New Delhi, February 4 The central government is awaiting a response from Jammu and Kashmir government on the issue of autonomy for the state as suggested by the Justice Saghir Ahmed Committee, a working group set up by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, parliament was told Wednesday (February 3).

New Delhi, March 4 Syed Shahabuddin, President of All India Muslim Majlis-e-Mushawarat, has condemned RSS Chief Mohan Bhagwat’s recent statement on the status of an Indian. In a statement issued on February 2, Shahabuddin said it merely served to widen the gulf of distrust and hostility between the RSS and the religious minorities.

New Delhi, February 3 Please do not present or campaign for Islamic Banking in India as an emotional or communal issue. This is a serious economic issue for which there is a need for opinion building among Muslim masses on one hand, and non-Muslim intellectuals on the other. In fact, non-Muslim intellectuals favoring interest-free banking system should be given leadership of such campaigns. This is the only wise way to make environment conducive for Islamic Banking in a communally polarized society like India. Dr Mohd Manzoor Alam, Chairman, Institute of Objective Studies, expressed these views at a lunch with Muslim journalists here today.

New Delhi, February 3 Islamic economist Dr Mohammed Manzoor Alam has hailed the Kerala government announcement to launch an interest-free monetary institution in the state. Talking to media-persons in an informal chat here today, Dr Alam, who is also President of the Indo-Arab Economic Cooperation Forum (IAECF) and Institute of Objective Studies (IOS), said it was a right decision in the present circumstances.

Also See
Kerala Launching Interest-Free Monetary Institution

Chennai, February 27 Indian ulama have to work assiduously to develop a fresh understanding of Islamic texts in the context of present-day life and create a new interpretation of Islamic law, Prof A R Momin, former head of department of sociology in Bombay University, said here today.

New Delhi, February 26 The Congress-led United Progressive Alliance Government has its National Budget 2010 has proposed increase of 50 percent in plan allocation for the next fiscal for the welfare of minority communities in India.

New Delhi, February 26 All India Milli Council (AIMC) has strongly condemned the approval of the Women Reservation Bill 2008 in its original form by the Union Cabinet at its meeting held on February 25.

New Delhi, February 24 Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee has in her Railway Budget 2010 presented in Lok Sabha on February 24 declared to continue the extension of students’ concessions to madrasas, higher madrasas and senior madrasas as made in her 2009 Budget, besides raising special women railway security forces, named “Mahila Vahini”, preferably from minorities, SCs/ STs, OBCs and economically backward classes.

Also See
Highlights of Rail Budget 2010

One of the significant steps of the first UPA government was to initiate action on the festering issue of exclusion and backwardness amongst minority communities in India, especially the Muslims.

New Delhi, February 24 All lndia Muslim Majlis-e-Mushawarat (AIMMM) has taken note of the views of Nitin Gadkari, President, BJP, on the Babri Masjid question as well as his appeal to the Muslim community “to facilitate the construction of the proposed Ram Temple on the Babari Masjid site”. The AIMMM said Gadkari being new to the job did not appear to be familiar or conversant with the developments since 1986.

New Delhi, February 8 All India Milli Council (AIMC) thanked West Bengal's Left Front Government today for announcing to reserve 10 per cent of government jobs to economically, socially and educationally backward Muslims by including them in the OBC (Other Backward Class) category. AIMC General Secretary Dr Mohammed Manzoor Alam here today said over 17-year old umbrella body of Indian Muslims had in its resolution passed at the concluding session at its two-day 13th annual conference held at Kolkata on January 30-31, 2010 demanded the state government to accord job quota to Muslims in the light of Ranganath Mishra Commission’s recommendations.

New Delhi, February 6 The most remarkable gift of the World Book Fair that concludes on February 7, 2010 is India's first “Talking Pen-Multimedia Print Reader (MPR)”. It was launched here on January 31 by Aadarsh Pvt Ltd, one of the leading printing and publishing houses in Central India.

