Category Archives: Leaders

American federation of Indian Muslims pledges Scholarships worth Rs.4 crore; gives Excellence Awards for Luminaries

Community Involvement / Social Issues, Education, Leaders, NRI's / PIO's, World Opinion, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

NEW DELHI  / Nuh ( Mewat)- HARYANA  /  U.S.A.  :

Educational Excellence Celebrated at AFMI’s Silver Jubilee Convention in Delhi

American Federation of Muslims of Indian Origin’s Silver Jubilee convention held at the Kedar Nath Sahani Auditorium in New Delhi Dec.31-Jan.1st celebrated the accomplishments and marked a milestone in the organization’s history. The convention was held in co-ordination with the Delhi Youth Welfare Association.

More than 120 Muslim students from across India were awarded with gold, silver, and bronze for attaining meritorious distinction in the board exams. In addition, the prestigious Sir Syed Ahmed Khan Award conferred about leading Mumbai philanthropist Dr. Abdul Kader Fazlani Sopariwala. The Mir Taqi Mir Award was given to Mr. Sanjiv Saraf, founder of the popular web portal www.rekhta.org, for his contributions in promoting the Urdu language. The website now features more than 22,000 titles of Urdu books.  Excellence Awards were given to former Chief Electoral Commissioner S.Y.Quraishi and the historic Anglo Arabic Senior Secondary School.

Sanjiv Saraf accepting his award from Justice Sachar
Sanjiv Saraf accepting his award from Justice Sachar

In a first for AFMI convention all the medallists were interviewed by Dr. Fazlani’s philanthropic organization and scholarships worth Rs.4 crore were pledged.

Awards to top students were given at the hands of Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia. He praised the work of AFMI and that more such efforts need to be undertaken to uplift the society. He mentioned that education remains the top priority of the Delhi government with as much as 25% of the state government’s budget dedicated to it.

AFMI’s flagship awards program has been instrumental in spreading awareness about educational excellence and empowerment across the country. Dr.A.R. Nakadar, AFMI’s founding trustee, said that the fruits sown by AFMI at its inception are now bearing fruit. He said that due to such efforts there has been a remarkable improvement in the educational scenario of Indian Muslims. Citing the latest census reports, published in Indian Express, he stated that there has been a 98.8% increase in the number of Muslim graduates between 2001 and 2011. During the same period the Indian Muslim literacy rate has increased from 59.1% to 68.5%. He said that the day is not too far when, through the collective efforts of all, AFMI’s dream of 100% literacy will be realized.

Dr. Nakadar urged the students to not to rest on the laurels but to use the award as a motivational tool to attain even grater heights of educational excellence. He also asked them to not to forget those who have been left behind and to spread the message of educational empowerment everywhere.

AFMI’s incoming president Dr. Khutb Uddin, a practicing psychiatrist from Indiana, in his remarks applauded the students for their hard work. He urged them to not to be distracted by negative thoughts and to focus on their education.  He also pointed out that everyone from the individual to the government should be involved in raising the quality of education in the country and that it should be everyone’s top most priority.

The inaugural session of the convention was addressed by Justice Rajinder Sachar, Mr. Anil Swarup, Secretary Education & Literacy (Government of India), Mr. Naseem Ahmad, Chairman of National Commission for Minorities, and convention chairman Mr. Mohammad Naeem, president of Delhi Youth Welfare Association. The session was ably moderated by AFMI Trustee and leading scholar Dr. Aslam Abdullah.

The convention was also addressed by Prof. Akhtarul Wasey (Vice Chancellor of Maulana Azad University, Jodhpur); Mr.Siraj Hussain, IAS, former VC Jamia Hamdard,  Dr. S.Y.Qureshi (former Chief Election Commissioner), Justice Fakhruddin, Mr. Ali Quraishi (New Mexico), Mr. Tayeb Poonawala (New York), Mr. Siraj Thakore (Canada), Mr. Farhad Rahmani, Mr. Ayub Khan, Prof. Janaki Rajan, Dr. Shabistan Gaffar, Mr. Mohsin Siddiqui, Mr. Suhel Tirmizi (Editor, Gujarat Today), Dr. Husain Nagamia (Florida),  Mr. Shafi Lokhandwala (Detroit), Mr. Khalil Ahmad,  etc.

