Kazi Jalil Abbasi was a leader, freedom fighter and politician who witnessed key events of twentieth century–not just as an observer but as someone who took active part in public life, participated in movements and after independence went on to fight elections and become a legislator, minister and Parliamentarian.
When a large number of Muslims from Uttar Pradesh including elite and the community leaders, were leaving the country, he remained committed to his political ideology, kept opposing communalism and led from the front–fighting and raising his voice democratically in independent India.
Uttar Pradesh, the heartland and the most populous state in the country, had been the battleground for Congress and Muslim League before 1947. It had seen competitive communalism, inter-religious tensions and riots. On the ground, situation in UP was complex and different from other states.
Kazi Jalil Abbasi’s autobiography is insightful and reveals a lot about the period and the struggles. Abbasi was born in Bayara in Basti district in1912. He studied in different schools in Gonda, Unnao and Basti before he joined the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) from where he was expelled.
All these circumstances, his idealism, role in freedom struggle are part of the book. He was against the political stand of Muslim League. The books also provides information about Congress’ organisation and the politics in UP, its leaders. There are interesting anecdotes about top leaders, ranging from Rafi Ahmad Kidwai to Indira Gandhi.
The autobiography titled ‘Kya Din The!’ was originally published in Urdu.
Arif Ansari has now translated it in English. Ansari is settled in Washington DC. The book that runs into nearly 350 pages is a must-read for anyone who is interested in the era, important events and the post-partition situation in Uttar Pradesh.
More than seven decades after India achieved independence, the role of innumerable martyrs and freedom fighters who gave their blood and offered lives for the motherland, needs to be remembered.
Many of them got harsh punishments, didn’t get proper last rites, remain forgotten and even those whose sacrifices are known, don’t have monuments or memorials built in their memory.
The martyrdom of Nawab Kadar Ali, and his companions, who planned attack on residency and to take on the East India Company forces in Nagpur, also needs to be recalled. They were hanged here for their role in 1857–the first war of independence.
Though there is no monument named after them and no big memorial, they remain heroes in public memory. The fort that had been a base of 118 Infantry Battalion for years, is opened on three days including August 15 and January 26. Thousands of people arrive on these days, and also pay visit to the grave and offer their respects.
The flame for independence was already lit. History books mention that soon after Meerut, the anger was palpable among soldiers and citizens in this region too. On June 13 1857, a large gathering took place near Mission High School. The soldiers too were anxious and ready.
Scared, some of the East India Compnay officials ran towards Kamptee Cantonment, while others went inside the Sitabuldi Fort. It was due to treachery that the attack plans had been leaked and the news reached British officers. More EIC forces were called from other places to control and overpower the rebels.
Rani Baka Bai, wife of late Raghoji II, was supporting the British and issued a warning that anyone abetting or aiding the revolutionaries would be arrested and handed to the East India Company. It’s a long story and how the soldiers and citizens suffered, refused to name the leaders of the movement.
Historical texts say that the signal of a fire balloon was decided. But after the traitors gave information to East India Company officers, Plowden, the commissioner, ordered a regiment to move into the city. The irregular calvary at Tali was dismayed. Major Arrow tried to get information from ring leaders but no one gave names.
Baka Bai summoned all her relations, and dissuaded them with threats. This chilled the spirit of public. However, later when Company officials’ strengthened their hold, the rebels were identified. Arms were collected and after inquiry, Dildar Khan, Inayatullah Khan, Vilayat Khan and Nawab Kadar Ali were tried and executed.
KILLED, HANGED, BURIED IN A COMMON PIT
The Gazetteer briefly mentions that ‘tucked away between the easter walls of the inner fort and the barracks is a large grave known as Nav Gazah Baba…the grave of Nawab Kadar Ali…and his eight associates..who were killed and hanged by the ramparts of the fort due to their role in the war of independence”.
“They were all buried in a common pit, nine yards long. The fort recalls to our mind the memory of the brave soldiers who fought in an attempt to preserve the independence of the mother land”. It was treachery that was responsible for the arrests and the punishment. Those who helped the British, got ‘jagirs’ as rewards.
