Tag Archives: Muslims of Kerala

Alippatta Jameela: A path-breaker

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

Perunthalmanna Thazekadu Village / Kalikavu (Malappuram District) KERALA :

An ordinary Muslim woman from a remote village in North Kerala’s Malappuram district is today one of the general secretaries of the Congress party in Kerala.

Any woman involved in public service in Kerala, or for that matter anywhere in the country, faces several difficulties and challenges. It is all the more daunting if you are an ordinary woman and a Muslim to boot. Especially in today’s ‘New India’. Let us face the facts: unlike men, the circumstances are not conducive for a woman to enter politics in Kerala.

It is after a lot of uncertainty and dithering that the Congress party in Kerala managed to recently release a list of new office-bearers of the Pradesh Congress Committee. Though the leadership has claimed that the list is a reflection of a unified Congress – remember the local Congress has been ravaged by group rivalry for decades that had once again cost the party dearly in the recent Assembly elections in the state – it has naturally come under criticism for minimal representation for women in different committees. The AICC has co-opted five women, including three general secretaries and two executive committee members, into the KPCC leadership hierarchy. The women general secretaries are K.A. Thulsi, Alippatta Jameela and Deepthi Mary Varghese. The executive committee members are Padmaja Venugopal and P.R. Sona.

It is in this backdrop that Alipatta Jameela, the only Muslim woman general secretary of the KPCC, spoke to DoolNews Malayalam about her political journey. Asked how as a Muslim woman from Perunthalmanna Thazekadu, a village situated in the hilly terrain in Malappuram, one of the most backward districts in north Kerala till not very long ago, she rose to become a KPCC general secretary, Jameela said she had represented the KSU (Kerala Students Union, student organisation of the Congress in Kerala) in the College Union when she was studying in Mannarkkad MES (Muslim Education Society) College. She said she moved to Kalikavu, where she is settled now, after her marriage. She became active in politics after being elected president of the local Kalikavu Mandalam Congress in 2000. In 2005 she became a member of the Kalikavu panchayat after winning from Eenadi ward. In 2010 she contested from another ward and became president of the Kalikavu panchayat.

In 2015 she contested the Zilla panchayat election from Vandiyur division. In 2018 she became the district secretary of the Mahila Congress. In the 2020 panchayat elections, she successfully contested from Thenjippalam division. Currently she is a member of the Thenjippalam division and chairperson of the Public Works Department (PWD) standing committee there.

Jameela said it is significant that the party chose to select her to the PCC while she is already holding the post of general secretary of the Kerala Mahila Congress. “I consider it an honour and a sign of the party’s continuing faith in me. It is a great achievement to become one of the general secretaries of the State Congress, especially for someone hailing from the hilly terrain and living in this small town of Eranadu Kalikavu. I consider it recognition of the work I have done so far and I hope to fulfil the responsibilities bestowed on me to the full extent of my abilities,” she said.

Asked if she had a long struggle to reach the level she has, Jameela admitted that it was very difficult as a woman, especially as an ordinary woman from Malappuram, to embark on a life of public service, which is full of hazards and challenges entirely different from what men face in such circumstances. “When I contested for the panchayat in 2005, my younger child was not even a year old. The elder one was just three. To go out and campaign leaving my two children at home was very tough. This is not in my case alone. A lot of women face the same problems. Many of them are forced to give up as they fail to get enough support at home,” she said.

Jameela asserted that she could reach this level purely because of the support and encouragement she got at home. Despite that as a woman she faces many difficulties which she somehow overcomes to go forward.

On whether she belonged to a traditional Congress family and how she came into the party, she confessed that her family is basically a Muslim League one, but her late brother Nalakath Yusuf was a staunch Congress supporter and introduced her to the party’s ideology. “It was he who initiated me to the basics of politics. That was how I got involved in student politics,” Jameela said.

On the criticism over the shrinking representation of women in Congress forums, Jameela said compared to the previous jumbo KPCC (over 100) the current one has been trimmed to 51. “There are three women general secretaries and two in the executive committee. So, five of us are here. I think this is a decent number. I am myself an answer to that criticism. The fact that of the three woman general secretaries one is from Malappuram (Muslim-dominated district where League roots are deep) is in itself, in my opinion, an important signal to the changes that are sure to happen,” Jameela said.

On the new Congress leadership in Kerala vowing to end group rivalry in the state unit and whether she belongs to any group, Jameela admitted that leaders in the state Congress have grown only through these groups. “All along I have worked above these groups, but it is a fact that Thenjippalam from where I am a member belongs to the I (Indira) group. So, in a way, many see or identify me as spokesperson of the I group. But I try to be above all this and consider myself a humble worker of the Indian National Congress,” she said.