The convention also featured an AFMI Alumni session in which previous year’s medalists spoke on their experiences after winning the award. They also offered their guidance for the students in choosing their career pathways. Among those who addressed this session include Dr Nurul Islam (pediatric cardiologist), Mrs. Darakshan Khan (IT consultant), Dr. Suhail Qureshi (oncologist), Dr. Naseem Ahmed (Orthopaedic surgeon), Dr. Nabeel A.K., Ms. Samreen Siddiqui, Mr. Uzair Khan, among others.

In his closing remarks Dr. Nakadar thanked all the organizers and volunteers of Delhi Youth Welfare Association, under the leadership of Mr. Mohammad Naeem, for organizing a very memorable convention.

A seventeen member delegation of the American Federation of Muslims of Indian Origin, led by Dr. A.R.Nakadar, met the Vice President of India Mr. Hamid Ansari on January 2, 2017 and appraised him of AFMI’s activities. Mr. Ansari appreciated the efforts of AFMI and the concerns and care of NRIs for improving the quality of education in India.

An AFMI delegation met the Deputy Chief Minister of Delhi Mr. Manish Sisodia on January 3rd and discussed the current situation of education in Old Delhi.

AFMI’s Regional Awards Program in Mewat

AFMI02mpos24jan2017

AFMI held its regional awards program in Nuh, Mewat in coordination with the Human Welfare Foundation. One of the key organizers of the program is Uzair Khan, a former AFMI medalist, who is now carrying its message to the interiors of Mewat region. He is presently pursuing MBA from Jamia Millia Islamia.

Reviving  Delhi’s Educational Institutions

AFMI’s NRI delegates visited a number of educational institutions in Old Delhi which have held aloft the banner of education among trying circumstances. The schools visited include Anglo Arabic Senior Secondary School, Mazhar ul Islam School, and the Fatehpuri School. AFMI’s governing board will soon formulate a a plan for help in the revival of these historic institutions.

source: http://www.milligazette.com / The Milli Gazette / Home> Online News> Education and Careers / January 23rd, 2017

Nawab who misses the royal culture

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Business & Economy, Community Involvement / Social Issues, Leaders, Travel & Tourism, , , ,

Hyderabad, TELANGANA :

At 92, Shah Alam Khan visits his office daily and tries his best to preserve Hyderabad’s culture.

Shah Alam Khan, one of Hyderabad’s royals who is still referred to as ‘Nawab’.
Shah Alam Khan, one of Hyderabad’s royals who is still referred to as ‘Nawab’.

At 92, Shah Alam Khan, one of Hyderabad’s royals who is still referred to as ‘Nawab’, is gracious enough to stand up to welcome you into his study at the Hyderabad Deccan Cigarette Factory in Musheerabad. What’s more, he eloquently reminisces on the “good old days” when Hyderabad was still ruled by the Nizams.

“Life was not expensive at all. I once saw a goat being sold for four rupees… four rupees!” he says incredulously. With seven sons, Alam’s family has, over the years, expanded their businesses in various fields but one thing that they all take pride in is ensuring that the Nawabi and Hyderabadi culture isn’t forgotten.

Alam’s son Mehboob Alam Khan is a well-known food historian and connoisseur who has helped preserve the Hyderabadi Mughlai cuisine that the city is famous for. Working with various restaurants, Mehboob helps them maintain authenticity in their recipes.

“Hyderabad was known for two things — biryani and sherwani!” says Alam, and says that training today’s chefs is all that is required to bring back the lost culture. “The cooks in our city know only a little bit of this and that. But our womenfolk know a lot of recipes,” he says.

Sipping a typically Hyderabadi cup of chai, he talks about growing up in the Cantonment area in Secunderabad and moving on to study at the Jagirdar College — what’s now known as Hyderabad Public School. “We had the best of Continental as well as Mughlai food. Even the schools served amazing food, that we didn’t even get at home!” he remembers.