Ghulam Rasool ‘Ghamgeen’, the poet, wrote these lines in Farsi :
Choo.n Qadar Ali Khan Ameer Kabeer Shud-az-tohmat, ahl-e-balwa aseer
Duaa’e shahaadat ba-raahe Khuda shab w roz mi kard aa.n mahtada … … Khirad guft ee.n misra-e-silk-e-noor Za-daar-e-jafaa shud ba-daar-e-suroor
The last couplet of this long Persian verse, brings out the ‘tarikh’, the year of execution. The complete verse is mentioned in Dr Mohammad Sharfuddin Sahil’s book ‘Tarikh-e-Nagpur’. It shows the impact of the hangings on the people in the region. Nagpur is geographillcally considered to be a part of Central India and is the biggest city in Vidarbha region of Maharashtra.
The fort for a long period remained the base of 118 Infantry Battalion of Territorial Army. Every year, on August 15 and January 26, fort is opened for public so that it can pay respect to the freedom fighters. It’s also opened on May 1 i.e. Maharashtra Day. [Illustration is representive]
source: http://www.newsbits.in / NEWS Bits / Home> Top News / by Shams Ur Rehman Alavi / August 15th, 2021
A 17th century mosque in Punjab declared declared as a symbol of religious tolerance by the UNESCO and UNDP has no Muslim worshippers. Called Guru ki maseet (Mosque of the Guru) it is being looked after by the Sikhs.
Its story dates to the early 17th century. When the sixth Sikh Guru, Hargobind Singh, took over the throne, Emperor Akbar’s efforts to bring all religions together had already failed. In the reign of Jahangir, animosities based on religious difference had begun to surface across India.
Soon, Hargobind Singh realized that in the midst of growing tension and threats, only spirituality would not work.
With this idea, Guru Hargobind Singh started wearing two swords on his body. He called them the swords of Piri and Miri. Piri referred to spirituality and Miri to power. He also raised an army to fight wars.
In one of his armed campaigns, his army camped on the banks of the Beas River. Soon a big settlement came up here and it was called Hargobindpur. Today one can reach this place while travelling on Hoshiarpur-Batala Road in Punjab.
The township had people of all religions. Soon a temple and a Gurudwara were built there. There were only a few Muslims there and they had no place of worship. As their numbers were low, building a mosque was not feasible at the community level.
They went to Guruji and told him their problem.
Guru Hargobind Singh instructed his authorities to build a mosque for the Muslims to worship. In no time the mosque was built on a small hillock on the banks of the Beas River. The sound of Azan from the mosque reverberated in the air for the next several hundred years.
Guru ki Maseet at Hargobindpura, Punjab
However, after the partition of India and many Muslims leaving for Pakistan in 1947, this mosque was deserted. All the Muslim families of Hargobindpura had left for Pakistan.
As the mosque was related to Guru Hargobind Singh, the Nihang Sikhs built a Gurudwara there. Today, the sounds of Gurbani resonate there the place every morning and evening.
In the last decade of the twentieth century, Muhammad Rizwanul Haq of the Punjab Waqf Board visited the town and met many Sikh leaders. He requested the Sikhs that since this mosque was built on the orders of Sikh Guru it should be allowed to remain a mosque.
The Sikh leaders consulted historians; they too concurred with the idea of the place being retained as a mosque.
Soon a consensus was reached. Once again the kar seva started and the mosque was renovated. Some people from the Punjab Waqf Board also came there but most of the kar seva was done by Sikhs.
Nihang Sikhs who look after the mosque sitting outside Guru ki Maseet
The mosque was restored to its original shape in 2002.
For its inauguration, the locals invited Imam Maulana Hamid Hussain Qasmi of Amritsar’s Jama Masjid to lead the Eid-ul-Fitr prayers at the mosque.
Even today there is no Muslim living in Hargobindpur and yet the mosque stands tall. Today, Guru ki Maseet is cared for by Nihang sevadars.
In 2003, this historic mosque gained international recognition when UNESCO and the UNDP’s Culture for Peace project highlighted its importance as a symbol of religious tolerance.
(The author is a senior journalist)
source: http://www.awazthevoice.in / Awaz, The Voice / Home> Stories / by Harjinder / April 01st, 2025
The Association for Protection of Civil Rights (APCR), Nagpur Chapter, has launched a Free Legal Advice Centre aimed at providing legal guidance and support to underprivileged and oppressed individuals. The initiative seeks to assist those struggling with legal issues by offering free counsel on various legal matters.