Malegaon, February 7 Indian Madrasas are not terror hubs. This is why we are supporting their activities, a US official said here on February 3.

New Delhi, January 24 Three years after the government asked higher educational institutions to implement a 27 percent quota for other backward class (OBC) students, Jamia Millia Islamia is set to implement it in a phased manner and is putting in place the required infrastructure to accommodate the additional student burden it entails.

New Delhi January 19 The Centre has offered a helping hand to Kerala in revoking a stay order by the state High Court against setting up of an Islamic bank.

New Delhi, January 19 Navaid Hamid, Secretary, South Asian Council for Minorities (SACM), is representing India at the two-day Founding Assembly of The General Conference for the Support of Al Quds (GCSQ) being held in the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur, on January 20-21. Before his departure for Kuala Lumpur tonight, Navaid said he was invited by Dr Said El Hassan, Coordinator, GCSQ through a letter, dated December 23, 2010---äÕÑ åäÏ äÇÝíÏ ÍãíÏ ÏÚæÉ ÇäÌáíÒí 91112.pdf (86KB). According to him, another invitee Aziz Burney, Editor, Urdu Rashtriya Sahara did not turn up.

New Delhi, January 9 The occasion was the release of the Urdu edition of the famous Arabic story “Jazeeratul Banaeen” written by Dr Abdul Hameed Ahmed Abu Sulayman, an internationally reputed Arabic scholar and literary giant. The function turned into an evening with the 187-page book by the person who is presently Director General, Dar Manar Al Raid for Educational Consultation, Riyadh (Kingdom of Saudi Arabia) and former Rector, International Islamic University Malaysia, and is a well known dignitary in India.

Indore, January 11 The air was thick with words like education, knowledge, learning, coaching, “Taleem”, “Tarbiyat”, “Padhayee” and the likes which echoed in the auditorium of Ravindra Natya Grah at Indore in the two-day International Educational Convention of the American Federation of Muslims of Indian Origin, (AFMI), of the United States and Canada which concluded last week.

Washington, December 31 The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has said the current global crisis has hit the economy of Maldives severely and suggested for the strengthening of the banking sector to improve the island nation's financial health. The real GDP of Maldives is expected to fall by four percent in 2009, Executive Directors of the IMF said.

New Delhi, December 29 Jamia Millia Islamia is trying to shed the widely perceived "superior madrassa" tag, says Vice Chancellor Najeeb Jung, asserting that his job is to position the 90-year-old university as a modern, secular institution of learning for one and all.

New Delhi, December 22 “Maldives is proud of its friendly and close links with India. Hindi and Urdu are spoken there along with its official language Dhivehi.” Expressing the above views here on December 22, 2009 at a reception held in their honour at the headquarters of Jamiat Ulema-i-Hind here, Sheikh Hussain Rasheed Ahmed, Maldives Minister of State for Home Affairs and Sheikh Ilyas Hussain, a leader of Adhaalath Party, a part of the current four-party ruling coalition that ousted Mamoun Abdul Qayyum from power after 30 years in the 2008 presidential elections, said the Maldivians got not only salt but many things from India.

New Delhi, December 20 All India Unani Tibbi Congress (AIUTC) here today demanded establishment of separate Unani directorates in the states and a National Unani University in the national capital. Said Hakim Syed Ahmed Khan, General Secretary, AIUTC, the Congress Party that leads the ruling UPA had promised in its 2009 election manifesto to set up a National Unani University. “Therefore, this is high time it fulfill its promise so that it may help in promoting the cause of the Unani medicines in India,” he added. Hakim Syed Ahmed Khan was speaking at the 8th National Convention of the 19-year old AIUTC held at Urdu Ghar here on December 19. It was sponsored by Janata Dardmand Dawakhana, Sambhal (UP).

