Thursday, September 27, 2012

MERI MAA


                                                                  MERI MAA
Khuda hum par zaroor
meherban hua hoga
Tabhi to usne aap ko
Humare paas bheja hoga

Aap jaisi beti, aap jaisi biwi,
aap jaisi maa, ek saath
Is duniya mein
Doosri koi nahin

Aapki ek muskurahat
Poore ghar ko roshan karti hai
Aapki har masti
Hum sabko hasati hai.

Aapke pyar ne
Aapki duaaon ne
Hum sabki zindagi ko
Khushiyon se bhar diya hai

Har mushkil ko aapne
Pal bhar mein aasan kiya hai
Har dard ko aapne
Chutki mein mitaya hai

Mujhe ek saheli ki zaroorath
Kabhi nahin padi
Kyonki meri sabse achchi saheli
Mujhe aap mein mili

Khuda kare ki aap jiyen
Hazaaron saal
Poore sehath
Aur taakath ke saath

Dard aapko chu bhi na paaye
Har takleef yun gum ho jaaye
Khushi aur muskurahat se
Aapka chehra sada jhalke

Poori ho aapke dil ki
Har tamanna, har armaan
Aur har din laaye aapki zindagi mein
Khushi aur aaraam.
 
                                                                                     AMINA KHALEEL

Monday, September 24, 2012

DR. SUMAYAA - A PRINCIPAL WITH A DIFFERENCE


DR. SUMAYAA – A PRINCIPAL WITH A DIFFERENCE

By V.M. Khaleelur Rahman

It gives us a great pleasure to know that Dr. Sumayaa, the Principal of the Kilakarai based Thassim Beevi Abdul Kader College for Women (Autonomous) was honoured with “THE BEST SOCIAL WORKER AWARD FOR WOMEN’S WELFARE” in recognition of her continuous yeoman service towards the welfare and well being of women by the government of Tamil Nadu. She received the award from the honourable Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu Dr. J. Jayalalithaa on 15th August 2012 in the 66th Independence Day Celebrations at Fort St. George, Chennai.


DR. SUMAYAA RECEIVING THE AWARD

Dr. Sumayaa has not only been administrating the college very efficiently as a Principal for the past 25 years but has also involved herself in social welfare activities as a Programme Officer of the Seethakathi NGO. It is learnt that she collected a sum of Rs.18,41,000 as donation in Ramanathapuram district and distributed scholarships and financial assistance to 840 women through the Muslim Women Aid Society there.
Besides all this, she also created awareness among men about drunkenness and its consequences through the self help groups as a result of which many broken families were reunited. She also initiated Vocational training such as Entrepreneurship Training and Training for the production of Marine Organisms to enable the members of SHG to generate income.

She has also been creating awareness among the people through self help groups about important issues such as Family Planning, Eye Donation, Blood Donation and AIDS. She also has the credit of monitoring the Emergency Tsunami Reconstruction Project (ETRP) and Rajiv Gandhi Rehabilitation Project (RGRP) programme in Ramnad district for some time. She has also served in the National Commission for Minority Educational Institutions, New Delhi and contributed significantly all over India by being its Committee Member on Girls’ Education during the years 2007-2009 and 2010-2013.

Dr. Sumayaa is an inspiration to the Muslim community. Allah loves those who love His creations.

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Sunday, September 9, 2012

A SEMINAR HIGHLILGHTS IMPORTANCE OF SECULAR DEMOCRACY


A SEMINAR HIGHLILGHTS IMPORTANCE OF SECULAR DEMOCRACY

By V.M. Khaleelur Rahman


A seminar on “Strengthening Indian Secular Democracy” was held in Chennai on 6th September 2012 jointly by Church of South India Inter-Faith Dialogue Centre, Islamic Forum for the Promotion of Moderate Thought and Rajaji Centre for Public Affairs.

Rev. Viji Varghese Eapen, Director, Ecumenical Relations & Ecological Concerns, Church of South India welcomed the gathering and A. Faizur Rahman, Secretary General, Islamic Forum for the Promotion of Moderate Thoughts, introduced the speakers.





Prince of Arcot Nawab Mohammed Abdul Ali, Javed Anand, Subhashini Ali, Dr. Patrick Gnanapragasam, Dr. K.V.S. Habib Mohammed, Moosa Raza, Maulana Ghulam Mohammed Mehdi Khan, Baskara Bharathi and G. Narayanaswamy spoke on the occasion highlighting the importance of secular democracy and stressing the need for its improvement.

While the Prince of Arcot said that secularism is like oxygen without which our country cannot survive,  Baskara Bharathi said that it is in the blood of the Tamil people whatever may be their religion. Dr. K.V.S. Habib Mohammed cautioned that communalism is on the increase and there is need for everyone to do the needful and try for amity and communal harmony among the people. Javed Anand explained the success in the legal battles relating to the anti Muslim riots in Gujarat and criticized the protest meeting held in Azad Maidan, Mumbai to protest against the riots in Assam in which two Muslim youngsters lost their lives in police firing. He said that the organizers of the meeting did not have the courtesy of even going to the parents of the deceased and consoling them. What is the use in conducting such meetings which cannot be beneficial to anybody but create further problems? He questioned. He also found fault with the way a Urdu paper reported news in Mumbai. His aim was to make Muslims realise that their grievances can be solved only through joint efforts of people belonging to different communities.