The legal clinic will operate every Friday and Saturday at 7 PM at Rifah Building, Behind Sandesh Dawa Bazar, Nagpur – 440018. It will feature legal experts, including Justice M. N. Gilani, retired judge of the Bombay High Court, Nagpur, and Adv. Shoeb Inamdar, Secretary of APCR Maharashtra.
The initiative is designed to educate people about their legal rights, provide guidance on seeking justice, and simplify legal procedures for those in need. APCR encourages individuals facing legal difficulties to avail themselves of this free service.
For more information, individuals can visit the APCR Legal Clinic at the mentioned address during the designated hours.
source: http://www.radiancenews.com / Radiance News / Home> Uncategorized / by Radiance News Bureau / March 27th, 2025
The initiative underscores the importance of nurturing a diverse pool of legal talent equipped to address the complex societal issues facing diverse communities.
pix: X.com /@AleemIlahi
Kochi :
Responding to the pressing need for diverse representation in the state’s legal sphere, particularly to counter communalism, a Muslim organisation in Kerala has taken proactive measures.
It identified a crucial gap in the representation of Muslims in the judicial apparatus of the state and recently qualified and enrolled 50 Islamic scholars as advocates in Kerala High Court.
The southern state has a significant Muslim population and a commendable literacy rate in the community.
The organisation embarked on a training initiative for law graduates after recognising the need for informed legal practitioners well-versed in Shariah-related matters.
This initiative aimed to bridge the gap in Muslim representation in the judiciary, ensuring adequate expertise in addressing legal issues pertaining to the Muslim community.
The successful integration of modern education with religious teachings has been a hallmark of Kerala’s educational landscape. Leveraging this trend, the organisation trained the lawyers who are expected to play a pivotal role in advocating the rights and interests of the Muslim community, particularly in matters concerning Islamic Shariah.
The initiative’s significance extends beyond the confines of Kerala, serving as a model for other states grappling with similar challenges. It underscores the importance of nurturing a diverse pool of legal talent equipped to address the complex societal issues facing diverse communities.
The absence of qualified legal representation among Muslims has often resulted in judgements which do not fully consider Shariah principles. By empowering Muslim scholars with legal expertise, this initiative aims to rectify this imbalance and ensure fair and informed judicial outcomes.
As the need for competent legal practitioners among Muslim communities continues to grow, initiatives like these stand as crucial steps towards fostering a more inclusive and equitable legal landscape.
source: http://www.clarionindia.net / Clarion India / Home> Editor’s Pick> Indian Muslim / by Clarion India (pix edited source by X / @AleemIlahi / February 19th, 2024
Cinema, at its best, is an act of discovery—a way to reveal untold stories, amplify unheard voices, and explore cultures beyond mainstream narratives. Faiza Ahmad Khan’s celebrated documentary, Supermen of Malegaon (2012), did precisely that. It offered an authentic, heartfelt portrayal of a town’s passion for cinema, honestly capturing Malegaon’s people’s struggles, aspirations, and resilience.
Enter Superboys of Malegaon , a film emblematic of mainstream Hindi cinema’s exploitative tendencies—appropriating genuine experiences into sanitized narratives.
Superboys of Malegaon fails ethically and creatively, offering no fresh perspective while recycling Khan’s original vision. The filmmakers behind Superboys claimed “life rights” yet sidelined Khan when she sought acknowledgement, providing only a perfunctory shout-out at the film’s end—masking intellectual theft. This echoes the controversy involving Dalit writer Yashica Dutt, whose work was appropriated without credit in the series Made in Heaven. Powerful creators (also the same) behind these productions repeatedly draw from marginalized voices without meaningful acknowledgement, silencing concerns when challenged.
Such incidents highlight mainstream Hindi cinema’s transactional activism—superficially engaging marginalized spaces for fleeting relevance, prioritizing optics over authenticity. Some argue that under a politically charged climate with a right-wing fundamentalist government at the centre, this diluted portrayal is the best achievable representation—but accepting superficial representation as an acceptable standard of progress only normalizes mediocrity and stifles genuine change, further entrenching injustice rather than challenging it.
