18-year-old Falak Naaz comes from a poor family in Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh. This did not stop her from dreaming to play for national women’s cricket team. Earlier this month, she was selected to be part of the under-19 national team for the upcoming first ever ICC Under-19 Women’s T20 World Cup in South Africa.
Prayagraj (Uttar Pradesh) :
Braving crippling poverty, 18-year-old Falak Naaz of Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh has made it to the under-19 Indian women’s international cricket team that will represent India in the first-ever ICC Under-19 Women’s T20 World Cup to be held in South Africa in January 2023.
Falak was selected for her outstanding all-around performance in Uttar Pradesh junior women’s cricket team.
A student of class 12, Falak credits her success to her family and coach Ajay Yadav.
“Even though playing cricket for a girl is not so common in our region, my family and coach always supported and encouraged me,” Falak told TwoCircles.net.
Falak said she started playing cricket only for entertainment. “I soon developed a passion for the game and wanted to make it my career,” she said.
Falak is raring to go to South Africa for the ICC Under-19 Women’s T20 World Cup.
“I feel proud to represent my country in the T-20 World Cup and hope to do well in the upcoming matches,” she said.
The first ever ICC Under-19 Women’s T20 World Cup will commence on January 14 in South Africa in which 16 teams are participating. The final of the tournament will be held on January 29. The Indian team will be captained by Shefali Verma.
Braving odds Falak’s father Nasir Ahmad works as a peon in a private school while her brother had to leave his studies to work at a cycle repair shop to support their family of seven, which includes their grandparents. Her family lives in a single-room, tin-roofed house in a locality on the banks of the Yamuna river in the Katghar area of Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh.
Falak’s selection in the national team has given hope to her family, and they are elated at her success.
“After her selection in the under-19 team, I feel proud,” her father Nasir told TwoCircles.net.
“Our financial condition was not good to support our daughter’s ambitions. However, her hard work has was rewarded. We are proud that our daughter is playing for the country. We are praying that Falak performs well in the matches ahead,” Falak’s mother Zeenat Bano told TwoCircles.net.
Passion for cricket Falak started playing cricket at the age of 12. She could not get admission at any sports academy as her father was not able pay the fee.
Her fate changed in 2015 when cricket coach Ajay Yadav decided to train her free of cost at his academy.
Falak wanted to become a fast bowler. On the advice of her coach, she decided to work on her batting and bowling and became an all-rounder. Her hard work bore fruit when she was selected for the Uttar Pradesh junior women’s cricket team in 2016. It was her performance here that helped her in securing a place in the under-19 Indian women’s cricket team.
Falak’s coach Ajay Yadav told TwoCircles.net that she is a dedicated person and works hard to achieve what she wants.
“This is what ensured her place in the U-19 team,” he said.
“Bowling is her strength but she plays as an all-rounder. Falak can play in any situation and does not come under pressure. I am sure that she will give an outstanding performance in the World Cup,” he said.
Her family and friends are celebrating her success. They are excited about her selection to the U-19 team. “I have seen Falak’s dedication towards her ambition. It is a moment of joy not only for her but for all of us to see her succeed,” her friend Shipra said.
Her friends are eager to see her play in South Africa. “We are now eagerly waiting to see her playing on the pitch in South Africa. We are sure that Falak will do well. We are praying for the team to win the T-20 World Cup,” her friend Riya said.
source: http://www.twocircles.net / TwoCircles.net / Home> Lead Story / by TCN Staff Reporter / December 14th, 2022
Phones have not stopped ringing at Tahir Ahmed Parray’s home in North Kashmir Hajin after his daughter Arbeen Tahir completed handwriting Holy Quran.
It took Arbeen six months to write the Quran using her calligraphic pen. With no formal training, she learnt calligraphy by watching YouTube videos before she tried her hand at writing the Quran.
“It was my childhood dream to write the holy Quran. I had no experience or training in calligraphy. I started watching videos and trying scribbling on paper before I learnt the art. I started writing the holy Quran in June and completed it in November. I was regularly showing manuscripts to my cousin for any correction,” she said.