New Delhi, December 18 The national capital saw today a number of important foreign visitors interacting with a cross-section of Indian society at different programs. Among them were Dr Omar Khlidi, a staff member of Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts and a trustee of the American Institute of Yemeni Studies as well as Prof Mustafa A A Roshash, Vice Chancellor, Zanzibar University, and Prof Saleh Idris Muhammed, founder Vice Chancellor, State University of Zanzibar (SUZA) and former Adviser to the President of Zanzibar Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock Development and Cooperatives, Daressalaam.

New Delhi, December 18 Two important decisions regarding issuing unique identification number to Indian citizens and visa-on-arrival to foreign tourists have been announced separately. These are being considered major decisions as they are introduced first time in the country.

Washington, December 15 An American media commentator has rustled up a storm after he equated the holy Ganges to a disease and lambasted Indian health care system for not being overtly costly like the American one. The Ganges, a river held sacred by the Hindus, "sounds like a disease", the Fox News commentator said, drawing protests from the Hindu community.

New Delhi, December 13 At a time when news about commissions and committees, like Sri Krishna Commission, Rangnath Mishra Commission, Gujral Committee and Sachar Committee with respect to minorities dominate the scene, the seminar organized by Urdu fortnightly The Sunday Indian in collaboration with Jamaat-e-Islami Hind (JIH) on "Committees, Commissions and Minorities" at the India Islamic Culture Centre (IICC), New Delhi, on December 13, 2009 naturally attracts the general attention and assumes importance.

New Delhi, December 7 H Abdur Raqeeb, General Secretary, Indian Centre for Islamic Finance (ICIF) and Convener, National Committee on Islamic Banking, has welcomed the initiative of the Government considering changing the banking laws to introduce interest-free Islamic banking in the country by adding a chapter exclusively dealing with all aspects of Islamic banking. It is heartening to note that the Finance Minister has received the approval of the Reserve bank of India as well in this regard.

New Delhi, December 2 As the debate over the minority status for Jamia Millia Islamia rages, the Human Resource Development (HRD) ministry Wednesday said the institution is not a minority central university.

Also See
UGC Directive to Jamia VC
Jamia A Case Study by Tarique Siddiqui

Grasses have had a profound effect on the animals that have come to depend on them, including humans. Imagine the Earth without grasses. There would be no lawns or meadows. No prairies. No savannahs or steppes. No wheat fields or rice paddies. No sugar cane. No sheep, elephants or horses. No people. We live in the age of grass. Indeed, from our point of view, the evolution of grasses was one of the most momentous events in the history of the Earth. That is why I’m nominating them for life-form of the month: March.

The Government of India every year sends Haj Goodwill Delegation to Saudi Arabia. Members of delegations are handpicked. Have a look at the list of nine such delegations from 2000 to 2008, and you will conclude: They are politicians, journalists, clerics (Ulema), bureaucrats and social workers. If you find Dr Farooq Abdullah, Syed Sibte Razi, A R Antulay and Mehbooba Mufti, you will also find Maulana Arshad Madani, Maulana Anzar Shah Kashmiri, Mufti Abdul Mannan Kalimi, Qari Mohammed Mian Mazhari and Maulana Qari Mufti Alhaj Syed Mohammed Noor. Besides, there are Allama Mohammed. Tauseef Raza Khan, Peerzada Ayazuddin Chishty, Sajjadah Nasheen of Dargah Hazrat Saleem Chishty, Fatehpur Sikri and Peer Khawaja Ahmed Nizami, chief head priest, Dargah Hazrat Nizamuddin. Whether one agrees or not, they are known as “Sarkari Hajis” by a section of people. Fana Watch is reproducing the nine-year list of Haj Goodwill Delegations from 2000 to 2008 with thanks to www.TwoCircles.net.

Phobia means fear, the fear of the other.  Any phobia has a psychological basis, which is a combination of historical memories, blended with myths and legends, complicated by social separateness, generated by the consciousness of economic and political rivalry, not to speak of persistent religious hostility and indifference.