Erasing Malegaon’s complexity
Supermen of Malegaon succeeded precisely because it didn’t shy away from reality. Malegaon is more than just a quirky small town—it’s a working-class Muslim community shaped by poverty, systemic discrimination, and communal violence, including devastating bomb blasts in 2006 and 2008, initially blamed on local Muslims but later linked to Hindu nationalist groups (such as those implicated in investigative reports and legal proceedings, including the Malegaon blasts cases, as detailed in various court judgments and media investigations). This complex history has continued to profoundly impact residents, whose filmmaking is not merely artistic expression but an act of resistance and survival.
However, Superboys strips away these critical layers, presenting Malegaon as an optimistic yet sanitized locale devoid of historical context or socio-political nuance. Even the town’s distinctive dialect—a rich blend of Marathi, Urdu, and Dakhani—is diluted to a more palatable version. The film carefully constructs picture-perfect frames, evading the filth and squalor that define the neglected streets of Malegaon. This visual sanitization is emblematic of the state’s apathy towards Muslim ghettos—neighbourhoods that are frequently labelled ‘Pakistan’ as a means of deliberate alienation and justification for withholding even the most basic amenities.
Christoph Jaffrelot and Laurent Gayer, in Muslims in Indian Cities, document the systemic oppression and deprivation faced by Muslims in these spaces, reinforcing how Superboys dilutes Malegaon’s reality into an aestheticized, palatable narrative for mainstream consumption.
While some applaud the mere presence of Muslim characters, depicting a predominantly Muslim town without engaging its realities constitutes tokenism, not meaningful representation. Authentic storytelling demands acknowledging the community’s lived experiences, struggles, and resilience—precisely what Superboys avoids.
Flattening reality
Ironically, Superboys of Malegaon, despite proclaiming, “Writer baap hota hai,” suffers from a weak screenplay devoid of the sweat, grime, and authenticity central to Malegaon’s sole filmmaker featured in the film, Nasir Shaikh.
Excessive close-ups, overly polished aesthetics, and sanitized set designs further detach the film from reality, undermining grassroots storytelling. Casting choices deliberately select bodies that cannot represent those that labour—bodies that do not carry the marks of a lifetime of struggle, calloused hands, or the weight of exhaustion.
The film’s music, rather than reinforcing the struggles of Malegaon, renders them more palatable, smoothing over the jagged edges of survival. Crucially, the plotline completely erases a key detail from Faiza Ahmad Khan’s documentary—that every child born in Malegaon sleeps to the lullaby of the working mill. The hum of the power looms is the constant soundscape of the town, an unbroken rhythm of survival and labour. Superboys silence this ever-present industrial echo, replacing it with a more sanitized, digestible version of struggle that aligns with Hindi cinema’s broader tendency to aestheticize hardship while stripping it of its deeper socio-political implications.
Additionally, Superboys completely sidesteps critical caste dynamics influencing Malegaon’s filmmakers, isolating characters from the complex social hierarchies shaping their reality. This omission reflects mainstream Hindi cinema’s broader reluctance to engage meaningfully with caste or class, further flattening the film’s portrayal.
Industry machinery of mediocrity
Mainstream Hindi cinema’s insular ecosystem—an interconnected network of privileged filmmakers, critics, and cultural commentators—enables such mediocrity. Films like Superboys evade genuine criticism because their perception is managed by an influential elite. Glowing reviews, interviews, and festival accolades form a self-sustaining validation loop disconnected from authentic evaluation, shielding Superboys from any meaningful critique. Instead of being judged against the documentary it so evidently draws from, or the socio-political realities it claims to depict, the film is celebrated within elite industry circles that determine cinematic ‘success’ on the basis of marketability rather than integrity. The same privileged class that overlooked Faiza’s Supermen of Malegaon, now eagerly praises its sanitized counterpart.
Ultimately, Superboys of Malegaon isn’t a tribute—it’s appropriation. Mainstream Hindi cinema frequently silences creators lacking resources to challenge this imbalance. The filmmakers had the opportunity to respectfully acknowledge Khan’s vision but instead rebranded it as their own, altering the title likely for legal convenience rather than ethical accountability.
