An All India Social Workers Conference will be held near Bangalore on June 13 and 14 which happen to be Saturday and Sunday. It is being convened by the Millat Management Society of India which runs a string of welfare institutions in Bangalore and Kolar. Society’s honorary secretary Prof. Salaam Musheer told Islamic Voice, the conference will be held at the Al-Ameen Residential School at Hosakote, nearly 30 kms east of the city. Musheer said the conference seeks to create a network among people and social workers engaged in welfare and development of disadvantaged sections, the ailing, the indebted ones and the ones promoting education. Nearly 200 social workers from across India are likely to participate. A reception committee has been formed with Dr. Mumtaz Ahmed Khan, founder of Al-Ameen Movement as the head. More information can be had from Prof. Syed Abdus Salam Musheer, Secretary, Millat Management Society of India, Ph: 080-27935035, 27932997, 27900484, or email: millatmanagement@yahoo.com.

The Islamic Fiqh Academy here will organise a 2-day national seminar on July 18 and 19 on the rights of minorities in collboration with Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (ISESCO), Rabat. The seminar proposes to discuss situation of minorities in India nd the world. Deliberations will include examination of rights of minorities in the light of the normative structure provided by islamic shariah and the one contained in the contemporary international legam regime. It will also look at the situation of minorities in the Muslim world and Muslim minorities in the world. Hamdard Convention Centre in the Jamia Hamdard will be the venue. Those who aspire to present papers or participate in the seminar can contact, Amin Usmani, Secretary, Islamic Fiqh Academy, New Delhi, Ph: 011-26981779, 26983728, 09818539668, ifa@vsnl.net

Around four months after the CBI took over the Hari Masjid firing case, investigators are yet to make any headway or file the charge-sheet, to be ideally filed within 90 days. Sources said that the CBI has recorded the statement of only Farooq Mapkar, against whom the police had filed an FIR for rioting and who, after his acquittal recently, had turned into a complainant.

According to Mapkar, he was offering Namaz at Hari Masjid, Wadala, on January 10, 1993, when the cops led by Nikhil Kapse, opened fire. Kapse is now serving as senior inspector at Vakola police station. At the time of the firing he was a sub-inspector. When contacted, CBI officials refused to reply. “We cannot divulge any information while the investigation is on,” said Harsh Bhal, Additional Director General (media), CBI. The Srikrishna Commission Report had indicted Kapse, saying a group of 5-6 policemen headed by him had entered the Masjid premises and opened indiscriminate fire at people offering prayers. Mapkar and six other men injured in the firing were then allegedly dragged to the R A K Marg police station. Only Mapkar survived and the other six died.

Kapse has been booked under Sections 302, 307 and 324 of the IPC for murder, attempt to murder and grievous hurt. When asked as to why Kapse was not arrested even after being booked under serious charges, Bhal said, “We are yet to investigate his role. It’s a 16-year old case. It is difficult to dig out all information and establish Kapse’s role.”

The VRK Women’s Medical College will begin admissions this year. Women candidate clearing the Central Entrance Test conducted by the Andhra Pradesh Government will be eligible for admissions. The Medical Council of India has sanctioned the college. The campus is coming up on a 60-acre plot in Aziznagar in southwestern outskirts of the city. Former minister Dr. Vizarat Rasool Khan is the chairman of the managing committee. Khan has been running several educational institutions under his Shadan Trust.

The Maharashtra State Wakf Board is pressurizing trusts managing Muslim religious institutions to be part of the new set-up.

The Maharashtra Government is keen to control the Muslim religious trusts through the backdoor. Though the Wakf Act was first proposed in 1996, the act was implemented in the state only in 2003.
Under the new Act, trusts administering mosques, dargahs, madrassas and cemeteries are to be registered with the Wakf Board, a quasi-judicial body. Though there are nearly 26,000 such trusts in the State, so far only one out of every four trusts has registered itself under the Act.

There is resentment amongst the Muslim against the pressure tactics adopted by the State Government. The Muslim organizations are reluctant to join the new organization mainly because many trusts think that once they are registered under the Wakf Act they will not be able to control or develop their property.

In Mumbai, nearly 30 trusts controlling dargahs, mosques and educational institutions opposed plans to bring them under the Wakf administration and took their complaint to the Bombay High Court.

They say the Wakf Board had a bad track record of looking after religious shrines and those properties that are already under its jurisdiction in the Marathwada region were in a deplorable state. Properties in Aurangabad are in a dilapidated state. If they take control of dargahs and other religious institutions in Mumbai, these places will suffer the same fate.

