By TCN News,
Hyderabad: Misra Begum from Shiraz area in Srinagar district of Jammu and Kashmir is old now and has no male relative to look after her except a teenage son Yaqoob, who was forced to leave his school to start working when his father died from cancer. Earlier, her elder son had died from cardiac arrest, leaving behind his widow and to infants. Misra received a Ramadan food kit weighing nearly 25 kgs that comprised of rice, flour, pulses, cooking oil, tea, spices, etc.
Ration distribution camp in Jammu and Kashmir.
Over twenty five hundred kilometers east from Srinagar, in the North East region of India, 40 year old Moyful Nessa lives Tapajuli Pather village in a Char (riverine island) in Assam’s Barpeta district. Majority of Char residents suffer from internal displacement, often caused due to river erosion and are amongst the poorest of the people. On July 16, Nessa and over 2000 people from the whole Char, comprising of three villages of Pather, Majidbhita and 4 Number Bhera had a grand iftar dinner.
US-based Indian Muslim Relief & Charities (IMRC) reached out to over a hundred thousand people, like Moyful Nessa and Misra Begum across 19 states during the month of Ramadan with the money collected in charities – zakat and fitrah – from Indian expatriates.
IMRC distributed 545,000 kgs of grains, over 3 million meals, to 15,000 families across the country in different forms of charities – fitra, zakat or sadaqa – given by about 1635 Muslim individuals during Ramadan. Besides, grand iftars were organised in 398 villages across India for the poor.
Village Iftar in Assam’s Barpeta distirct.
Manzoor Ghori, Executive Director of IMRC, said, “We are grateful to Allah Almighty that we succeeded in our goal of reaching out to over hundred thousand poor and needy people and distributing thirty tons of food grains.” He pointed out that the entire money came from the charities given by Muslims, particularly from USA during the holy month of Ramadan that has just ended.
IMRC also organised iftar and distributed food in Manipur, for the victims of Nellie massacre in Nawgaon district of Assam, in the Sundarban areas of West Bengal, Naxal affected villages of Jharkhand and Bihar, the riot victims of Atali in Haryna, etc. The 19 states covered under the Ramadan Feeding Program included, Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Rajasthan, Haryana, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Assam, Manipur, Madhya Pradesh, Chhatisgarh, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu.
Maulana Abdul Wahid Nadvi, IMRC volunteer from Bihar, said, “We distributed 400 food packets and organised eight village iftars in the Ghorighati-Kothi region on Bihar-Jharkhand border that was once severely affected by violent Maoist movements.”
Ramadan Ration Distribution Program in Gaya, Bihar
IMRC made this ambitious project successful through its Hyderabad based sister organisation Sahayata Trust. While IMRC is responsible for raising money through its generous donors, help from volunteers as well as donations received online, Sahayata Trust is responsible for the implementation of the program on the ground and coordinates with several grass-root organisations across the country to reach out to the needy.
Syed Anees Uddin, CEO of Sahyata Trust, informed, “We succeeded in execution of such a massive program due to cooperation of over 200 volunteers across the 19 states of the country, besides our own support staffs, who had set up 75 distribution centres for food grains.”
Indian Muslim Relief & Charities (IMRC) is a US based non-profit organization which began in 1981 and helps run several programmes throughout the country in partnership with over 100 organizations. It focuses on providing education, emergency relief, medical & legal aid, shelter and food for the needy. IMRC has been at the forefront of providing immediate relief to affected victims of the 2015 Nepal earthquake, 2014 Kashmir Floods, 2013 Muzaffarnagar riots, 2012 Assam riots, and other natural/man-made calamities.
Link:
http://www.imrcusa.org