Incumbent president of the Kozhikode district panchayat Kannathil Jameela may not be contesting the polls this time, but she is confident that the development initiatives during her five-year tenure will see the CPI (M)-led Left Democratic Front (LDF) romp home in the local body elections.

“The district panchayat focused its attention on all sectors. Top priority was given to education, health, agriculture and industry. Almost all the schemes that we launched were running successfully,” Ms. Jameela said.

Model schools

Model schools were set up at Atholi, Balussery, Chorode and Punoor, which now have necessary facilities such as science and computer labs and a gym. Utmost care was taken to improve the infrastructure in all government schools, she said.

“The Vijayotsavam programme, aimed at improving SSLC results by offering special coaching to students, had achieved its desired effect. For the past three years, Kozhikode district had registered the highest number of A Plus students in the State. Today, students from the lower and middle income groups and those from the fishing and farming communities vie with their counterparts in the city,” she said.

Ms. Jameela consecutively contested the polls on the CPI (M) ticket since 1995 when she was elected president of the Thalakulathur grama panchayat.

She was standing committee chairperson of the panchayat in 2000; president of the Chelannur block panchayat; and later elevated as district panchayat president in 2010 when the post was reserved for women.

Likewise, she said the district panchayat had been able to focus on government-run hospitals by providing them with essential equipment. It had also tied-up with the Kozhikode Medical College Hospital for early detection of cancer and treatment.

“Besides, it had successfully implemented the Snehasparsham project for kidney patients at the Kuttiyadi Government Hospital and the Kozhikode Medical College Hospital,” she said.

On the agriculture front, she said farming initiatives in Koothali, Perambra, Puthuppadi and Thikkodi had yielded positive results. The district was almost self-reliant in milk production. The modern poultry farm at Chathamangalam can now hatch 5,000 chicks at a time. “Organic vegetable farming executed through Kudumbasree units had registered an all-time record,” Ms. Jameela added.

The development of the industrial estates at Cheruvannur- Nallalam with 45 exclusive plots for was a model for the State, she said.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Kozhikode / by Biju Govind / Kozhikode – October 13th, 2015

Mumbai:

Hundreds of people on Sunday gathered in Mhasla, a census town in Raigad district of Maharashtra’s Konkan region, for the funeral of Syed Shaukat Ali Nazir, Imam of Mumbai Jama Masjid.

Syed Shaukat Ali Nazir, the Imam of Mumbai’s Grand Mosque located at Crawford Market passed away at his ancestor’s town Mendri in Taluka Mhasla on Saturday late in the afternoon. He is survived by his wife and son.

The news of his death sent shock waves across India. When the worshippers at the Mumbai Jama Masjid were told about his death soon after the Asr prayers Saturday, many were left in tears.

Besides people from the neighboring towns and cities in Konkan, a large number of people from Mumbai, Gujarat and other parts of Maharashtra travelled to Mhasla for the funeral prayers of Syed Shaukat Ali.

The 84-year-old cleric, among one of the most respected living clerics in India, was Imam of Mumbai’s Jama Masjid for 51 long years since 1964.

He was ailing since last few years and had shifted to Mendri. The last time he visited the Mumbai Jama Masjid was during the month of Ramadan when he came to Mumbai for two days.

Very pious and soft spoken, Syed Shaukat was famous for his Friday sermons. His sermon delivered immediately after the tragic demolition of Babri Masjid in 1992 is still in people’s minds. Advising calm and restraint, Syed Shaukat Ali had called upon the worshippers for introspection and prayers.

Syed Shaukat Ali Nazir was a graduate from Darul Uloom Deoband and was among the talented students of the senior teachers of that time like Qari Mohammad Tayyab, Aizaz Ali Amrohavi and Ibrahim Balyavi.

