Tag Archives: Muslims of East Champaran District

Tania Parveen’s journey from village transformer to special invitee to R-Day Parade

Community Involvement / Social Issues, Leaders, Women/Girls(since May26-2021), , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Siswa Purvi Panchayat (East Champaran District), BIHAR :

Tania Parveen, Sarpanch of Siswa Purvi Panchayat in Bihar

Tania Parveen, head of the Siswa Purvi Panchayat in East Champaran district of Bihar, will be seated among the special invitees of the President of India to witness the ceremonial Republic Day Parade in Delhi on Monday.

Tania, an engineering graduate, is among the guests of honour at the 77th Republic Day Parade due to her work in transforming her village through her vision and work as an elected head of the Panchayat.

Today, the Siswa Purvi Panchayat is a model for the rest of the country and a living proof that villages too can have amenities enjoyed by people in cities.

Tania Parveen left her government job to take up the leadership of her village. She contested the Panchayat election with a clear idea that this position could help her in changing the poor living conditions of her village.

Her trigger for giving up a well-paying and stable government job was the air pollution caused by sugar mills. Taniya has been the head of the village Panchayat since 2016.

Panchatay Office of Siswa Purvi, Bihar 

The Panchayat has about 48 per cent of the Muslim population. She recalls that earlier, girls in the village showed little interest in education. Today, the situation has changed, with girls eagerly preparing to go to school.

When Taniya took charge, she had a lot of problems to tackle. Child labour, the trend of early marriages and the violence against women were immediate issues demanding her attention.

During the COVID period, she had to dispel rumours and misconceptions about the disease and its treatment. People were afraid of taking vaccines and tried to avoid quarantine. Through her strong leadership, Tania Parveen created awareness, and gradually, villagers began following the protocols.

The invite to Taniya is under the Central Government’s Panchayat Empowerment Scheme, which honours the outstanding panchayat representatives from across the country.

Tania Parveen became Mukhiya at the age of just 32 and, within the last three years, has transformed Siswa Purvi from a backward area into a model gram panchayat. Even former sarpanch Faizal Rahman, 50, openly praises her work and leadership.

Girls attending school in Siswa Purvi village

Her focus is on health, employment, education and empowerment of women in the panchayat.

Her efforts showed significant improvements in the health sector. Regular health check-ups are conducted for the elderly, pregnant women, and girls. ASHA workers go door to door to fulfil their responsibilities. Women are encouraged to join schemes such as MGNREGA, PM Vishwakarma Yojana, and Jeevika to make them earn.

Tania introduced smart classes and computers in schools, and paid attention to high dropouts among girls. After the Beti Bachao Beti Padhao campaign, girls developed a strong interest in education. With the installation of streetlights, women feel safer even at night.

Tania Parveen says that when she became Mukhiya in 2016, the condition of the panchayat was poor. Roads had potholes, drains were clogged, and sanitation systems were weak.

Today, Siswa has better roads, organised drainage, proper water disposal, and improved cleanliness.

She injected transparency in the spending and ended a culture of bribery and commissions in public works. She says her vision was to bring the basic amenities in her village to the level of a city.

An RTPS counter has now been set up at the Siswa Panchayat Sarkar Bhavan, where birth certificates, death certificates, pensions, residence certificates, caste and income documents are issued. Every day, 20 to 35 people come to get their work done without needing to visit the block office. Led by Tania, all employees attend regularly.

Tania Parveen is now working towards setting up a women-friendly panchayat. She believes that women will become strong only when they have self-employment opportunities. She has plans for conducting tailoring, computer training, and martial arts classes to make women and girls self-reliant and confident.

Asking her peers across the country to adopt honesty as the best policy, Tania says, when a panchayat changes, society will change. Then cities will change, and eventually, Bihar will change. Panchayat development, she says, is true national development.

She also notes that women’s participation has increased significantly in social security schemes such as pension schemes, ration schemes, housing schemes, and the “toilet in every home” initiative.

The construction of the Panchayat Sarkar Bhavan has also been completed in her village.