Coming from a religious family, Arbeen’s father is a businessman dealing with fruits. She has a younger brother who studies in Class 10. Arbeen is living in a big joint family with all her uncles and cousins under one roof.
Arbeen received religious education from her childhood. Well versed in different languages, she developed an interest in reading theology and religious scriptures.
“I have written the manuscript on 900 pages. Now I plan to preserve this copy for posterity. I plan to bind it and keep it in my study. It is the prized possession,” she said.
Arbeen has become a role model for her clan and society. A student of class XII, she is now preparing for NEET and wants to become a doctor to serve humanity.
“I am working hard to crack NEET. My cousin is a doctor and she is my inspiration. I too want to become a doctor to serve mankind. I am preparing hard to achieve my goal,” she said.
The 18-year-old is also working on her debut book. “I am writing a book. `Tragedy of Innocence’ will soon hit the stands,” she said.
Arbeen is not the first student who has handwritten the Quran in Kashmir. Last year, Adil Nabi Mir of Srinagar completed writing the Holy Book in 58 days. Mir said he wrote the Quran in his handwriting purely for the ‘sake of Allah’ and to inspire the youth to follow Islamic teachings.
Coming from a humble background, Mir’s father is a mason. Mir said he received a lot of encouragement from his father and other family members.
He started writing on January 27, 2021, and it took him 58 days to complete the work. He used to write in his free time and spend 6-7 hours doing this. His fingers would ache a lot, but he persisted. Mir would rarely move out of the house barring visits to the mosque so that he could finish his task.
source: http://www.indiatomorrow.net / India Tomorrow / Home> Religion / by Ishfaq-ul-Hassan (headline edited) / December 13th, 2022
Ayeera Chisti, the first Kashmiri girl to win a medal at the World Wushu Championship
Ayeera Chisti, the Wushu wonderkid from the Kashmir valley added another feather in her rising career by winning a bronze medal at the World junior Wushu championship this weekend.
With this achievement she has become the first girl from Jammu and Kashmir to win a medal at this prestigious championship.
Among the first to congratulate her was JK Sports Council.
The 8th world junior Wushu championship was held in Banten, Indonesia from December 2 to 11.
Speaking to Awazthevoice.in, Ayeera’s coach, Asif said, “This is just the beginning. This is the result of years of hardwork, dedication, patience and discipline. There are many targets we have to achieve”.
Before departing for the championship, Ayeera had exuded confidence of doing well at the event. “I will come back with a medal”, she had told Awazthevloice.in.
The 11th class student of Amira Kadal Higher Secondary School, Srinagar had already etched her name in history books by becoming the first girl from Srinagar to represent the country in the world championships.
Khelo India congratulated Ayeera on becoming the first girl from JK to win a medal at this level.
Ayeera had lost to Malak Ossama of Egypt in the semifinal.
She had earlier defeated her rival from Macau in the last-eight stage.
The Indian contingent finished with a record eight medals, including three golds in the championship. Apart from the yellow metal, India also won three silvers and two bronze medals.
source: http://www.awazthevoice.in / Awaz, The Voice / Home> Sports / by Nakul Shivani, New Delhi (headline edited) / December 12th, 2022
Nusrat Noor from Jamshedpur not only cleared the Jharkhand Public Service Commission (JPSC) examination but also secured the highest rank in the list of successful candidates
Ranchi:
Nusrat Noor has become the first Muslim woman to top the Jharkhand Public Service Commission examination 2022 securing the first rank. She not only cleared the Jharkhand Public Service Commission (JPSC) examination but also secured the highest rank in the list of successful candidates who cleared the coveted examination the result of which was declared two days ago.
Nusrat Noor, 27, applied for the examination a year ago under the medical category soon after application forms were made available on the website. She prepared for the exams with due diligence, appeared for an interview last month, performed brilliantly in the exam and eventually came out with flying colours to become the first Muslim woman to ever top the JPSC examination.