(Note for those who are not familiar with Congress politics in Kerala: For years these groups – A and I – are identified as the former aligned with senior Congress leader from the state, A K Antony, whose soulmate is former chief minister Oommen Chandy. The other group consists of followers of the late K Karunakaran who had stood with Indira Gandhi at the time she split the Congress a second time. Their current leader is former leader of the opposition Ramesh Chennithala.)

Asked whether the Congress, which is not in power either in the state or at the Centre, and is passing through perhaps the worst period in its history can make a comeback, Jameela said the country is passing through a grave crisis and is heading towards total anarchy without the Congress in power. She said the BJP is destroying India’s secular democracy by the day. “Women in particular are facing many problems in the state and the country in general. We see only such news these days. If Congress was in power these things would not have happened. In such circumstances people want the Congress to return to power. The new state Congress president and the leader of the Opposition are working for that only – to bring Congress back to its glory in the state. We will emerge victorious,” she said.

Asked what advice she would give to those women wanting to come into public life, Jameela said more and more women have started joining mainstream politics. She said it is the need of the hour as the country is passing through dangerous times. She added that she will always be there to guide women, Muslim or otherwise, who come forward to play a role in shaping the destiny of the country.

source: http://www.milligazette.com / The Milli Gazette / Home> News> Community News / by MG Correspondent / January 14th, 2022

This Kerala doctor rode out Nipah, Covid waves with head held high

Amazing Feats, Community Involvement / Social Issues, COVID 19 - Community of Soldiers, Education, Leaders, Science & Technology, Women/Girls(since May26-2021), , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Thiruvananthapuram, KERALA :

Dr A Remla Beevi, director of medical education  who bade adieu to a tumultuous stint on Tuesday, terms her last seven years as the most challenging in her 34-year career.

Thiruvananthapuram : 

Dr A Remla Beevi, director of medical education who bade adieu to a tumultuous stint on Tuesday, terms her last seven years as the most challenging in her 34-year career. She had an arduous task as the DME during the Nipah and then the pandemic outbreak in the state.

When the Nipah virus outbreak was reported in Kozhikode district in 2018, like any other  health professional, Dr Remla was also at sea. Even today, Thiruvananthapuram native Dr Remla remembers that once the diagnosis was reached, health authorities took steps to set up isolation facilities in a jiffy. 

However, she is still upset that the state lost Lini Puthussery, the nurse who died in the first outbreak. Dr Remla recalls that the diagnosis had not come when Lini fell ill. Dr Remla gives credit to the entire health department, including then health minister K K Shailaja and former  health secretary Rajiv Sadanandan, for working unitedly to contain the  Nipah virus spread within Kozhikode district. In 2020, when she was busy with her administrative work at the directorate of medical education in Thiruvananthapuram, the first Covid case was reported in the state. Later, the Covid spread was declared a pandemic.

“The biggest challenge was that apart from Covid patients, people affected with other illnesses as well as pregnant ladies were thronging the Thiruvananthapuram Medical College and SAT hospitals. We had to set up separate labour rooms, operation theatres, ICUs and separate wards and divide our staff into three pools  – Covid, non-Covid and reserve,” Dr Remla told TNIE.

Many a time, she missed her family – comprising husband Dr E Abdul Khadar, former professor and head of the cardiology department of Kottayam Medical College, engineer son Mohammed Farooq Husain and daughter Dr A Sumayya residing in Kottayam – when she returned home after a long and tiring day. 

Dr Remla became the DME in 2015 after serving as the principal in Thrissur, Alappuzha and Kottayam government medical colleges. She joined the government service in 1988 as a lecturer at the Government Medical College in Kottayam. 

Dr Remla who has specialised in radiology, fondly remembers the team work rendered by former health minister Shailaja who went out of the way by reading medical books and journals about Nipah and Covid so that these would help her “health army” to combat the deadly viruses.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Good News / by Cynthia Chandran, Express News Service / June 02nd, 2022

Shamnad Basheer, My Friend And One of the Country’s Brightest Legal Minds

Amazing Feats, Books (incl.Biographies - w.e.f.01 jan 2018 ), Business & Economy, Community Involvement / Social Issues, Karnataka (under research project), Leaders, World Opinion, , , , , , , , , , , , ,

KERALA / KOLKATA / Bengaluru, KARNATAKA :

Shamnad was not just an expert in intellectual property rights, but a relentless crusader who worked towards ensuring diversity and representation of marginalised communities in legal practice.