Tania Parveen is not ready to sit on her laurels. She is working towards creating newer employment opportunities, strengthening women’s education, and digitising the panchayat system. “If panchayats are to be made dignified and strong, it is essential to provide women with equal opportunities and full respect,” she says.

source: http://www.awazthevoice.in / Awaz, The Voice / Home> Stories / by Mansooruddin Faridi, New Delhi / January 25th, 2026

Where guns used to roar earlier, now ‘Shafqat Aamna’ has become an IAS

Community Involvement / Social Issues, Leaders, Women/Girls(since May26-2021), , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Adhakparia Village (East Champaran District), BIHAR :

Motihari: 

A village in East Champaran which was infamous for guns being pulled out on trivial matters and for fights, the village where last year a sarpanch was not only strangled by fearless criminals but also shot dead, now this same village will be known for the stories of Shafqat Amna becoming an IAS.  

Shafqat Amna, daughter of retired teacher Mohammad Zafir Alam of Adhakparia village of East Champaran, has not only brought glory to her family by securing 186th rank in the UPSC Civil Services exam, but has also shown a path to lakhs of Muslim girls with the light of education. 

The whole village is rejoicing at Shafqat’s success. 65-year-old Zafir is not tired of thanking people for this success. 

In an exclusive conversation with BeyondHeadlines, Zafir Alam says, ‘We would like my daughter to work as an honest servant. She should strive for peace and prosperity in the society. And most importantly, she should take today’s new generation forward in the field of education.’

Let us tell you that Zafir Alam has retired as a teacher from an Urdu middle school in Agarwa village near Motihari. 

24-year-old Shafqat Amna says in an exclusive interview with BeyondHeadlines that the backwardness of the village and the lack of infrastructure always bothered me. That is why since childhood I wanted to live among the people and do something for them so that I could change their thinking and circumstances. My father, sensing this desire of mine, inspired me to join the civil service. 

Aamna says that my first choice is IAS and I am hopeful that I will definitely get IAS Insha Allah. 

When asked what will you do first after becoming an IAS? 

In response to this question, Aamna says that my first effort will be that whichever district I go to, I will first try to focus on education in the village. Since my father was a teacher, I understand the politics of teachers very well. I will inspire them to teach children honestly, away from that politics.  

What if I get IPS instead of IAS? 

On this question, Aamna pauses for a while and then after thinking says – I am hopeful that I will get IAS and I have not thought of anything else apart from this. But still if I get IPS instead of IAS then first of all I will pay special attention to law and order. I will try to maintain communal harmony in my district at all costs. I will try my best that there is never any fight or quarrel in my district, there is always mutual harmony.

When asked about preparing for civil services, Aamna says that, I would definitely like to tell those who want to join civil services that they should not start preparing for it suddenly, but first understand the syllabus well. If possible, try to take guidance from an IAS or IPS. Then start preparing for it thoughtfully with full courage and passion. Try to study smartly instead of studying like donkeys.

However, she also says that everyone’s way of preparing is different. The positive thing for me was that I had read NCERT books properly in school itself. So all the concepts were clear. I studied Geography very well in graduation as well. And yes, during my entire studies, I always had the habit of making short notes. These notes were very useful in my preparation. I paid full attention to its revision. Apart from that, I participated a lot in test series. 

Let us tell you that Shafqat Amna passed 10th from Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya in Bettiah, West Champaran. Then she went to Bokaro for 12th, passed 12th from DPS there. After that, circumstances became such that she had to return to the village. Here she got a BA Honors degree in Geography from a college of Bhimrao Ambedkar University in Motihari. After that, she came to Delhi in 2016 to prepare for civil services. Here she prepared by staying in the residential coaching of Jamia Millia Islamia and after failing twice, she succeeded this time in the third attempt.

Apart from her parents, Shafqat Amna’s family also has three sisters and a brother. Her younger sister is pursuing BA LLB from Jamia Millia Islamia. Her two elder sisters have completed B.Ed and are currently living with their mother in the village. 

Aamna says that the situation at home was never good. My father was the only breadwinner in the house. But he never neglected our education. Whatever I am today is because of my father. 

What would you like to say to the girls of the country? 

On this question, Aamna says that I would like to say that it is very important for you to get educated. And never underestimate yourself. Your hard work, your efforts can change your fate. But yes, for success you will have to make your own policy and your own routing. You will have to decide for yourself what things matter in your life…

source: http://www.beyondheadlines.in / Beyond Headlines / Home> India> Real Heroes / by Afroz Alam Sahil, Beyond Headlines / April 06th, 2019