Contrasting this with other films that have successfully adapted documentary narratives into feature films, one can observe how respectful adaptations can retain the depth and authenticity of the original. For instance, Joshua Oppenheimer’s The Act of Killing (2012) directly influenced the narrative choices of the Indonesian feature film Solo, Solitude (2016), which recontextualized the atrocities explored in the documentary through a more personal fictionalized lens while preserving the socio-political depth. Similarly, City of God (2002), though not a direct remake, was heavily inspired by real-life events documented in News from a Personal War (1999), translating raw documentary insights into an electrifying yet authentic cinematic experience.
In contrast, Superboys strips away the very essence that made Supermen of Malegaon so compelling. Where films like Solo, Solitude and City of God retained the unsettling truths and urgency of their documentary counterparts, Superboys prioritizes aesthetics over authenticity, sanitizing uncomfortable truths for a wider audience. By ignoring the socio-political fabric that shaped Malegaon’s filmmakers, it reduces lived experiences to an easily consumable narrative devoid of the structural forces that shape them.
In a just world, such dishonesty would have consequences. Unfortunately, powerful creators routinely rewrite narratives without accountability. To experience the magic of Malegaon in its raw and real form, watch Supermen of Malegaon—a film that not only respects its subjects but builds a narrative that rejects neatness and celebrates their wins—a film that authentically respects its subjects, allowing their voices to be genuinely heard. Superboys, by contrast, reminds us of mainstream Hindi cinema’s continued failure toward meaningful representation.
Zeeshan Hasan Akhtar is a Mumbai-based theatre practitioner and screenwriter whose work interrogates identity, caste, class, and memory through intimate yet politically charged storytelling.
source: http://www.maktoobmedia.com / Maktoob Media / Home> Features / by Zeeshan Hasan Akhtar / March 21st, 2025
The Deputy Commissioner of Wokha district, Dr. Manazir Jeelani Samoon will be among the awardees, who will receive the Election Commission of India’s National Awards 2018 for outstanding election-related activities during the elections held in 2018.
Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio congratulated Samoon for the achievement. “Congratulations Dr. Manazir Jeelani Samoon, IAS @DcWokha #Nagaland who will be conferred with National Awards 2018 for smooth conduct of elections, by the #ElectionCommissionOfIndia, on National Voters’ Day, at Delhi, by the Honourable President of India…” tweeted Rio on his Twitter handle.
An IAS officer of the Nagaland cadre, Samoon will receive his award in the ‘general category’ on the occasion of National Voters’ Day on January 25. The President of India will confer the awards at a ceremony to be hosted at the Manekshaw Centre, Delhi.
source: http://www.morungexpress.com / The Morung Express / Home / by Morung Express News, Dimapur / January 24th, 2019
I found that the journey from East Pakistan to India is seen in a completely different light – unlike in Assam.
Design | Rubin D’Souza
Earlier this month, I was on my way to the India-Bangladesh border in West Bengal on a reporting assignment.
As I crossed the outskirts of Kolkata and took the Jessore Road, ancient trees swam into view. Our driver, Swapan Kumar Shikari, got talking. “These are very old trees,” he told me. “They guided millions of refugees from East Pakistan who were fleeing the [1971 Bangladesh liberation] war.”
Jessore Road is a historical refugee route, connecting Kolkata and Khulna in present-day Bangladesh, and the flight of terrorised people on this road in 1971 is now part of collective memory. “Most people who you will meet, they came here in 1971 or after that,” Shikari said, pointing to the houses and paddy fields on both sides of Jessore Road.
A similar journey is part of my history too. More than a hundred years ago, our forefathers, mostly peasants, migrated from the Mymensingh district of undivided Bengal to Assam – they were not fleeing violence, but following the instructions of the British colonial power.
Many of them tried to assimilate with the mainstream Assamese society. They not only started to read and write in Assamese but also initiated campaigns to identify themselves as “Assamese speakers” and “Assamese” in the 1941 census. Over decades, however, even our best efforts have not led to acceptance from Assamese society.
And in the process, we have become wary of recognising our roots – on the other side of the border.
For good reason. The rise of Assamese sub-nationalism has led to Muslims of Bengali origin being vilified as “illegal immigrants” from Bangladesh – even though many of them migrated years before the creation of India.