On the empowerment of Muslim women, Nusrat Noor said, “Participation and initiative are key to increasing women’s representation. It doesn’t matter what the result might be, Muslim women should come forward to get into civil services. This is how we can increase our representation and benefit our community and the nation at large.”
The Jharkhand Public Service Commission conducts the state-level civil services examinations to make recruitment for top governmental posts in various departments, including teaching, medical, and healthcare, in the state. It is also responsible to conduct written and verbal examinations to appoint candidates for these prestigious government positions.
On being asked what motivated her to go for civil services, she said, “I noticed that the representation of Muslim women in the government workforce is negligible. It’s high time Muslims got highly educated. Especially our women should be in the forefront when it comes to grabbing the opportunities that come our way from every sector.”
Born and brought up in the Jamshedpur city of Jharkhand, Noor, a mother of one is a medical practitioner with a specialisation in neurology.
After completing her primary education at Sacred Heart Convent School in Jamshedpur, she moved to Ranchi to pursue her degree in medical sciences from the Rajendra Institute of Medical Science.
She completed her degree of MBBS in the year 2020, and consequent to this, she was posted in the same medical college to practice what she refers to as a junior residentship.
During her residentship, she got married. But her marriage has not come in the way of her studies and her dedication to pursue her goals. She lives in a joint family where, she says, everyone is very supportive. Her in-laws never discouraged her from pursuing her dream and goals.
During an outing with her in-laws
She says, “My husband and in-laws are very encouraging and supportive, I am lucky in a way, but this is how it should be in every household. I would say my family is a role model for every other family which treats its daughter-in-law as someone who is no more than a person whose job it is to do all the household chores.”
She looks at her family of more than 10 members as her strength and backbone. “I have a very big family, but it never has been a setback in doing whatever I wanted to do”.
Her husband, Mohammad Umar, is also a doctor and a consultant surgeon. He has always been by her side during her entire journey.
“My husband has always motivated me; he switched roles and helped me in my household chores. He did everything possible to make me achieve my goal, from setting up the timetable for me to study to taking care of our two-year-old child,” she recounts with a sense of gratitude.
With husband Dr. Mohd Umar and son Mohd Saad
Noor’s father, Md. Noor Alam, is in a managerial post at Tata Steel, Jamshedpur while mother Seerat Fatima is a homemaker. She is the youngest in her family. The news of her becoming the first Muslim woman in the entire state to top the JPSC examination makes them proud.
Her elder brother, Mohammad Faisal Noor, is pursuing his research in industrial engineering at the National Institute of Technology, Jamshedpur.
He says, “We were quite confident about her selection, but the news of that she got the first rank was, Alhamdulillah, a pleasant surprise.”
With her elder siblings
The one thing that she will never forget about in her entire journey, right from her school days to becoming a doctor to now cracking the JPSC, is that people and society even in the 21st century don’t consider a woman’s approach to her career as a personal achievement. Society still believes that a woman’s well-being lies in her traditional role as a homemaker.
She recalled the moment she got married, she was told by a friend that getting married ‘on time is an achievement in life and she has achieved it.
She said, “Personal life can be an aspect to achieve the ‘progress’, but there is much more to it. For me, apart from my personal life, achieving goals set by myself counts as progress. Society still needs to evolve to address the needs of today’s generation. My husband’s family, which is mine too, present an example of a ‘just’ and ‘progressive’ society which looks at the woman more than someone whose responsibility is confined to looking after the household.”
Nusrat now aims to start preparing for her post-graduation while taking charge as a medical officer in one of the government hospitals as appointed by the administration. She also looks forward to encouraging and facilitating other women to take up professional and administrative positions.
Proud mother of a two-year-old Mohd Saad
“Women should participate more to come into the mainstream. I also make an appeal to families to encourage their daughters to educate themselves as much as possible, as this is the only way to make them economically independent and socially self-sufficient.”
source: http://www.clarionindia.net / Clarion India / Home / by Ghazala Ahmad, Clarion India / December 11th, 2022
Ghazala Wahab explains what it is to be a Muslim, a member of the largest religious minority in India today, and why the community lives in fear as prejudices persist.