Shamnad Basheer. Photo: Devendra Purbiya Productions

The untimely and tragic death of professor Shamnad Basheer was a bolt from the blue for many of us. As I scuttled to get more information on what initially seemed impossible to believe, I realised that apart from the loss of a friend, the country had also lost one of its finest legal minds. Globally renowned for his expertise in the field of intellectual property rights (IPR), Shamnad was found dead in his car near Bababundangiri in Chikkamagaluru of Karnataka.

As news of his death spread and tributes started pouring in all over my social media timeline, there remained no doubt that his sudden demise was a great loss to the legal fraternity and academia across the globe. Shamnad was a relentless crusader, working day in and out to ensure diversity and representation of marginalised communities in the field of law and legal practice. An alumni of the National Law University, Bangalore and Oxford University, Shamnad was a man on a mission as he championed many causes ranging  from internet equality, fairness in IPR, public interest litigation, judicial accountability, to the rights of sexual minorities, visually impaired and physically disabled persons.

For me, Shamnad was more a social justice warrior than a globally-known IPR expert. He was not just the force behind Increasing Diversity by Increasing Access to Legal Education (IDIA), but also Access to Legal Education for Muslims in India (ALEM India).

I first heard of him in 2009, when he wrote a blog about remarks made by then Supreme Court judge Markandey Katju. In open court, Justice Katju equated a young Muslim sporting a beard with a Taliban militant. That year, Justice Katju had rejected an appeal of a Muslim student that he should be permitted to sport a beard in his convent school. Rejecting the plea the judge had remarked that, “We don’t want to have Talibans in the country. Tomorrow a girl student may come and say that she wants to wear a burqa. Can we allow it?”

According to Shamnad, “notwithstanding the merits of the case”, Justice Katju’s comments were “callous and insensitive” and he was “unfit to be an impartial judge”. Back then, Shamnad was the HRD ministry’s professor of intellectual property law at the National University of Juridical Sciences (NUJS), Kolkata. In the conclusion of his blog, he wrote:

“The Supreme Court bench may have been right in denying admission to Salim’s SLP. However, in view of Justice Katju’s statements made in open court that equated every bearded Muslim with a Taliban, the possibility of bias against a community cannot be ruled out. And the Chief Justice must not only censure such remarks, but take immediate steps to have this case reheard before another bench. For justice must not only be done, but also be seen to be done!”

Years passed by, and I kept reading his insightful articles and commentaries in various newspapers and websites. He was prolific, writing on a range of issues related to law, policy and public good. In 2015, a common friend (Tarunabh Khaitan) connected us, asking me if I would be interested in helping Shamnad’s team at IDIA to reach out to the Muslim community. Having admired Shamnad’s writings, the opportunity to work with him was like a dream come true. I readily agreed and eventually, we became good friends.

Shamnad Basheer at a panel discussion of intellectual property rights. Photo: Flickr/World Intellectual Property Organisation CC BY NC ND 2.0

Diversifying the legal field

More than anything, he was always on the lookout for ways and means to ensure that IDIA reaches the remotest parts of the country. To contextualise the need of diversity in national law schools, let me quote a study conducted by the students of NLS Bangalore in 2016. According to the study:

“While the students are somewhat evenly divided across sexes, the income, caste and religion statistics are telling of what constitutes ‘merit’ in this country. While 15% of the students reported their family’s annual income to be above Rs 36 lakh per annum, more than 50% reported an annual income of more than Rs. 12 lakh per annum. Eighty two percent were Hindus and the next largest religious group was the wealthy Jain community (5%), which constitute less than 0.5% of India’s population. On the other hand, Muslims, who constitute 14% of India’s population, make up only 0.5% of that of NLS. The NLS also has predominantly upper-caste students at 65%, with about 27% identifying as Brahmins.”

Similarly, another report found:

“In the last 15 years i.e., from 2000 onwards, only one Dalit advocate has been designated senior by the Supreme Court, and only two from the Muslim Community. The Advocates from backward States like Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand or Bihar have not been designated at all. The Advocates from rural background are totally ignored. Even with regard to a progressive State like Karnataka, only one Advocate has been designated after a gap of 25 years. It is relevant to mention that in the last round of designation, out of five advocates designated, four of them belonged to one caste.”

Despite being an extremely busy person, Shamnad believed in and practiced mentoring and coaching young minds, individually and personally. Few years ago, when I visited his flat in Bangalore, he was helping two students who were staying at his house to prepare for the CLAT exam. Both belonged to an unprivileged background, a common thread among the spectrum of students whom IDIA supported. A glance at IDIA scholars, like visually impaired Najrul Islam from Siliguri, West Bengal, who studies at the National Law University, Delhi (NLU) or Meraka Mani from Srikakulam district of Andhra Pradesh, currently studying at IFIM Law College, Bangalore, Aparna Amnekar from Nagpur, Maharashtra, a student of Government Law College, Mumbai, Sonia Sabu of Ernakulam district in Kerala, studying at NLIU, Bhopal and Vinatoli of Dimapur (Nagaland), studying at NUJS Kolkata shows an incredible initiative founded and run by him, with diversity and representation at its core.