Alam then pursued a Bachelor’s degree in Economics and Political Science from Osmania University, where he says his professors helped mould his life: “I can’t forget the way my English teacher, Prof Doraiswamy, taught us. When the results came out and I passed, I went to his house and fell at his feet.”

The lessons came in handy when he took over the reins of a cigarette factory from his wife Begum Abida Khader’s father in 1945. “When I used to hoist the flag during ceremonies, I’d tell them that this is the place where you as well as me fill our tummy. If there’s a quarrel in the house between the husband and the wife, then your house is not good. If there’s a quarrel in the factory, it’s not good for the industry,” Alam explains.

Alam still goes to office every day but has one regret: Not doing enough to preserve Hyderabad’s culture — “I once had the opportunity to address the old boys’ association of Osmania University in Karachi. And I told them with tears rolling down my cheeks that I can’t believe that the association is here… it should have been in Hyderabad. And with it, you have also taken away our culture.”

source: http://www.deccanchronicle.com / Deccan Chronicle / Home> Lifestyle> Viral and Trending / Deccan Chronicle – by Christopher Isaac / March 18th, 2016

A.R. Antulay, Maharashtra’s first Muslim CM, is dead

Community Involvement / Social Issues, Leaders, , , , , , , , , , ,

Ambet District (Raigad) – Mumbai, MAHARASHTRA :

Mumbai :

Congress veteran Abdul Rahman Antulay, Maharashtra’s first Muslim chief minister and a former central minister, died here Tuesday following prolonged illness, his nephew said. He was 85.

Antulay passed away at the Breach Candy Hospital where he was admitted a few days ago.

He is survived by his wife Nargis, son Naved and daughters Neelam, Shabnam and Mubina, said nephew and son-in-law Mushtaque Antulay.

Known as ‘Barrister Antulay’, he was the state’s first Muslim chief minister, from June 1980 to January 1982 and a loyalist of then Congress president and prime minister Indira Gandhi.

The party’s most prominent face in the Konkan region, Antulay served as a union minister in 1995 and later in the UPA-I government of prime minister Manmohan Singh.

“We plan to hold the funeral ceremonies Wednesday in his village Ambet in Raigad district,” Mushtaque Antulay told IANS.

This is the second Congress veteran to die in Maharashtra after former union minister Murli Deora expired in Mumbai Nov 24.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis condoled the demise of Antulay.

“Maharashtra has lost a leader who worked for the interest of the common man,” Fadnavis said.

Political leaders cutting across party lines, including former chief minister Manohar Joshi of the Shiv Sena, paid glowing tributes to Antulay. – IANS

source: http://www.weekendleader.com / The Weekend Leader / Home / Mumbai – December 02nd, 2014

No Living Moghals, for now

Community Involvement / Social Issues, Leaders, World Opinion, , , , , , , , ,

Hyderabad, TELANGANA ( formerly ANDHRA PRADESH )

Hyderabad :

The City Civil Court has granted injunction order stopping the telecast of the documentary film, `Living Moghals,’ produced by the Public Service Broadcasting Trust.

The documentary, which has been screened on various TV channels, has attracted flak from the descendants of the last Mughal emperor, Bahadur Shah Zafar, for projecting Princess Laila Umahani and her two sons as the only surviving heirs. Taking objection to the `misleading’ documentary, Prince Yakub Habibuddin Tucy, great grandson of Bahadur Shah, and 34 other members of the family approached the court and obtained the injunction order, pending disposal of the suit.

Prince Habibuddin told presspersons here on Sunday that both print and electronic media were giving a wrong picture showing Princess Umahani and her sons — Ziauddin Tucy and Masihuddin Tucy — as the surviving heirs. The fact was that Umahani’s elder sister, 88-year-old Princess Hussan Jahan Ara Begum, her children and grandchildren were also present. There were at least 55 Mughal descendants living in the city alone.