President of Jamia Hussainia in Shreewardhan, Syed Shaukat Ali had also presided over the inaugural session of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB). He also worked as the Arabic language teacher at Mohammadia High School.

source: http://www.ummid.com / Ummid.com / Home> India / by ummid.com Staff Reporter / Sunday – October 11th, 2015

India Harmony Foundation, headed by Zafar Saifullah, former Union Cabinet Secretary, held a two-day cultural event at the Indian Islamic Cultural Centre on 18-19 July. The star attraction was the presentation of the Chishti Harmony Award for 2011 to two personalities which have spent a life time for communal harmony and community service. The first is Pandit Yugal Kishor Shastri of Ayodhya who has stood as a rock against communalists in Ayodhya and beyond and the second is Begum Bilkees Latif, wife of former Air Chief Marshal, Idris Latif, who has dedicated her life to serve the downtrodden in Mumbai. The awards were presented by Vice President Hamid Ansari in a function attended by Union minister of law and justice Veerappa Moily, Chief Election Commissioner Dr. S. Y. Quraishi and others. Hamid Ansari said in his brief speech that the Sufi Chishtia Order is the best example of the how human beings can do two things simultaneously: establish relationship with the Creator and serve humanity. The receipients of this award by their example have demonstrated the essence of Chishti teachings. It is the same old message which should be reiterated time and again so that human beings can live harmoniously with one another.

Here are brief life-sketches of the award receipients:
Pandit Yugal Kishor Saran Shastri of Ayodhya is a person of quiet but extraordinary achievements. Born into a poor Yadav family of Madhubani district of Bihar, Pandit Yugal Kishor, struggling against heavy odds, completed his MA in Sanskrit from the Varanasi University. Whereafter he took over the care of the Sarayu Kunj Ram Mandir, located opposite the Babri Masjid at Ayodhya. Following the demolition of the Masjid in December, 1992, this remarkable man devoted his entire life to defending the lives, the properties and the livelihood of the Muslim community in the region at great risk to his own life. Without money, privilege or power, he upheld the values of secularism and respect for all religions. He ensured that Ayodhya has not been afflicted by the communal virus. Targeted, both physically and psychologically, by forces inimical to his work to abandon it, he has defied all odds to continue what he has taken as his life’s mission, namely, to preserve the centuries-old tradition of total communal harmony within the families of Ayodhya – a name which itself means “a land without conflict”. He has now enlarged his vision and the ambit of his work, to extend the same message of harmony on a wider scale throughout the country. A commendable initiative which he has embarked on in conjunction with several like-minded social workers and organizations are two padyatras. The first one from Ayodhya to Sewagram (Wardha) in Gujarat and the other from Ayodhya to Ajmer in Rajasthan to motivate people along the route to work for national harmony.

Begum Bilkees Latif was born into a privileged Muslim family and is married to former Air Chief Marshal, Idris Latif. She chose to make her most distinctive contribution in social service, in Dharavi, India’s largest slum cluster in Mumbai. It was notorious as home to some of Mumbai’s most dreaded mafia dons, where children were employed in illicit distillation; and the area recorded Mumbai’s highest crime rate. Following her very first visit to Dharavi in 1982, she decided to work for the transformation of the lives of the families living here. She established SHED (Society for Human and Environment Development) along with a few prominent and public spirited citizens of Mumbai. So dramatic has been the impact of her work that Dharavi today has the lowest crime rate in Mumbai. SHED has set up 45 youth groups in Dharavi. Through them, Vocational Training Projects, eradication of Leprosy and Tuberculosis, family planning, immunization of children and national integration programmes have been systematically taken up with active help in most cases of many of the Mafia dons and their families, who have even assured them total security. So much so that when communal unrest raged in other parts of the city, not a single instance of any communal disturbance was recorded in Dharavi. In fact, the whole area joins in celebrating festivals of each others’ communities with their own funds. SHED has taken up this work in other slums in Mumbai and the neighbouring district of Thane. Their work has covered the most extensive range of social services leading to requests from the World Bank and several other multi-lateral international aid agencies to take up their programmes.

As Chairperson of the National Bal Bhavans for two terms and of the Rajiv Gandhi Childrens’ Museum, she launched in November, 2005, a movement for children “to build the India of their dreams and secular values in nation-building”. Bilkees Latif is truly a role model for young Indian Muslim girls to follow.

source: http://www.milligazette.com / The Milli Gazette /  Home> Special Reports / Online August 13th, 2011 – Print Issue 16-31 August 2011