An anxiety, if not paranoia, about outsiders has taken centre stage in Assam and shaped politics in the state for the last six decades. The rise of Hindutva in Assam has only made our lives more precarious.
But as I began my interviews in Thakurnagar, the seat of the Matua order in North 24 Parganas district, I found that the journey from East Pakistan to India is seen in a completely different light here.
The Matuas, an influential religious order consisting almost exclusively of Namashudra Dalit immigrants from Bangladesh, are open about their migration history and are not afraid to speak of their origins.
“My family came here between 1980 and 1985,” said a resident of Thakurnagar. “There is nothing to hide. People in West Bengal have accepted us. Even if they don’t accept us, we don’t have anywhere else to go. Lakhs of people fled, and the local Bengali people not only welcomed us but also gave shelter and showed empathy.”
If he were in Assam now, he would never speak this openly. “You would have been picked up by the border police any day,” I told him.
Indeed, the state in Assam has come up with several mechanisms, from foreigners’ tribunals to the National Register of Citizens, to detect “illegal” residents. This institutional suspicion has taken a toll on the Bengali community in Assam, both Muslims and Hindus.
I have been reporting on the citizenship crisis in Assam for the last five years. Minor errors in documents or the inability to prove they are the children of their parents through documentary evidence have led many people to “fail” their citizenship test.
The plight of Bengalis in Assam was familiar to those I interviewed. Indeed, a few years ago, residents of West Bengal were spooked at the prospect of the National Register of Citizens being carried out on a nationwide scale, as suggested by the Union home minister Amit Shah.
On the last day of my reporting assignment, a Kolkata-based social activist from the Matua community had several questions for me about the National Register of Citizens.
I told him how the majority of Bengali Muslims in Assam supported the idea of the National Register of Citizens. Since they are required to produce papers in every aspect of life to prove their citizenship, they were not anxious. They knew they could produce the documents that could rid them of the lifelong “Bangladeshi tag.”
The Assam National Register of Citizens ended up excluding 19.06 lakh people, from Hindus to Muslims, from natives to those with a migration history. They are on the verge of statelessness and they now have to prove their citizenship before the tribunals, the last chance before being declared as non-citizens.
I told the Matua leader that if the National Register of Citizens came to West Bengal, those who came after 1971 would face hurdles having their names included. But while Hindu migrants may be protected by the Citizenship Amendment Act, Muslims may still have to prove their citizenship.
“Yes, the words ‘infiltrators’ and ‘illegal immigrants’ will only be associated with Muslims,” he agreed.
Citizenship is a federal subject in India, and the Union government makes the laws for it. But how a state responds to the spectre of illegal immigrants depends on its own history and culture.
In Assam, both the state and the citizenry are suspicious about migrants.
But other regions show us that another way is possible. In West Bengal, the state and its people not only accept migrants wholeheartedly but also show compassion for their history.
Most recently, the tiny northeastern state of Mizoram gave shelter to refugees from Myanmar and Bangladesh, describing them as their kith and kin.
But in Assam, with an aggressive form of Hindutva becoming dominant, it is unlikely that a Bengal-origin Muslim like me will find the courage to look back at my history – without having to pay a price for it.
source: http://www.scroll.in / Scroll.in / Home> Backstory 2024 / by Rokibuz Zaman / December 11th, 2024
Under Ansariya’s leadership, Prakasam has become the first district in Andhra Pradesh to establish a vigilance committee on bonded labour.
District Collector A Thameem Ansariya IAS
Nellore :
In the dusty villages and industrial pockets of Prakasam, a quiet revolution is underway. District Collector A Thameem Ansariya has made it her mission to eradicate bonded labour, rescuing the exploited and restoring their dignity. With a rare blend of authority and compassion, she is enforcing the law and transforming lives, proving that governance driven by justice can be truly impactful.
Under Ansariya’s leadership, Prakasam has become the first district in Andhra Pradesh to establish a vigilance committee on bonded labour, setting a precedent in tackling the issue. More than a bureaucratic milestone, the initiative is a lifeline for the voiceless, ensuring legal action against violators and rehabilitation for victims.
Her approach is multifaceted—aggressive rescue operations, strict enforcement, and large-scale awareness campaigns. “Every government stakeholder must take responsibility of this issue. We will ensure strict action against violators to make Prakasam free from bonded labour,” Ansariya said.