“All this is being done with an ulterior motive,” Prince Habibuddin said. He said all the descendants of the Mughal family wherever they might be living should come under the banner of Mughal Emperors Family Society so as to preserve their identity.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Southern States> Andhra Pradesh – Hyderabad / by The Hindu Staff Reporter / Monday – December 09th, 2002

The Subaltern Speak

Amazing Feats, Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Community Involvement / Social Issues, Education, Leaders, , , , , , , , ,

Mumbai, MAHARASHTRA :

A Mumbai-based voluntary group launches a diary about the contribution of Indian Muslim women.

(From right) Book jacket of the diary; one of the inside pages that acts as a separator
(From right) Book jacket of the diary; one of the inside pages that acts as a separator

Earlier this week, several Indian intellectuals and feminists paid homage to Savitribai Phule on her 185th birth anniversary. The contribution of the social reformist towards women’s rights, especially in the field of education, is now being recognised. However, Fatima Sheikh continues to be an elusive figure in Indian history. A diary introduced by Parcham Collective — a voluntary group in Mumbra in Thane district — celebrates Sheikh and several other pioneering Muslim women, who have contributed to society but have remained largely unacknowledged.

“In a political environment when the minorities in India, especially the Muslims, are having to prove their allegiance to the country, we hope this diary will reiterate that we aren’t the ‘other’,” says Sabah Khan, one of the co-founders of Parcham Collective, which attempts to break stereotypes based on religion, class, caste and gender. Active since 2012, they have been working with girls and have been successful in using football among adolescents to reclaim public space for the feminine gender and also bridge the gap between Hindus and the dominant Muslim population of Mumbra.

In the diary, Sheikh, a 2016 organiser, is the first Muslim woman, among six. Savitribai’s classmate from college, she not only taught at her school but also gave the Phule couple shelter when they were ostracised by the society for their work. The other women include Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain (1880-1932), Nazar Sajjad Hyder (1894-1967) and Rashid Jahan (1905-1952), among others. Their stories appear with illustrations and act as separators between the diary pages.

The idea of a diary, says Khan, came up earlier in 2015 during a discussion on Muslim women and their contribution to society. “At a time when education of the Muslim girl child is an issue and girls often drop out of school in Mumbra, we wanted to highlight women as role models who would inspire people,” says Khan.

The Parcham Collective team had been trying to unearth names and information of such women for a long time; the information had been tough to come by. It took them three months of research, tapping feminists such as Uma Chakravarti, and the names started to come up.

So there is Rashid Khan, a gynaecologist and writer, who was an inspiration to writers such as Premchand, Ismat Chughtai and Faiz Ahmed Faiz. A member of the Progressive Writers’ Movement, Rashid spoke about the oppression Muslim women faced everyday. As for Begum Qudsia Aizaz Rasul (1908-2001), few are aware that the Indian Women’s Hockey Cup is named after her. A politician from a privileged family, her key contributions include fighting for the abolition of the zamindari system and encouraging sports among women.

This is their first diary, but Parcham Collective wants to make it an annual project, using it to talk about subaltern women. They hope to dedicate the 2017 diary to Muslim women across the world in the arena of sports. “While the diary has been welcomed by feminists, we believe the real success of the project will be if common people purchase it and gain from it,” says Khan. Buyers can visit Parcham Collective’s Facebook page page and place an order for the diary.

source: http://www.indianexpress.com / The Indian Express / Home> Lifestyle> Book / by Dipti Nagpaul D’Souza / January 07th, 2017

Renowned freedom fighter and veteran journalist M Rasheed passes away

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Community Involvement / Social Issues, Leaders, , , , , , , , , ,

KERALA :

Kozhikode :

Renowned freedom fighter, writer and veteran journalist M Rasheed passed away in Salem on Friday. He had his last breath following a cardiac arrest at his daughter’s residence in Salem on Friday morning. An active participant in the Quit India Movement in 1942, he was also jailed during the freedom struggle.

Son of eminent freedom fighter E Moidu Moulavi, Rasheed was taken to the custody while he was high school student. He was one of the founding members of the Revolutionary Socialist Party and the editor of the party’s mouthpiece Sakhav.