Delhi lost its own plot one day before foreign secretaries Nirupama Rao and Salman Bashir sat down at Hyderabad House to reopen the dialogue between India and Pakistan. Salman Bashir came to Delhi for two sets of talks, not one. The Government of India was the second half of his agenda. The first, and  from his perspective the more important, part was the resumption of dialogue between Islamabad and secessionist elements  in Jammu and Kashmir, Hurriyat leaders and the more extreme  Syed Ali Shah Geelani.

M F Husain, India’s greatest and most celebrated artist, has been conferred Qatar nationality – something that is very rarely given. The artist gave me this news from Dubai early Wednesday (February 24, 2010) morning by reading out the few lines he had written on a black-and-white line drawing that he released to The Hindu.

Nothing is easier than to recognize a poor person when you see him or her. Yet the task of identifying and counting the poor seems to elude the country's best experts. Take for instance the “headcount” of rural poverty — the proportion of the rural population below the poverty line. At least four alternative figures are available: 28 per cent from the Planning Commission, 50 per cent from the N.C. Saxena Committee report, 42 per cent from the Tendulkar Committee report, and 80 per cent or so from the National Commission for Enterprises in the Unorganised Sector (NCEUS).

The two-day 13th annual conference of the All India Milli Council (AIMC) was held on January 30-31, 2010 at Kolkata (West Bengal). AIMC President Maulana Abdullah Mughesi and General Secretary Dr Mohammed Manzoor Alam, who were star attractions at the meet, hoped the AIMC would continue to represent and guide the Muslim community in a befitting manner. The AIMC passed a number of resolutions on this occasion and decided to hold its 14th annual conference on October 9-10, 2010 at Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh). The 13th annual conference ended with a grand public meeting in the heart of the city.

“Sitaron se aage jahan aur bhi hai” (There’s a world beyond the stars). Echoing the above sentiment, leading academics, economists, consultants, investors and policy-makers pinned their eyes on the interest-free banking while searching for options beyond the meltdown at a two-day international conference organized by the Indo-Arab Economic Cooperation Forum (IAECF) and Institute of Objective Studies (IOS) on February 3-4, 2010 at the India Islamic Cultural Centre (IICC), New Delhi.

Also See
Delhi Declaration

Maulana Irtezauddin, who passed away on January 16, 2010 at Sahasram (Bihar), possessed a multi-faceted personality. Several important persons have expressed their views about his life, works and services. Following views of various persons depict a portrait of the late Maulana. It is hoped that it would help many persons to understand him properly.

Also See
Maulana Irtezauddin is No More

The 48-year old National Integration Council of India (NIC), disbanded during NDA rule and reconstituted after UPA government came to power in 2004, is again being constituted. The persons being contacted include a number of Muslims also. Muslim leaders from other categories are also being chosen for their other roles. However, a number of Muslims active in different areas generally remain out of the list. This time also many stalwarts of the Muslim community have so far also not got any invitation.

At a time when Indian Muslims are totally a bewildered lot, having suffered successively at the hands of all the so-called secular parties during the last six decades, and the discussions are always galore about what must be done to retrieve their fortune, we must come forward with some concrete proposals, which if put in place, may have the potential to resurrect the dead corpus of the community.

It was a memorable event. The occasion was a function organized by the New Delhi-based Institute of Objective Studies (IOS) in collaboration with Genuine Publications and Media Private Limited to release the fourth volume “Freedom of Religion” of a book “Readings on Minorities: Perspectives and Documents”. Three former chief justices, a chancellor and two former vice chancellors of universities, deputy chairperson of Rajya Sabha, a former diplomat and parliamentarian, a veteran journalist and several other important dignitaries had gathered at the Deputy Speaker Hall of the Constitution Club, New Delhi on January 6, 2010 but every body was badly missing the person who had compiled the book.