Learning from IDIA’s experiment and under the guidance of Shamnad, ALEM India was started last year. The initiative tries to ensure access for socio-economically disadvantaged Muslims and improve their representation in Indian law schools.

Personally coaching legal professionals

His objective was not just to coach students for national law schools or produce batches of successful lawyers and legal professionals. He wanted to prepare young minds who are competent yet socially committed. It is hardly a surprise that IDIA produced graduates like Yogendra Yadav, better known as Yogi. The son of a manual labourer (working in Alang, Gujarat) and a resident of Pitij village in Chhatra district of Jharkhand, Yogi graduated from the National University for Study and Research in Law (NUSRL), Ranchi in 2017. He is currently a lawyer in the Ranchi high court. He worked as a newspaper hawker in and around his village from a very early age and it is while distributing newspapers that he got to know about IDIA and CLAT.

In the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections, he contested as an independent candidate. Explaining his rationale to contest the election, Yogi told Bar & Bench, “IDIA always encouraged me to take up community causes and help as best as I could, They were training me to become a CHAMP and this is all part of that.” I clearly remember Shamnad informing us of Yogi’s inspiring story with pride. “Yogendra Yadav, our IDIA Scholar makes his Political Debut!,” read the email he had sent to some of us.

Shamnad was also keen to highlight IDIA scholars to people working in different walks of life, not just those in the law and judiciary. In 2017, got in touch with me to invite the anti-manual scavenging activist and convener of the Safai Karmachari Andolan, Bezwada Wilson, to deliver the key note address at the IDIA conference on creativity and leadership.

Bezwada Wilson. Photo: PTI

“We share the same set of ideals in terms of empowering the marginalised and building a more inclusive India,” he had written to Bezwada, copying me in the email. Bezwada’s key note, according to Shamnad was “a provocative address”. A year later, he also wrote an article on Bandicoot, a robot to replace manual scavenging. He noted:

“Bandicoot is not just a clever idea; it is a game changer, and dare I say a life saver! Putting some teeth back into India’s constitutional promise of “equality” for Dalits and other marginalized sections who’ve had to clean our crap for years. Only a few days ago, the Delhi high court ruled on a case involving the death of two manual scavengers; making the government pay for its murderous negligence!”

His latest email to me was in July this year, a heart breaker titled: “Deeply Disappointing News: 7 IDIA Scholars Still Without Committed Donors!”. “I am deeply saddened to bring you this disheartening message. Unfortunately, of the 12 IDIA scholars that gained admission to leading law schools this year, we found donor support (covering all expenses) for only 5 of our scholars. Which means 7 of our kids are left behind and it will be a struggle to put them through law school without some promise of a committed donor (or donors),” read his email. Little did I know then that this was going to be his last email to me.

Now that Shamnad is gone and we cherish his memory, our duty is to ensure that we carry forward the work he initiated, in the same spirit that he always professed. And that, I believe, would be our real tribute to him.

source: http://www.thewire.in / The Wire / Home> Law> Rights / by Mahtab Alam / August 11th, 2019

IP academic Prof Shamnad Basheer among six Infosys Prize winners

Amazing Feats, Books (incl.Biographies - w.e.f.01 jan 2018 ), Business & Economy, Community Involvement / Social Issues, Education, Leaders, World Opinion, , , , , , , ,

KERALA :


Photo of Shamnad receiving the Infosys Prize (Humanities) in 2014 from Mr. Amartya Sen / pix: shamnad.com

Bengaluru : 

Indian Institute of Science (IISc) professor Jayant Haritsa and Intellectual Property (IP) academic and consultant professor Shamnad Basheer, both from Bengaluru, are among six winners of the Infosys Prize for this year.

Each prize, comprising a purse of Rs.55 lakh, a 22-carat gold medallion and a citation, is awarded by Infosys Science Foundation, a not-for-profit trust, set up by the global software major and funded by a corpus of Rs.100 crore ($16 million), contributed by the IT firm, its trustees and co-founders in 2009.

“Haritsa, computer science and automation department professor at IISc, has been awarded the prize under the Engineering and Computer Science category for his contribution to the design and optimisation of database engines,” the Foundation said in a statement here Thursday.

Haritsa also heads the supercomputer education and research centre at the institute.

Basheer, founder of SpicyIP, India, bagged the prize for his contribution to the analysis of a range of legal issues, including pharmaceutical patent injunctions and enforcement in the Humanities category.

