By Pervez Bari, TwoCircles.net,
New Delhi: The stage is all set for the three day third national workshop of Muslim NGOs from January 18 to 20 which is being organised by Movement for Empowerment of Muslim Indians (MOEMIN), here at the India Islamic Cultural Centre on Lodhi Road.
The co-partners of the workshop are: Rehab India Foundation, India Islamic Cultural Centre, Institute of Objective Studies, Zakat Foundation of India (ZFI), South Asian Minorities Lawyer’s Association (SAMLA), Jamat-e-Islami Hind, Inter-faith Coalition for Peace (ICP), and Abbasi Charitable & Educational Society.
According to Navaid Hamid, general secretary MOEMIN, nearly 250 representatives of about 200 Muslim NGO’s from all over India working in the field of education; social sector; women empowerment & Child Welfare; Health and Economic Empowerment and Rural Development are expected to participate in the workshop. Many representatives have already arrived for the event, he added.
After the registration of delegates from 9.30 am to 10.00 am the inaugural function would start at 10.15 am which will last till 12:45 pm. The welcome address at the inaugural function will be delivered by Navaid Hamid.
The inaugural function would be presided over by Safdar Khan, chairman Delhi Minorities Commission while Justice Suhail Ahmed Siddiqui, Chairman NCMEI will be chief guest on the occasion. Justice Markandey Katju, Chairman Press Council of India; Farah Naqvi, Member NAC; Mr. Zafar Mehmood, chairman Zakat Foundation of India; Meem Afzal, former MP, and Mr. Nafees Abbasi would be guests of honour at the function.
10 Technical sessions:
Hamid informed this correspondent that apart from the inaugural and valedictory sessions there would be 10 technical sessions spread over three days. The technical sessions that have been planned are: (i) Economic Equality among Muslims: Policy priorities – Achievements and Challenges; (ii) Access to Credit : Micro Financing; Millennium Development Goals, Islamic Banking; (iii) Rural Development: Access of Muslims; (iv) Education of Muslims : Governments initiatives – Problems and prospects; (v) Health for All : Inclusion of Muslims; (vi) Women Empowerment & Child Development; (vii) Access to Information: RTI & other sources of Information; (viii) Corporate Social Responsibilities and expectations of Muslims; (ix) NGO Governance and (x) Human Rights Violation : Awareness and Responsibilities.
A number of Muslim personalities would be felicitated during the workshop by MOEMIN for their selfless contribution for the empowerment of Muslim community in different fields. Those to be felicitated include: Justice Sohail Ahmed Siddiqui for National Muslim Leadership Award for Service to the Community; Dr. Waseem Kamaal Akhtar, Vice Chancellor, Integral University Lucknow, Mehboobul Huque, Chancellor, University of Science & Technology, Meghalaya, Mohammed Ateeq Ghori, Marwar Muslim Educational & Social Welfare Society, Jodhpur, Rajasthan, all three for National Muslim Leadership Award for Educational Empowerment; Abida Inamdar for National Muslim Leadership Award for Educational Empowerment of Muslim Women and Al-Khair Cooperative Credit Society, Patna for National Muslim Leadership Award for Economic Empowerment.
On the first day two technical sessions would be held in the afternoon. From 2:30-4:00 pm a technical session would be organised on Economic Equality among Muslims: Policy priorities – Achievements and Challenges which will be chaired by Prof. Zoya Hasan of JNU. The speakers in this session will be Jawed Alam Khan, Senior Research Officer in Centre for Budget & Governance Accountability, (CBGA); Hilal Ahmad, Mazhar Hussain from COVA (Confederation of Voluntary Associations), Hyderabad.
The second session of the day will be from 4:30-5:30 pm on Access to Credit : Micro Financing; Millennium Development Goals; Islamic Banking which will be chaired by Abdul Raqeeb of Indian Centre for Islamic Finance (ICIF). The speakers in this session are Arshad Ajmal of Sahulat Micro-Finance Society and Ali Shervani.
On the second day i.e. January 19th from 10:00-11:00 am technical session on Rural Development: Access of Muslims to be chaired by A Faizi, LBSNA. The speaker will be Jawed Alam Khan of CBGA while Aakif Ahmed will be the Moderator. The second technical session will be from 11:00 am to 1 pm on Education of Muslims : Governments initiatives – Problems and prospects. This will be chaired by Justice Shuhail Siddiqui. The speakers in this session shall be PA Inamdar; Pooja Parvati of CBGA & Asadullah Khan of EDCIL; Afzal Hussain of Bihar Rabita Committee and Mr. Sirajuddin Qureshi, president of India Islamic Culture Centre. The moderator will be Azam Khan of Hyderabad
The third session of the day from 2:00-3:15 pm will be on Health for All : Inclusion of Muslims. The speakers in the session are Dr. Imrana Qadir and Dr. Indrneel, PHFI.
The fourth and last session of the day from 3:30-5:00 pm will be on Women Empowerment & Child Development The speakers in this session are: Yamini Mishra, Ms. Bhumika, Dr. Dipa Sinha, Dr. Uzma Naheed and Ms. Asma Zehra of Hyderabad.
On the third and last day i.e. January 20 from 10:00-11:00 am technical session on Access to Information: RTI & other sources of Information wherein Afroz Sahil will speak. Then in the next session from 11:00-11:45 am deliberations will be on Corporate Social Responsibilities and expectations of Muslims. The speakers will be Amirullah Khan, Deputy Director Bill Gates Foundation and Mr. K K Upadhyaya, Director CSR, FICCI. The moderator will be SM Arif. The third session will be from 12 noon to 1:30 pm on NGO Governance. The speakers in this session will be Osama Manzar and Kamal Farooqui: FCRA
The last technical session be from 2:000-3:00 pm on Human Rights Violation : Awareness and Responsibilities. It will be chaired by Adv. Yusuf Muchala Mumbai. The speakers in this session are Shabnam Hashmi of ANHAD, Adv. Feroz Ghazi, Adv. Mehmood Pracha. The moderator will be Mahtab Alam.
The Valedictory function from 4:00-5:00 pm Navaid Hamid shall present summary of the Workshop. K. Rahman Khan, Union Minister of Minority Affairs, Mr. E Ahmed, Union Minister of State External Affairs and Mr. Wajahat Habibullah, Chairman of National Commission for Minorities (NCM) will grace the valedictory session and put forth their views.
Meanwhile, Navaid Hamid talking to this Correspondent said that although the Muslim community is economically, socially and educationally backward in comparison to the other communities of our country, it has fewer number of NGO’s working for the empowerment and social upliftment of the community.
It is observed that most of the NGO’s of the community, registered with the central & state governments, are un-organised and they either lack infrastructure, proper guidance and have negligible information about the welfare schemes of the various government departments or face indifferent attitude of the bureaucracy in getting even a marginal share in the government welfare funds and in getting permission, affiliations and registrations of new institutes of learning.
He said it is observed that the present UPA government has initiated a number of welfare schemes for the minorities and there is a substantial increase in the favourable disposal of the applicants and increase in the permissions to start new professional institutes and Centres of Higher Learning. However much needs to be done. The Community’s initiative in proper petitioning for allocation of welfare funds to the community development projects, constant monitoring of the minority friendly welfare schemes & state affirmative actions and a continuous dialogue with the policy makers has great relevance & importance, in today’s ambiance, he added.