Also See:
Demand for Muslim Reservation Genuine: Justice Ahmadi

The 87-year old Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, one of the two ‘marja-e-taqlid’ (sources of emulation) of the world-wide Shia community, and a key person to successfully lead the Ayatollah Sayyid Ruhullah Musavi Khomeini-inspired movement in Iran in his absence for 16 years, is no more. A most liked and disliked person by his admirers and opponents both, he breathed his last on December 20, 2009 and was buried the next day at Qom (Iran). He would be remembered in the history as a controversial revolutionary. He was a person with whom one could agree or disagree but could not ignore him.

According to a survey carried out by research firm IDC and technology magazine Dataquest, the premier Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kharagpur has emerged today as the best technology institute in the country followed by IIT-Delhi. It has topped the list for the third consecutive year. The survey revealed on December 27, 2009 has studied 111 engineering and technology institutes and colleges in the country.

Dr Rajiv Shah’s nomination to head the US Agency for International Development (USAID) on December 24, 2009 by US President Barack Obama along with three dozen other officials and later confirmed by the Senate has added a new feather to India’s cap. This is first time an Indian American has got the highest rank in the US administration.

For the welfare of minorities then Prime Minister of India Rajiv Gandhi declared a 15-Point Programme among which seven points were to control the communal riots.  That 15-Point Programme was not aimed to eradicate the educational backwardness of Muslims, although educational backwardness of Muslims is the only cause of their socio, economical and political backwardness.

He is only 52. That means three years below the age of a person fit for a generational change as fixed by Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) Sarasanghchalak Mohan Bhagwat who, in his speeches at several forums, had indicated that the BJP leadership should be handed over to those between 55 and 65 years of age and the next party chief should be from outside Delhi.

Even today there is no dearth of people believing in the ‘mantra’ of tolerance and co-existence. However, the need is how to encourage such people because such people are salt of the earth. Most of them believe in their respective religion but their faith in religion enhances the feeling and sentiment about tolerance and co-existence.

Mohammed Hamid Ansari, Vice President of India, delivered “Khuda Bakhsh Memorial Lecture” on “Identity, Citizenship and Empowerment” at Khuda Bakhsh Oriental Public Library, Patna on December 12, 2009. Following is the text of his historic lecture reproduced with thanks to www.twocircles.net.:

At a time when Swiss voters have called for a ban on the construction of minarets and there is widespread alarm over the supposed Islamisation of Europe, John Bowen, an American academic, has written an informed and measured account of whether Muslims can integrate—and are integrating—into one of the continent’s most avowedly secular societies. Some readers will come to this new book as admirers of the author’s last work, “Why the French Don’t Like Headscarves” (2006), an elegant and closely argued study of an issue that divided and preoccupied the country for a decade and a half, and whose effects are still felt today.

Washington, D C, December 7  In the first-ever nationally representative study of a randomly selected sample of Muslim Americans, Gallup reveals that Muslim Americans are the most racially diverse religious group surveyed in the United States, with African Americans making up the largest contingent within the population, at 35%.

Recently 58 percent of voters in Switzerland have approved a ban on the building of new minarets. This development has brought Switzerland suddenly into limelight and controversy.

Millions of us woke up on Sunday morning with front-page headlines that screamed "Online birth pangs dog CAT", "CAT's e-debacle leaves students foxed", etc. But what was a matter of clever wordplay for newspapers spells uncertainty and unwarranted anxiety for 240,000 IIM aspirants and their parents.

From my early years in medical school, I recall the reverence with which my teachers talked about Hippocrates. The great Indian physicians, Charaka and Shushruta, who worked and wrote several hundred years before Hippocrates, were mentioned only in passing. The Hippocratic Ethics, the Hippocratic Oath, and the clinical observations made by Hippocrates were central to the teaching of ancient medical history.

A number of books on the prominent Muslims of the past and present at national and international levels have time and again come out. “100 Great Muslim Leaders of the 20th Century”, published by the Institute of Objective Studies (IOS) is one of them. However, the latest book featuring the world's 500 most influential Muslims is a research work with a difference. It has been prepared by the Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Center in Jordan and Georgetown University. According to the publisher, the aim is to help people understand the different ways Islam and Muslims impact the world today.