As India’s premier blog on IP and innovation law and policy, SpicyIP does accurate reporting of IP developments across the country.

Basheer is also founder and managing trustee of Increasing Diversity by Increasing Access (IDIA) in Bengaluru.

Shubha Tole, associate professor at Mumbai-based Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), got the prize under the Life Sciences category for her contribution to studying the hippocampus and amygdale centres of learning and memory in the brain.

“Tole’s work can lead to a better understanding of human behaviour, cognition and emotions,” the statement noted.

Tole is also a principal investigator at the TIFR’s biological sciences department.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) adjunct professor Madhu Sudhan has been awarded the prize under the Mathematical Sciences category for his seminal contribution to probabilistically checkable proofs and error-correcting codes.

As a principal researcher at Microsoft Research in New England in the US, Sudan also heads the electrical engineering and computer sciences (EECS) department and computer science and artificial intelligence laboratory (CSASIL) at MIT in Boston.

Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) senior scientist Srivari Chandrasekhar at the Hyderabad-based Indian Institute of Chemical Technology (IICT) has bagged the prize under the Physical Sciences category for his contribution to the synthetic organic chemistry with special focus on the synthesis of complex molecules from natural sources.

Abdul Latif Jameel Professor of Poverty Alleviation and Development Economics at MIT, Esther Duflo, got the prize under the Social Sciences category for her pioneering contribution to development economics, including the work related to India and Africa.

Duflo is also founder-director of Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab in the US.

“The Foundation has been able to recognise some of the best researchers of our time through the prize. Their contributions are an inspiration to students and professionals and have the potential for real-time impact on individuals and society,” Infosys co-founder and Foundation president N.R. Narayana Murthy said on the occasion.

A panel of jurors, comprising renowned scientists and professors from the world over, evaluated the noted winners.

The Infosys Prize jury chairs are Pradeep Khosla, Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen, Inder Verma, Srinivasa S.R. Varadhan, Shrinivas Kulkarni and Kaushik Basu.

President Pranab Mukherjee will award the winners and felicitate them Jan 5 in Kolkata.–-IANS

www.shamnad.com

source: http://www.muslimmirror.com / Muslim Mirror / Home> Exclusive Reports> Indian Muslims> Youth / November 15th, 2014

Kerala couple cancels haj plan, donates land for ‘Life Mission’ project

Amazing Feats, Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Community Involvement / Social Issues, Women/Girls(since May26-2021), , , , , , , ,

Aranmula (Pathanamthitta District) KERALA :

The couple decided to donate its 28-cent ancestral land to LIFE Mission, the Kerala government’s flagship housing scheme for the landless.

Haj
Haj (Photo | PTI)

Pathanamthitta :

Aranmula residents Jasmine and Haneefa were making arrangements for their long-cherished dream of going on haj and were prepared to sell their land to raise funds for the trip when they had second thoughts.

Instead, the couple, married for over three decades, decided to donate its 28-cent ancestral land to LIFE Mission, the State government’s flagship housing scheme for the landless.

The couple’s decision came after it saw the plight of a neighbour-family living on a rented premises and found it difficult to cremate the body of a family member who died recently.

“We were planning to sell our property and use the funds for haj pilgrimage. But, in the past couple of months, we saw some incidents in which certain families find it difficult to cremate their family members as they don’t own a property. Such incidents made us rethink our Haj plans,” Haneefa told PTI.

He said recently, a person passed away in his locality and a community leader donated his four cents of land to that family to conduct last rites and cremation.

“After that incident, we decided to make use of the land to help the needy instead of going for haj,” Haneefa said.

Local Self-Government Minister M V Govindan hailed the decision of the couple and said it was an inspiration to society.

Minister Govindan said the couple was an inspiration to the forward journey of society which needs to embrace every human being.

“People like Haneefa and Jasmine have set an example of humanity and are role models for society,” Govindan said.

Health Minister Veena George on Sunday visited the house of 57-year-old Haneefa and received the agreement to hand over the property for the Life Mission from the couple on behalf of the Aranmula Grama panchayat.

The land, owned by 48-year-old Jasmine, was received under the ‘manasodithiri mannu’ campaign of the Left government, Govindan said.

“Till now, the government has received 926.75 cents of land in 13 locations for the Life Mission scheme. Also in 30 locations, 830.8 cents of land have been assured for the Life Mission. The project has also received a sponsorship of Rs 25 crore to construct 1,000 houses,” the Minister said.

Govindan said he hopes more people would come forward to help the poor and draw inspiration from the couple.

The Left government has till now handed over 2,95,006 houses to beneficiaries under the Life Mission scheme, he said.