The book opens with an unputdownable 42-page introduction that delves into the root of fear and despair among Muslims who have embraced the country as theirs but are polarised because of the identity they bear.
The shock and shame of communal riots, orchestrated mass violence and lynchings that served political agendas and led to societal divisions during the past decades hits you, as journalist Ghazala Wahab lays bare instances from her life.
Balanced narrative
She meticulously balances her narrative because she wishes to build a bridge of conversation. While she addresses fellow Muslims asking them to embrace modernity and be an integral part of positive change, she also alerts non-Muslim Indians about their perception of Muslims based on prejudice and hearsay, not facts.
Self-examining her own community members, she admits it never struck her how an average Muslim struggles to stay alive because she looked at things from her position of privilege. As she researched, she found equal opportunity and justice are only concepts and that law- making and law-enforcing agencies act in contradiction to vilify and stigmatise Muslims.
It is a vicious cycle, writes Ghazala, because the post-partition Muslims have remained an irrelevant votebank and sought security in their ghettos perpetuated by illiteracy, poverty and unemployment. The mullahs and clergy have easily taken them under their religious fold to exploit them. The general backwardness of the community has fed into a sense of loss of identity and unmet aspirations for Muslim youth, men and women.
Personal experience
In the mid-80s, Ghazala’s father shifted from their ancestral home in a middle class mohalla to an upscale Hindu-majority neighbourhood in Agra. His successful business and hobnobbing with the powerful, gave him the comfort of keeping his family under a security net. But that was till Agra was engulfed in violence post-kar seva after BJP leader L.K. Advani rolled out his rath yatra from Somnath to Ayodha in October, 1990, and was subsequently arrested. As sporadic violence spread across north India, Ghazala’s family wondered where they would be more secure — in their new neighbourhood or in a Muslim majority insulated mohalla.
Ghazala’s father called his brothers to safety and her mohalla uncles requested them to move back to the old Muslim locality. Ultimately everybody stayed where they were as fury was unleashed on their community everywhere. A young collegian then, Ghazala, her parents and three siblings were at home when an angry mob led by a neighbour shouted slogans, smashed windows, pelted stones and damaged their car. Desperate phone calls for help went unanswered.
When Ghazala’s father went to the police station to enquire about the adult males who were forcibly picked up from the mohalla during search operations, senior officials known to him avoided him. Those he thought had accepted him treated him as nothing more than a Muslim when it came to communal division. For Ghazala’s father it was not about being a victim but it was more about the humiliation, a betrayal of belief.
Turning point
Her family survived the riots but it left a scar. Her parents chose to go silent and it irked Ghazala that a victim should feel ashamed. She saw the same resignation and defeatist attitude when the Babri Masjid was razed. It unnerved her because she sensed it was a turning point not just for her family but for most Indian Muslims.
“Civility was the first casualty, replaced by communal prejudice and demonstrative religion,” she writes.
Many members in her extended family began to draw comfort from religious conservatism. She talks about a cousin who started wearing a headscarf and told her she was more comfortable with her Muslim friends as they didn’t have to pretend with one another, whereas to her Hindu friends she was a validation of their liberal outlook.
The conversation disturbed Ghazala as she never perceived two distinct identities in herself — a Muslim and an Indian. The issue was complex and so were several disparate questions.
Ghazala leans on poignant narration about the average Muslim being confused and scared through examples of those who have hidden their identity and reverted to Hinduism under perceived coercion. “They could never participate as equal partners in the country’s development. Only 2.6 per cent of Muslims are in senior-level jobs and a small number have achieved a reasonable upward mobility,” she writes.
On a positive note, Ghazala says Muslim society is changing. The protests against CAA/NRC in December 2019, she feels, has given rise to an assertive community even though her 1990 experience returned to haunt her in February 2020 when her paternal aunt’s family panicked as a mob reached their northeast Delhi colony. Anger and helplessness resurfaced when her aunt called her for help and her uncle refused to escape or abandon his life’s savings. The sense of fear doesn’t leave, she says.
