By Tameemuddin Humble for TwoCircles.net,
Community activists and intellectuals gathered at the Minority Information Centre here at Gaya shared their grief and resolved overwhelmingly to further the works and thoughts of educationist Saiyid Hamid, who died at Delhi on December 29.
Saiyid Hamid’s contribution towards the Indian Muslim community’s empowerment is immense not only in the field of education but in the employment sector also, making the educational qualifications to reach its logical end. His experience as the founder of Staff Selection Commission and other government institutions made him the perfect guide to the Indian Muslims after independence, the participants said.
Participants Of Condolence Meeting Left to Right-Badiuzzaman Khan, Ata Faisal, A H Khan, Dr Farasat Hussain, Dr Z H Khan, Tameemuddin Humble, M Karimi, P R Dawyer, Md Shamim Akhtar
His entire working life has two equal divisions of 35 years – as an administrator in government sector and a reformer in the community.
The meeting recalled how Saiyid Hamid had advised – while presiding over the Insaaf Conference held here on May 6, 2007 – to facilitate the government welfare schemes, meant for the minorities and also made the organisers of the conference to take a vow to establish an information centre for the purpose of spreading awareness and educate the community about the findings and recommendations of the Sachar Committee Report.
Speaking about the Sachar Committee Report, he had opined that if the government was not honest enough to implement the recommendations in its true spirit, then the community should be entrusted with much more tasks to develop itself to keep pace with the country’s progress. “Struggling with the odds would make the community much stronger and it was the need of the hour. Unless we start with the resources whatever we have, we can’t develop the deprived community,” Hamid sahib had said.
Thanks to his appeal at that conference, keeping these very purposes, activated the civil society of Gaya that finally resulted in the establishment of an institution — the Minority Information Centre (MIC) on August 15, 2007.
The condolence meeting resolved to work in the field of education and employment, honouring Saiyid Hamid by expanding the works of MIC in the field of career counseling.
The meeting was presided over by Dr Farasat Hussain and culminated with a prayer by Ata Faisal. Those who offered condolences in the meeting included Shamim Akhtar, treasurer of MIC, A H Khan, M Karimi, P R Dawyer, Badiuzzaman Khan and Z H Khan.
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(Tameemuddin Humble is the co-ordinator of MIC, Gaya. He can be reached at [email protected])