The veteran journalist was a regular column writer in Malayalam dailies and was author of some books.

He will be laid to rest at Ponnani on Saturday morning.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Nation / by Express News Service / January 06th, 2017

Istafa Husain Ansari brought handloom industry to forefront

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Business & Economy, Community Involvement / Social Issues, Leaders, , , , , , , , , ,

Gorakhpur, UTTAR PRADESH :

There is no denying to the fact that 1970-1980 was the best decade for a Bunkar (weaver) of Uttar Pradesh. This period can be identified as the golden era for the handloom industry and the person responsible for this was no other than late Istafa Husain Ansari of Gorakhpur. I am fortunate to be one of his grandsons.

Istafa Husain Ansari (1914-1987) was the third child of Sheikh Murtaza Husain- a Zamindar and a successful businessman, along with a prominent political leader of Gorakhpur. From the very beginning he had nationalist leaning. His initial education was in Gorakhpur and for the higher education he attended Lucknow University, from where he completed his M.Sc. and LLB. During those days the political environment in Lucknow was stirring, and there he worked along with stalwarts Dr. Shankar Dayal Sharma and K Raghurammaiyya, who were prominent student leaders of that time. At an early age he got married to Amina Khatoon, daughter of a prominent businessman of Gorakhpur, Mian Rahmatullah. One of his brothers-in-law, Niamatullah Ansari participated in the freedom struggle, and was later elected as a MLA from Gorakhpur.

IstafaHusainMPOsJan052017

After completing his education in Lucknow, he went back to Gorakhpur to practice law in Gorakhpur Civil Court. He was interested in the issues related to small farmers, peasants and the marginalized sections of the society. His contact with Professor Shibban Lal Saxena, who was an influential Congress leader of that time, brought him closer to Maharajganj and Pharenda, from where he started his formal political career by getting elected as the Gram Pradhan of Bhelumpur, which was also known as Karmaura. In 1952, for the first assembly election after independence, he won the Gorakhpur seat on a Congress ticket. He won by a big majority and then again by a bigger majority in 1957.

He was elevated to the position of Parliamentary Secretary for Education, Home and Information, when Sampoorna Nand became the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh. Then in 1966 and in 1972, he was elected as a Member of the Legislative Council in Uttar Pradesh Vidhan Parishad. In November 1973, when Chief Minister Hemvati Nandan Bahuguna, formed his eleven member’s cabinet, he was assigned as a Cabinet Minister in-charge of the small scale industries. He saw the deterioration in the politics climate and declined to be a part of that. His refusal to subscribe to the kind of politics brought in by Sanjay Gandhi curtailed his political career, because he could not do the Jee-Hazoori (sycophancy) that became the norm for success those days.

The success story of his life can be gauged by his contribution to the handloom as well as other cottage industries. He battled tirelessly for uplifting the weaker sections of the society. He fought relentlessly for the cause of the weavers and led an agitation against the ruling congress party, of which he was an active member, without fearing for the consequences and his own political future. As a result of the struggle, all his demands were met, and for the first time the woes of the handloom industry caught the attention of the policy makers. As a result, in 1970s when Prime Minister Indira Gandhi formulated her twenty point development program, challenges facing the handloom industry were also included in it. Then came the golden period of the handloom industry where infra-structure was developed to provide the raw material as well as avenues were opened to find markets for the finished product.

Apart from political appointments, he was also a member of the Aligarh Muslim University and Agra University courts. Locally in Gorakhpur, he was in the Executive Committee of Gorakhpur University, and was the founder member of Madan Mohan Malviya Engineering College. For life, he was the President of the school named after his father, Sheikh Murtaza Husain Memorial Higher Secondary School. During the time of his death in 1987, he was the member of Uttar Pradesh Minorities Commission.

It is not out of place to mention that in spite of being in public life for about five decades he maintained an unblemished record. His eldest son, Ashfaq Husain ventured into politics, and was elected to the Lok Sabha from Maharajganj. It is not out of place to mention that he was a great advocate for education and encouraged his descendants for quality education. As a result, today all twenty-two of his grandchildren are either engineers or have achieved post graduate degrees.