The seminar was highly successful. 

The following is the Press Release issued jointly by the above mentioned three organizations:

India’s Constitution declares our country to be a socialist secular democracy. This was thought almost impossible in 1947 when India fell prey to communal politics and was tragically partitioned. But the visionary framers of our Constitution saw to it that our country did not go the Pakistan way. They gave us one of the best Constitutions in world which brought about the unity and integrity of our nation through the principles of justice, liberty, equality and fraternity and ensured the sovereignty of the people by providing for a Parliamentary form of government. And despite monstrous incidents of anti minority violence dotting its post partition history the idea of India has never come under serious threat.

However the anti national forces have not slackened their efforts to make India a theocratic state. But the discerning citizens of this great nation have been through the evil designs of these pseudo nationalist and have consistently rejected their appeals to baser human emotions. Nevertheless the recent Assam riots involving the Bodos and Muslims have given a fresh opportunity to some right wing groups to sow seeds of disharmony amongst the people. Rumours were generated that Muslims were plotting to attack the northeast  Indians to avenge the Bodo violence against the Muslims. This resulted in the mass exodus of northeasterners from several Indian cities. Not surprisingly, the rumours were proved to be intentionally circulated to engineer a situation in the country through which the divisive forces could further their fiendish agenda. The hostility towards Biharis in Maharashtra may also be viewed in this context.

Apart from this, it was recently seen that courts of law acquitted several Muslim youths arrested on charges of terrorism. The arrest and torture of such innocent men has engendered a feeling of immense disappointment among Indian Muslims who now think that they are being unfairly demonised and suspected without any basis.

In these circumstance, the Islamic Forum for the Promotion of Moderate Thought, the Church of South India Inter-Faith Dialogue Centre and the Rajaji Centre for Public Affairs have come together to organize this seminar. The idea is to send out a strong message to the anti democratic forces both within and outside India. The message is that Hindus, Muslims, Christians and all other minorities stand united as Indians, no force on earth can divide them and thereby enable vested interests to shake the foundations of our secular democracy. The government is also urged to dispel the feeling of alienation among the minorities, particularly the Muslims, by seriously addressing their legitimate grievances and helping them in their efforts to join hands with their co-citizens to not only build this country but also defend it against all forms destabilizing ideologies.(VMK in Twocircles.net) 
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Friday, September 7, 2012

SOUTH ASIA NEEDS A REGIONAL LEATHER ASSOCIATION : MR. M. RAFEEQUE AHMED


SOUTH ASIA NEEDS A REGIONAL ASSOCIATION: CLE CHAIRMAN MR. RAFEEQUE

V.M. Khaleelur Rahman

A two day event of the South Asian countries particularly, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka was held during this month in Chennai on “strengthening the competitiveness of South Asia in leather and leather products” in which leading policy makers, industrialists and others from these countries participated and discussed strategies to combat the raw material shortage and price crunch due to recession in European markets and create a regional brand image. It was organized to highlight a UNCTAD (United Nations Conference on Trade and Development) study as part of a project on development oriented integration in South Asia.
Mr. Rajeev Kher, additional secretary, minister of commerce, said in his inaugural address that it is unfortunate that the leather industry is not adequately integrated in its production network as any other sector in the South Asian region and that a framework for regional organization that would foster integration is the need of the hour.

Mr. M. Rafeeque Ahmed, Chairman, Council for Leather Exports, said that South Asian countries particularly India, Pakistan and Bangladesh are not able to face the competitions abroad due to lack of co-ordination within the region and that customers abroad use this situation to play off one manufacturer against the other to cut down prices to their own advantage and suggested that South Asian countries should have a regional association to integrate industry and identify areas for co-operation.  He also said that movement of specific raw materials and components from one country to another will help grow leather product exports from the region.

The industry representatives were for having a regional association for the benefit of the leather industry in South Asia. Mr. S.M. Naseem, Chairman, Pakistan Tanners Association and Mr. Syed Nasim Manzur, Managing Director, Apex Adelchi Footwear Ltd. Bangladesh were among the important exporters who spoke on the occasion. The general consensus was for free movement of raw materials within South Asia for integrated growth of the industry and collaboration. Surprisingly the industry is by and large unaware of even this important event. 

One feels that the CLE Chairman has expressed his views very frankly without any reservation. It is a fact known to everyone in the industry that there is more cut throat competition among exporters now  in all fields of activity particularly in buying and selling and overseas customers are taking advantage of this situation in covering their requirements at their prices which many a time are unworkable to tanners and exporters here. When enquired about it a tanner pointed out that “irrational approach” is the main cause for the problems many tanners are facing.

After detailed discussions the consultation meet decided to form a regional industry association called Leather Industries Association of South Asia (LIASA) to be headed by Mr. M. Rafeeque Ahmed, Chairman, Council for Leather Exports, India. It also decided to form a working committee of 8 members for exchange of ideas and identification of areas of co-operation.

(VMK in Indian Leather, September 2012)