The Wakf officials argue that there is no restriction in developing the property if it can provide revenue for the running of trusts activities. One of the Wakf officials said that there is a misconception in many trusts that the Board will take over their properties. We only want them to submit their accounts to us and allow us to supervise the working of the trusts, said a Wakf official.
The State Government owes an amount of Rs. 81,68,285 and associated interest to the Maharashtra Wakf Board against acquisition of properties in Aurangabad, Jalna, Parbhani, Nanded, Beed, Osmanabad, Latur, Pune, Nasik, Amravati, Sangli, Nagpur, Ahmednagar and Dhule.

With the Lok Sabha poll process over and West Bengal’s opposition Trinamool Congress winning Tamluk seat, Jakir Hussain Khan, 30, of Tekhali village and others in West Bengal’s Nandigram region long for return to peace after more than two years of political clashes. “We have seen enough blood-letting in Nandigram. People from two rival groups have fought pitched battles over past two years,” Khan said.

“Now we hope the warring groups would stop taking revenge on each other. The agitators should also stop violence as they have won people’s support at all forums - polls to panchayat, zilla parishad, state assembly and finally in Tamluk Lok Sabha constituency,” he said. Nandigram, some 150 km from Kolkata, flared up in January 2007 over proposed land acquisition for a special economic zone (SEZ). Farmers’ protests soon led to large-scale violence with the Trinamool backing the local agitators and the state’s ruling Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) making efforts to retain its hold in the region. “We have been constantly asking our men to restrain and not to step into any trap set by the CPI-M. From our end, I can assure there’ll be no violence in Nandigram. But the CPI-M cadres are still trying to disturb the law and order situation keeping the local police into their confidence,” Sisir Adhikari, Trinamool Congress leader and MP from Contai said.

A girl candidate has topped the list of the successful Muslim candidates who were declared successful in the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) exams. Of the total 791 candidates recommended by the commission in its list for various government posts, 31 were Muslims and the girl candidate topping them in the list is among the top 100 successful UPSC candidates.

According to the press release issued by the UPSC, Sufiyah Faruqui, ranking 20th in the list of 791 candidates, is among the 100 toppers along with being in the list of 31 Muslim candidates. The list includes three other Muslim girls besides Faruqui.

While Sarfaraz Ahmad, ranking 26th, Shaid Iqbal, ranking 51st,Tamboli Ayyaz, ranking 75th, and Sadre Alam, ranking 90th, are other Muslims who are in the top 100, Koya Praveen, ranking 120th, Ayesha Rania, ranking 139th, and Sabiha Rizvi, ranking 303rd, are the other three Muslim girls whose names appear in the list.

The results were announced based on the written Civil Services (Main) Examination, 2008, held by the UPSC in October-November 2008, and the interviews for Personality Test held in March-April, 2009.

A total of 791 candidates have been recommended by the commission for appointment, including 364 General (including 13 Physically Challenged candidates), 236 Other Backward Classes (including seven Physically Challenged candidates), 130 Scheduled Castes’ and 61 Scheduled Tribes’ candidates.

Owing to the poor representation of Muslims in the UPSC sector, Muslim Institutions like Aligarh Muslim University (AMU), Jamia Hamdard, Delhi, and Jamia Millia Islamia, Delhi, are running special coaching classes for UPSC students since the past three years. The Muslim representation has gone up to 3.92 per cent, some improvement on 3.6 per cent in 2006. However, it much lower than the shared desired or deserved by the community which makes up for 13 per cent of the country’s population.

Following Muslim candidates figure in the list: Sufiyah Farooqui, Sarfaraz Ahmed, Shaid Iqbal, Tamboli Ayyaj Fakirbhar, Sadre Alam, Koya Praveen, Masoom Ali Sarwar, Koya Praveen, Masoom Ali Sarwar, Ayesha Rani A., Ismail Parray, Ziaul Huq, Ashiquzzaman, Basir Ahmed, Sabiha Rizvi, Anees Ahmed Ansari, PattanImtiyaz Khan, Mashoodur Rahman Farooqui, Shahnawazur Rahman, Chan Basha A., Akhtar Hussain Ansari, Kazi Suhail Aneesahmed, Tariq Mabood, Geelani Basha K S M., R. Gulzar Begum, Mohd. Shahid Alam, Mohd. Faizan Nayyar, Mahfoozur Rahman, Md. Saidq Alam, Salik Parwaiz, Md. Faizul Huq, Mohammad Yusuf Qureshi, Abdul Hakim.

The recommended candidates will be eligible for various coveted government posts including Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Indian Foreign Service (IFS), Indian Police Service (IPS) and Central Services-Group ‘A’ and Group ‘B’.

Appointment to the various services will be made according to the number of vacancies available with due consideration to the provisions and rules.

