By Rehan Ansari, Twocircles.net,
Mumbai: To serve the nation and the community is the unanimous mission of all the IAS aspirants getting trained at “Haj House” in South Mumbai. Haj Committee of India decided in August, 2009 to guide and train the talented and underprivileged Muslim graduates for the civil services examination. For the UPSC Training and Guidance Center it has spared 3 floors of the 18 story Haj House building for classes, lodging and boarding of the students.
“Problem of all the downtrodden are the same irrespective of their cast and religion” observed Syed Mohammed Javed an MBA from Mumbai. When asked why instead of a good job and handsome salary he is opting for the IAS, he replied, “It’s not about the money but I like to be a part of the system to bring about the positive change in our society.”
Ms. Nilofar Shaikh, married women with a two years son, have appeared with all the other students for the prelim exam in May, 2010 and expecting results in the first week of September, 2010. She is living in Haj house and away from her family with a dream of becoming an IAS. “My husband and in-laws are very co-operative. In fact it’s them who encouraged me to prepare for this exam.” Although she misses her kid but “one has to sacrifice” believes Nilofar.
The journey of Sabiha Zargar, M.Com from Kashmir, is very long. Earlier she was preparing for the state level Jammu Kahmir Public Service Commission, JKPSC but when came to know about the coaching and guidance center in Haj House Mumbai she changed her mind. Her father is a government servant and she believes that corruption and the communalism is the biggest threat. “For the better future we must inculcate the feelings of communal harmony among the kids and make them honest.” She might have joined the Hamdard Study Circle in Delhi but opted for Haj House in Mumbai because she feels that Mumbai is safer.
Asif Yatnal, a post graduate in science from Sholapur, dreamt of becoming an IAS since his child hood but because he is an orphan and the eldest son in the family he could not afford to do so. “It’s a dream come true for me” He exclaimed. When he came to know about the Coaching and Guidance Center in Haj House he applied along with 300 other students. “I got selected Alahamduillah. There was not a single coaching and guidance center in Mumbai for the UPSC and Haj Committee has rightly decided for it.”
Mr.SAM Hashmi, Ex-Principal of Ismail Yusuf College and Akbar Peerbhoy College in Mumbai is the director of this center with the vast experience of teaching and also had introduced UPSC guidance center in Akbar Peerbhoy College in South Mumbai.
“We have provided the best quality of infrastructure like we have boarding and lodging capacities for 50 students, separate for the Girls and Boys, AC class rooms with all the modern equipments of teachings, Computer lab, Library full of related subjects and a gymnasium” explained Mr.Hashmi. Generally 2 students occupy one room with all the facilities like personal books, beds tables etc.
Out of 17 Boys and 13 Girls 7 are engineers, 5 are Post-graduates and 18 are Graduates. Most of the students belong to Maharashtra and the rest are from the other states like UP, Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand, Kashmir and Kerala.
The only thing lacking in the center is experienced teachers or guides. In Mumbai it is difficult to get good teachers for the UPSC exams. Prof. Bhushan Deshmukh, who is a visiting faculty in state run UPSC classes teaching General Studies is one of the prominent teachers in Maharashtra. Prof. Maria Gaur, Mr.Wasim, who has appeared for the Civil Services Main exams and still trying are teaching them Geography. Mr.W.S.Khan, teaching History, Mr.Atiqur Rehman from Tata Institue of sciences, Dr.Abdul Shaban from TIFR. Prof.Hashmi are the other teachers.
The admission for the next year batch has already started and the last date of submission of application is 16th August, 2010. The date of interview and written exam will be declared in a late date.
Link:
http://hajcommittee.com/ias_service.php