(The author is a Nuclear Engineer and was in the United States for long, but presently is in India. Can be contacted at www.tanvirsalim.com.)

source: http://www.twocircles.net / TwoCircles.net / Home / by Tanvir Salim / October 26th, 2013

Malayali becomes Major General of Kyrgyzstan

Amazing Feats, Leaders, NRI's / PIO's, World Opinion, , , ,

Calicut, KERALA / KINGDOM OF SAUDI ARABIA / KYRGYZSTAN :

Shaik Rafik Mohammed, Chairman of Gammon Group / image credit: Twitter
Shaik Rafik Mohammed, Chairman of Gammon Group / image credit: Twitter

The Saudi-based entrepreneur of Indian origin, was invited by the Kyrgystan Government to take up the prestigious military position in view of his earlier contribution to the country.

From among more than two million Keralite expatriates present across the world, a notable name is Shaikh Rafik Mohammed, who has now assumed a top position in the defense department of Kyrgyzstan, a Central Asian state of the former Soviet Union.

Shaikh Rafik Mohammed, Chairman, Gammon Group (UAE and Saudi Arabia), has been appointed Major General by Ali Mirza, Defence Minister of  Kyrgyzstan, at an official ceremony held in the Central Asian country, Omar Abu Baker, media advisor of Rafik, told Khaleej Times.

It is a rare military position occupied by an overseas Keralite, he said on behalf of Rafik, adding that the Keralite holds Kyrgyzstan nationality conferred by its former President, Kurmanbek Saliyevich Bakiyev, whom he casually met in his 20s while working in Iran. He was conferred the military leadership at a function held in the Kyrgyzstan military head office, his representative told Khaleej Times.

The Saudi-based entrepreneur of Indian origin, whose family resides in Dubai, was invited by the Kyrgystan Government to take up the prestigious military position in view of his earlier contribution to the country.

The inspiring story of the Keralite expatriate who migrated from Calicut Kerala before completing his fifth-grade schooling culminated in his recent appointment as Major General of Kyrgyzstan. While there are scores of successful of business tycoons in the region, this could well be the first time a Malayali has occupying top military leadership of a foreign country.

Mohammed Rafik earlier worked as an advisor to the former Kyrgyzstan President Kurmanbek Saliyevich Bakiyev (2005-1010) whom he met in Iran where the young Indian entrepreneur was developing a major steel plant.

After selling the successful project to the Iranian Government, Rafik went to Kyrgystan and presented a similar project to Kurmanbek, then a governor who was preparing to contest presidential elections.

Kurmanbek promised to green-light the project if he won the election. After he got elected, the new president appointed young Rafik as his chief advisor – a milestone in his career in his mid-twenties. He remained president for two terms and Rafik developed wide network of friends in the Central Asian republic, which has witnessed a rapid flow of foreign investment and reversal of socialist mode of development to a capitalist mode of production.

As an economic diplomat, Rafik could play a key role in attracting foreign investment from many countries to the young nation by suggesting easy tax regimes that kept away foreign investors till then.  From there, he was invited by Saudi Arabia to develop some projects on the free zone model of Dubai. Kyrgyzstan in the Central Asian region maintains close economic, political and strategic relationship with the Gulf region, especially Saudi Arabia. Kyrgyzstan is also a member of the Jeddah-based Organisation of Islamic Countries (OIC).

Gammon Group has a strong presence in emerging markets such as Asia, Middle East, Europe and North Africa. The diversified group is present in several areas, including infrastructure management and petrochemicals. According to the group’s website, it employs 200,000 employees in 28 countries.