The number of seats reported by the Government for the Indian Administrative Service is 120 (60 General, 33 Other Backward Classes, 17 Scheduled Castes and 10 Scheduled Tribes); for the Indian Foreign Service is 26 (13 General, eight Other Backward Classes, four Scheduled Castes and one Scheduled Tribe); for the Indian Police Service is 130 (65 General, 36 Other Backward Classes, 20 Scheduled Castes and nine Scheduled Tribes); for the Central Services Group ‘A’ is 546 (282 General, 146 Other Backward Classes, 81 Scheduled Castes and 37 Scheduled Tribes) and for Central Services Group ‘B’ is 59 ( 34 General, 13 Other Backward Classes, eight Scheduled Castes and four Scheduled Tribes). This includes 20 vacancies for Physically Challenged candidates.

Krishna Chaitanya special School for mentally challenged children, run partly by aid of Government of India, is situated 25 kms. Off Bangalore on Mysore road. Parents concerned are requested to utilize the opportunity to admit their mentally challenged children into this institution.
The application for admission of the mild / moderate mentally challenged children between the age of 6 to 16 years will be issued at the office of Krishna Trust ® No.2, 2nd Floor Sarphabhushana Mutt Building K.G. Circle, Tank Bund Road, Bangalore-09. Ph: 22879644, 28483089, 9844045744.

Babukhan Center for Career Guidance was inaugurated here at Tolichowki on May 17 by former Andhra Pradesh minister Mr. Basheeruddin Babukhan. The Center is sponsored by Babukhan Foundation and Creative Educational Society. It will provide basic information about career, education opportunities in India and abroad. It would also provide information about scholarships. The Center has designed soft-skills training programmes for undergraduates, graduates and professionals. Mir Ayub Ali Khan, editor, special affairs of The Times of India, Fazlur Rahman Khurram, President, Creative Educational Society, Syed. H. Anas Corporate Trainer also spoke on this occasion. Mr Taherfaraz, general secretary, C.E.S. provided a glimpse of the Centre’s activities in future. Dr. Abdul Rafeeq, advisor Shadan Medical College, Mr. Jamal Khan, Personality Development Trainer, Canada, Abdul Lateeff Atear of ILM Research Foundation, intellectuals, academicians, social activists, IT professional, and students participated in the inaugural ceremony. The Centre will function between 4 pm and 7 pm on all working days. Further details can be had from Taher Faraz on 040-23561961 or careerguide.hyd@gmail.com

the MEASI Academy of Architecture here will henceforth permit even the BE graduates to take up the MA Real Estate Development Course which was started last year. Principal Altaf Ahmed informed Islamic Voice that the course has an intake of 20 per annum. Uptill now, only those having B.Arch degrees were being allowed to enter the course.

The Academy currently runs B.Arch and M. Arch courses besides MA in Real estate Development. The admission is purely based on merit for those who compete NATA test held by the National Council of Architecture Education. The Academy recently added a hostel block for 50 inmates. It has currently 369 students and nearly 40 faculty members.

Will power and determination can overcome physical disability. This has been proved by 15-year-old Nadeem Shaikh, an SSC student born without hands Nadeem, wrote all his papers using only his feet. Though he could have asked for a writer, Nadeem chose to answer his papers on his own and expects to score over 60 per cent marks.

Nadeem, a student of Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Hindi School, Worli unlike other students, writes his exam with his right toes. Nadeem manages everything from writing, to holding up books and even eating and combing his hair using only his feet.

Nadeem says, ‘Disability has not come in the way of my ambitious. I want to contribute to making people with disabilities lead normal lives, he said. When it rains, you should know that you must carry an umbrella. I am fully aware of my strengths and never think of my disability as a deterrent to my progress”.

A combination of people and events has helped Nadeem maintain his focus. This all started during his childhood when his mother Noorjahaan, pushed him to improve his academic skills. According to her it was a challenge for both mother and child to accept the reality and make best of the existing options. ‘At the time it wasn’t high standards that I was working for, but rather focusing on motivating Nadeem and I never allowed him to become a victim of self-pity’, said Noorjahaan.
My parents expected me to do as well as other students without disabilities, if not better. Very early on, I gained the confidence. My vocabulary did not had the word ‘Can’t’, which, of course, was helped by my parents who offered me opportunities to do most of the things everyone else did and encouraged me to set very high standards, said Nadeem. By now, I do realize that everyone has a path in life that is crafted by the unique set of their talents and or the lack thereof.

One of the main reasons people do not set high expectations is fear of failure. People with disabilities who consider themselves successful generally accept their disabilities as one aspect of who they are, do not define themselves by their disabilities, recognize that they are not responsible for their disabilities, and know that they are not inherently impaired. They recognize their responsibility for their own happiness and future.

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