He also added that 34,374 houses are currently under construction.

There are 27 housing complexes that are also under construction, he said.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Good News / by PTI / May 29th, 2022

Dentist, collector of 15,000 extracted teeth, bags UAE Golden Visa

Amazing Feats, Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Business & Economy, NRI's / PIO's, Science & Technology, Women/Girls(since May26-2021), World Opinion, , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Kerala, INDIA / Abu Dhabi, UAE :

Abu Dhabi-based dentist couple Abdul Rahiman Nizar and Simi are the latest recipients of the 10-year UAE Golden Visa.

Abu Dhabi :

Abdul Rahiman Nizar gained popularity for amassing a rare collection of all the teeth extracted so far in his career.

Abu Dhabi-based dentist couple Abdul Rahiman Nizar and Simi are the latest recipients of the 10-year UAE Golden Visa.

Dr Nizar has served in Abu Dhabi for 20 years, including 18 years at Ahalia Group. However, the Indian doctor gained popularity for amassing a rare collection of all the teeth extracted so far in his career.

“Teeth are the strongest part of your body. I have always liked teeth. And once into my job, I started collecting it. Soon, it became a hobby. And I began to have a varied collection, which has been helping students in their dental studies,” said Dr Nizar, who is from Kerala, India.

“Over the years, I have collected nearly 15,000 teeth. I clean each tooth with antimicrobial hydrogen peroxide and then treat it with disinfectant. Once dried, I preserve them in a box. I am aiming to see my name in record books,” said the general practitioner dentist.

Dr Nizar urges people to take care of their teeth and visit a dentist every six months.

“Early detection of any tooth decay will help to avert a situation of tooth extraction. I always try to save a tooth and opt for extraction only as a last resort,” he said.

Dr Simi, who works at Al Mafraq Medical Centre in Baniyas, has also been collecting teeth.

“We are very excited to have bagged the Golden Visa. During this pandemic, both of us served the community, sacrificing our off days,” Dr Simi said.

The couple have four daughters: Grade 12 student Neha, Naila in Grade 8, Naima in Grade 3 and Naira is eight months old.

Dr Nizar, who also holds a 10-year US visa, added: “We plan to spend the rest of our lives in the service of Abu Dhabi. I thank the leadership for this honour and our hospital for the support in building our careers.”

source: http://www.khaleejtimes.com / Khaleej Times / Home / by Ashwani Kumar / September 29th, 2021

This Kerala nutritionist is commited for balanced diet among children

Agriculture (since June 07th, 2021), Business & Economy, Community Involvement / Social Issues, Inventions, Innovations (wef. Nov 30th, 2021), Women/Girls(since May26-2021), , , , , , , , ,

KERALA :

By directly procuring ingredients such as wheat, raggi, millets and almonds needed for products directly from farmers, Shamila ensures a profit for them as well.

Shamila with her husband Muhammed Shahabaz
Shamila with her husband Muhammed Shahabaz

Ernakulam : : 

With adulterated food posing a serious hazard, staying healthy now depends as much on trustworthy sources as on a balanced diet. Worried parents face a difficult time trying to get their children to eat nutritious food.

Doctor-turned-entrepreneur Shamila Shahabaz, 30, is aiming to make life easier for such parents. ‘Mama Papa Zay’, Shamila’s venture, aims to provide a variety of fully homemade and preservative-free products for children, right from eight months old. By procuring ingredients like wheat, ragi, millets and almonds directly from the farmers, the venture is earning profits for them as well. 

“The idea struck me when I became a mother,” said Shamila, who is also a certified child nutritionist.

“People, generally, don’t have the habit of reading labels and ingredients before buying a product. This should change. You will stop buying so many products just by reading the ingredients list such as added sugar, artificial flavours and preservatives. It shocked me too and I wondered what to feed my baby. When I started sharing my recipes on social media after my pregnancy, people asked me whether I could make the products myself on a larger scale. Now we are getting orders from all over the world.” 

Local farmers are benefiting greatly from Shamila’s initiative. “Kannankaya is the key ingredient used to make banana powder. We have a few local farmers cultivating it, and we directly deal with them. Shops charge Rs 35-40 per kg for the fruit. We pay Rs 20-25 directly to the farmers, who thus get a better deal than selling their produce in the market. Millets, ragi, nuts and other ingredients are similarly sourced from farmers in Salem and Mysuru,” said Mohammed Shahabaz, Shamila’s husband.

