in Britain at the meeting of its National Executive Committee in May. She is the Education Officer of Leeds University Union. She received 56 out of 66 total votes. The Committee tackles issues affecting Black students.