Recently, officials rescued two minors trafficked from Madhya Pradesh to an aquaculture unit in Karavadi village near Ongole. Stripped of their wages and phones, they were trapped—until Ansariya intervened. She directed Ongole Revenue Divisional Officer Lakshmi Prasanna to lead the rescue, ensuring the children were issued release certificates and reunited with their families.
In another operation, eight workers were freed after being trapped for eight years in a timber unit, while two others were rescued from a shrimp farm after six months of forced labour. These are not isolated but part of a system Ansariya has built—one that combines surprise inspections, swift rescues, and rehabilitation to dismantle exploitation at its roots.
Ansariya believes that prevention is as crucial as rescue. Between February 10 and 16, her administration launched an awareness campaign that reached over 13,404 people. Posters, rallies, and mobile LED displays carried the message that exploitation has no place in Prakasam. Workshops brought workers, law enforcement, and industries together, fostering accountability and equipping vulnerable communities with the knowledge to resist bonded labour traps. “Awareness is our shield,” she said, underscoring her proactive approach.
The Vigilance Committee, chaired by Ansariya, spearheads inspections, legal proceedings, and rehabilitation efforts. Rescued workers receive financial aid and employment support, while offenders face prosecution.
Prakasam Collector Ansariya, a 2015-batch IAS officer, previously served as Srikakulam Municipal Commissioner and Annamayya Joint Collector. She has been married to Srikakulam Collector Manajir Jilani Samoon, she stands as an inspiration to young women aspiring to join civil service, proving that perseverance can shape meaningful leadership.
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Good News / by D Surendra Kumar / March 09th, 2025
‘When patients know their rights, hospitals will be more receptive to their demands’
Dr. Mohamed Khader Meeran with a copy of his book ‘Patients rights in India.’
A medical graduate-cum-public rights activist in the city has brought out a handbook to raise awareness of patients’ rights, in the hope that people and healthcare providers can resolve issues amicably.
Mohamed Khader Meeran, 27, who completed his MBBS degree from Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences, Sevagram, in Maharashtra in 2020, and is a NEET aspirant for postgraduate studies, was inspired to write ‘Patients’ rights in India’ to specify the legal means of redress available in the wake of rising number of complaints related to hospitals and treatment options, especially during the pandemic.
He has been in the news for his advocacy work, notably for filing a public interest litigation (PIL) in Madras High Court, to launch online right to information (RTI) filing facility in Tamil Nadu State’s government departments in 2017. “Last year, there was a lot of misinformation being circulated about COVID-19. Patients’ health status details, which were meant to be confidential, were leaked through social media. Many hospitals were overcharging. Initially I was getting calls from within Tamil Nadu [for help], but as I had studied in Maharashtra, and was part of many student unions, we began coordinating with doctors there, to arrange for beds. This is when we felt that a handbook would be useful to tell patients about their rights,” Dr. Meeran told The Hindu .
Among the issues covered in the book are right to information; safe and quality treatment; seeking a second medical opinion, and so on. Initially published last year in Tamil, the English version of ‘Patients’ Rights …’, which was launched in October this year, is more detailed, with sections on government-sponsored health insurance schemes and contact details for grievance resolution.
“There are both legal and ethical angles when a patient comes for treatment. Since ethics is a vast field, I have narrowed it down to specific issues, such as cost of definitive treatment for ailments according to the patient’s paying capacity. We are focusing on how financial compensation can be accessed by patients,” said Dr. Meeran.
In real world
Case studies and legal rulings on medical issues help readers to understand how these rights work in the real world.
A chapter on alternative medicine calls for greater understanding between practitioners of Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homeopathy (AYUSH) and modern medicine. “There are evidence-based treatments for some ailments in both systems, but alternative therapists should understand their limits, and advise their patients to seek assistance from modern medicine when necessary,” said Dr. Meeran.
When the patients know their rights, hospitals and medical authorities will be more receptive to their demands, he feels. “Patients’ rights are not taught in medical schools, because of which violence against healthcare professionals is rampant in India. This book could help reduce such instances,” he said.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Tiruchirapalli / by Nahla Nainar / December 03rd, 2021