“We are playing a small part in trying to transform our society’s health as a whole, by cultivating healthy food habits. This is just a small step, we hope to be known as a trustworthy source of nutritional food for children. Young mothers should never find themselves in the quandary I was in, to identify unadulterated baby food,” said Shamila.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Good News / by Anuja Susan Varghese, Express News Service / May 22nd, 2022

Indian doctor performs 1st pediatric stem cell transplant in UAE

Amazing Feats, Business & Economy, NRI's / PIO's, Science & Technology, World Opinion, , , , , , , , , ,

Kannur, KERALA / Abu Dhabi, UAE :

Dr Zainul Aabideen, with his patient, a 5-year-old Ugandan girl.
Dr Zainul Aabideen, with his patient, a 5-year-old Ugandan girl.

Abu Dhabi/Thiruvananthapuram :

A Malayali doctor in Abu Dhabi wrote himself into record books when he performed the first pediatric stem cell bone marrow transplant in the UAE.

Dr Zainul Aabideen, a native of Kannur in Kerala, presently Head of the Department of Pediatric Hematology and Oncology at Burjeel Medical City successfully performed the advanced allogeneic procedure on a five-year-old girl from Uganda with sickle cell disease.

Billed as the first such surgery done in the UAE, the patient’s 10-year-old sister donated her bone marrow for the transplant treatment at Burjeel Medical City, a flagship hospital of VPS Healthcare.

Sickle cell disease is a genetic disorder, which results in an abnormality in the hemoglobin found in red blood cells, causing them to become sickle-shaped and leading to several complications including anemia, swelling in the hands and feet, frequent pain, acute chest syndrome, and sometimes stroke.

Prior to the treatment, the child has been regularly admitted to the hospital due to complications arising from her disease since birth.

“As this was a life-threatening condition, the only curative option was bone marrow transplantation. Before this procedure, the patient suffered a lot. The entire care team here at the hospital and the child’s parents are delighted that the transplant will relieve this pain from her life,” said Zainul Aabideen, who headed a team of highly specialised doctors, including a pediatric intensive care team, for the procedure.

The patient has responded well to the treatment and will be discharged in a few days after a five-week stay at the hospital.

Earlier, pediatric patients in the UAE who had to undergo allogeneic stem cell bone marrow transplants travelled to the US, the UK, India, and other European countries.

Zainul Aabideen, completed his MBBS from Calicut University in Kerala and a post-graduate degree in Pediatrics from the University of Mumbai.

He then moved to the United Kingdom to specialise and undertake further training in pediatric hematology, pediatric oncology, and pediatric bone marrow transplantation in various hospitals in the UK.

source: http://www.awazthevoice.in / Awaz / Home> Health / by awazthevoice.in / April 20th, 2022

Kerala man’s story of reaping rewards of dairy farming in coconut grove

Agriculture (since June 07th, 2021), Business & Economy, Green Products, Martyrs of the Nation, , , , , , , ,

KERALA :

8 yrs into venture, V Hakeem has over 150 cows and supplies 650l of milk daily, reports A SATISH

Palakkad :

By 2am, V Hakeem is on his feet. He then goes to his coconut grove, located more than a kilometre away, and wakes up his eight migrant workers. And they begin work at his dairy farm in the village of Kamblichungam near Chittur. Hakeem’s foray into dairy farming happened with the cost of purchasing manure for his coconut grove becoming unaffordable. “So I decided to set up a dairy farm inside the grove,” he recounts.

Eight years down the line, Hakeem now has more than 150 cows and supplies 650 litres of milk daily to the Panniperunthala milk society, of which he is the president.

On Friday, he received the district’s best farmer award instituted by the dairy development department. Last year, he supplied 1.36 lakh litres of milk. Animal Husbandry and Dairy Development Minister J Chinchurani gave away the award. “It is the involvement of the farmer that brings in the results,” Hakeem says.“Apart from high-breed varieties like Holstein Friesian and Jerseys, we also have native varieties like Sahiwal, Vechur and Gir.” 

He decided to set up the shed there as the cows can be housed in a cool place. “There are coconut palms on all sides, which helps the cattle stay cool and produce more milk. The only issue is that I have to replace the sheets of the shed occasionally as dry palm leaves fall on them.”

He now plans to install a machine that can automatically milk 20 cows in seven minutes. “It will reduce the workload,” he points out. Hakeem says dairy farmers should be given at least Rs 50 per litre to ensure a minimum return on investment, with the cost of feed and other inputs increasing substantially. 

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Good News / by A Satish, Express News Service / April 03rd, 2022

How a Messi fan in Kerala village became a football journalist in Spain

Amazing Feats, Arts, Culture & Entertainment, NRI's / PIO's, Sports, Women/Girls(since May26-2021), , , , , , , ,

Mangattuparambu Village, KERALA / Vigo, SPAIN :

Jushna Shahin’s passion for the sport made her achieve the unthinkable.