“Rafik had left Kerala at a young age and he could complete only his primary school education. He went to Mumbai where the young man learnt all the tricks of business and from there to the Middle East. He has worked in the UAE, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Kyrgyzstan,” his media advisor added.

source: http://www.khaleejtimes.com / Khaleej Times / Home> News> General / by VM Satheesh, Dubai / December 31st, 2016

Mumbai lawyer Afroz Shah to receive top UN environment award for Versova Beach clean-up

Amazing Feats, Community Involvement / Social Issues, Green Products, Leaders, , ,

Mumbai, MAHARASHTRA :

_________________________________________________________________

Highlights :

  1. Shah and his 84-year-old neighbour Harbansh Mathur had started manually cleaning Versova Beach in 2015.
  2. The clean-up grew into a massive volunteer movement that saw 4,000 tons of garbage being picked up.
  3. UNEP has hailed the movement as an example of the key role of citizen action in protecting the environment
  4. ______________________________________________________________

 

AfrozShahMPOs31dec2016

New Delhi :

The largest beach clean-up in the world would be a reward in itself. But for spearheading it, Mumbai-based lawyer Afroz Shah has been named as one of winners of the top environmental honour of the United Nations. Shah will be among those bestowed with the Champions of the Earth award for leading the clean-up of Mumbai’s  Versova Beach.

Shah will receive the award under the ‘Action and Inspiration’ category for kick-starting a volunteer campaign to pick up, by hand, all the plastic bags, cement sacks, glass bottles, pieces of clothing, and shoes, that covered the entire 2.5-km stretch of the Versova Beach, even rising many feet high in some places.

The movement grew and grew over the past year and picked up a whopping 4,000 tons of garbage.

“Shah’s efforts, and the hundreds of volunteers he’s inspired, is a wonderful example of citizen action and reminds the rest of the world that even the most ambitious, global agreements are only as good as the individual action and determination that brings them to life. His outstanding leadership is drawing global attention to the devastating impacts of marine litter,” said United Nations Environment Project (UNEP) chief Erik Solheim, who had joined Shah in the clean-up for a day in October.

AfrozShah02MPOs31dec2016

Lewis Pugh, the United Nations Patron of the Oceans, too, congratulated Shah in a twitter. “So delighted that Afroz Shah has won the UN’s highest award for his incredible efforts to clean Mumbai’s beaches!!” he tweeted.

Pugh has for long hailed the Versova clean-up as the ‘largest beach clean-up in history’. He had made it a point to visit Mumbai and take part in the clean-up in July.

AfrozShah04MPOs31dec2016

“This award is in honour of the hundreds of volunteers who have joined me over the past year to clean up our beach and ocean. I am an ocean lover and feel that we owe a duty to our ocean to make it free of plastic,” said Shah as part of the announcement on the UNEP website.

“I just hope this is the beginning for coastal communities across India and the world – we have to win the fight against marine dumping and that involves getting our hands dirty. We humans need to reignite our bond with the ocean and we don’t have to wait for anybody else to help us do that,” he added.

Shah and his 84-year-old neighbour,  Harbansh Mathur, had started picking up garbage off the beach in July 2015. This grew into a movement, with a rising number of volunteers, outliving Mathur.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News> India News / TNN / December 03rd, 2016

Majlis to remember city’s noted nawabs

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Community Involvement / Social Issues, Leaders, Travel & Tourism, , ,

Lucknow , UTTAR PRADESH :

Friday's majlis in progress
Friday’s majlis in progress

 

Lucknow :

In a unique step, from now on Lucknow will pay obeisance to its nawabs who played an important role in starting and continuing with the Muharram rituals that took the city’s name to the world.

Paying tribute to their souls, every Friday after Jumah prayers, a majlis (religious sermon remembering the martyrdom of Imam Hussain  and the tragedy of Karbala) will be organised at the Bara Imambara.

 Earlier,majlis for a few nawabs were organised by their descendants or caretakers of the respective Imambaras set up by them. This is the first time that tribute will be paid in a systematic manner. A list with 25 names has already been drawn which will further be expanded to include descendants who, even in poverty, continued Muharram rituals, and clerics on whose advice the nawabs ruled Avadh.

On Friday, Maulana Kalbe Jawad presided over the majlis in memory of Nawab Ghasiud-din Haider while also talking about the latter’s and his role in Lucknow’s Muharram.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News> City News> Lucknow News / TNN / December 24th, 2016