Jushna at the conference room Spain. | Picture by arrangement

Kerala :

Jushna Shahin’s earliest memories are of watching football matches on TV with her family in Kerala’s Mangattuparamb village.

As a die-hard Lionel Messi fan, Shahin got her chance to do her bit for the game in 2009 when she was selected as one among the 70 students in JNU for the language assistant program in Spain by the Ministry of Education, Spain. “In our village, girls rarely went outside of their homes, other than going to school etc,” Shahin, a teaching assistant and football reporter in Spain, told TwoCircles.net. “Girls going out to play was out of the question, and that put an end to my dream of playing the sport.”

The Kendriya Vidyalaya high school where she studied encouraged sports, but Shahin was not comfortable with the usual sports uniform of shorts and t-shirt. 

This did not keep the girl away from football. “I  spent my time learning about the sport, and its laws and rules,” she said. 

Love for Spanish and Messi
Shahin said she wanted to study Spanish when she was in 10th grade so that she could talk to Messi.“I don’t know if it will materialize or not but I will make efforts,” she said. 

In 2019 when she got her first salary working in Spain, Shain bought tickets for the UEFA Champions League in Barcelona to see her sports hero play live. “It was unreal and amazing,” she said. 

The following day, she went over to the Barcelona club’s office and handed over a hand- letter meant for Messi, hoping that he would reply one day. 

Jushna Shahin on a visit to a Vine Cathedral with her students at the IES Santa Isabel de Hungria, Spain. | Picture by arrangement

Last year when Messi moved to the Paris Saint Germain (PSJ) football club in France, Shahin flew to Paris and witnessed the team getting trained. “My heart-throbbing moment was when I watched Messi getting trained,” she said.

While in 11th grade, Shahin attended a camp organized by students of central universities to help those interested to pursue studies outside Kerala. Contacts she made from the camp helped her  for the entrance exams. “Even after I  cleared the exams, my  parents were not  convinced about pursuing Spanish as a graduation course. However, they gave in to my wishes,” she said. 

In September 2019, Shahin traveled to Spain on her first international trip. 

After landing in Spain she found that the Spanish she had learned from textbooks was not the same as spoken by people in Spain. “It was a challenge. Also, the other Indian student’s who had been selected were all placed in different cities of Spain. To travel to a new country was exciting but I felt tense and insecure initially,” she said.

Love for sports writing
In 2014, when Shahin was at JNU, she started writing journalistic pieces for the Companion magazine. She would  write short reports about the matches she watched. Her interest in sports writing led her to report for The Footy Times , which is an online magazine devoted to publishing football journalism. She started reporting for the magazine during the 2018 FIFA World Cup and has been writing for it since. She has also reported for Malayalam news channel MediaOne and online news website MaktoobMedia.

Shahin  recalled two events as the most exciting during her work as a football reporter. In 2021 when the stadiums were closed to the public amid a global pandemic, she was one of the few media persons with accreditation pass reporting the semi-finals of the Copa del Rey in Spain. “I was seven months pregnant at the time,” she said 

In February 2022, she got accreditation from the Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) Football Club to report the UEFA Champions League round 16 in Paris. She also attended a press conference at the home stadium of PSG club where hers was one among the ten questions asked to Karim Benzema (Real Madrid captain). “Now that stadiums are open for the public, I don’t think I will get the chance to go in with the media persons alone to watch a match in a closed stadium. That makes my reporting during the last year very special,” Shahin said.

Jushna with her husband Awad and daughter Eva. | Picture by arrangement

Having been called crazy for her dreams and passion, Shahin shrugs it off and said, “What’s important and special for you might be very silly for the other person. It’s better not to see and look at your dreams in other people’s frameworks. Create your own dream and respect it, and be confident. Instead of just dreaming it, try to work on it. The only thing that matters is whether you are happy with it or not,” she added.   

Shahin’s parents had seen her love for football only as a childhood interest and never knew she would pursue a career related to the game.

“More than her craze for football through Messi, I am happy that she is in the field of football journalism,” said her father CKA Jabbar, veteran journalist and associate editor of Malayalam news portal kvartha.com. “Love for football and writing have been in her since childhood, and she worked hard to follow her dream,” said her mother, Nazila CH, working in the Animal Husbandry Department under the Government of Kerala in Thiruvananthapuram.

Shahin now lives with her husband, Awad Ahmad, and eight 8-months-old daughter in the city of Vigo in north-western Spain. 

Najiya O is a freelance journalist based in Calicut, Kerala. She tweets at  @najiyao

source: http://www.twocircles.net / TwoCircles.net / Home> Lead Story / by Najiya O, TwoCircles.net / March 26th, 2022