Born a Muslim: Some Truths about Islam in India ; Ghazala Wahab, Aleph Book Company, ₹999.
soma.basu@thehindu.co.in
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Books. Reviews / by Soma Basu / May 15th, 2021
The Muslim community had frowned upon the girl, who went to school to study English wearing burqa. She had faced the insult from her community but her father O V Abdulla, who was a religious scholar, stood with her and encouraged her to continue English education.
Mariyumma was an avid reader of English and hence local people used to call her English Mariyumma. Wikimedia Commons
THE FIRST Muslim woman in North Kerala to get English education, Maliyekkal Mariyumma, died on Friday in Thalassery, Kannur district. She was 95.
An icon of English education among Muslims in North Kerala, Mariyumma had been an inspiration for generations.
Condoling the death of Mariyumma, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said, “We have lost a person who had left her indelible footprints along with the history of Thalassery. Braving the barriers of conservatism, she learned English and thus became a guiding light for others. She fought for the educational rights of Muslim girls. Always a progressive face, she had also been an icon of religious harmony. Her death plunges a generation and a region into grief.”
Born in 1927, Mariyumma belonged to one of the prominent Muslim families in Thalassery. After completing lower primary education, she joined Sacred Heart Convent School in Thalassery for further studies. She was the only Muslim girl among 200-odd students at the school established in 1886. She studied the English alphabet in class 5.
Later, she recalled that as she did not understand English, her father consoled and encouraged her to continue studies. At noon, she used to go to a relative’s house for namaz. Realising this, the nuns arranged a facility for her namaz at the school. She recalled how nuns created a love for the English language in her mind.
The Muslim community had frowned upon the girl, who went to school to study English wearing burqa. She had faced the insult from her community but her father O V Abdulla, who was a religious scholar, stood with her and encouraged her to continue English education.
Abdulla had studied only up to class 2, but he used to read and write in English. Mariyumma continued her convent education till 1943, the year she was married off after she completed fifth forum (class 10).
After marriage, she associated herself with Muslim Mahila Samajam to continue her social work. Later, she focused on activities aimed at empowering women.
Mariyumma was an avid reader of English and hence local people used to call her English Mariyumma. The image of Mariymma reading English daily had inspired hundreds of Muslim girls to pursue education.
source: http://www.indianexpress.com / The Indian Express / Home> Cities> Thiruvananthapuram / by Shaju Philip / August 06th, 2022
Since time immemorial, people across cultures have been looking down upon women for their assumed enfeebled existence, but curiously the invincible might of the nation-state is primarily imagined in terms of feminine sensibilities. Nation and women share several traits, such as purity, chastity, and piety that must be protected.
This flimsy admiration aside, women continue to be the object of the stifling affliction of subjugation, marginalization and gender equality. The pitiable condition of Muslim women in India, their boundless deprivation and their servitude to patriarchal misrepresentation of religion look self-evident. Not many know that through determination and self-belief, daughters of destitution knocked over many unsurpassable hurdles and attained unprecedented success.
Undeterred by searing double jeopardy, some determined Muslim women weaved a gripping and admirable narrative of self-discovery and phenomenal individual growth that strengthened collective consciousness, empowerment and national aspirations in the six decades. They have had many firsts to their credit. The fairly long list includes the names of Fathima Bibi ( the first female supreme court judge who took over in 1989); Suraya Tyabji; (the incredible artist who designed our national flag in 1947); Begum Akhtar (the first female singer who judiciously wrapped up Vivadi Sur in Ghazal singing and earned the title of Ghazal Queen), Sania Mirza (the first Indian woman to win the ATS tennis title) Rokeya Sakhwat Hussain, ( jotted down the first female utopian novel, Sultana’s Dream”, 1905 in which gender roles were reversed.) Ismat Chughtai (the first fiction writer who explored various dimensions of the forbidden female sexuality in her short story Lihaf), Rasheed Jahan (edited an anthology of short stories, Angare that presented a poignant and heart wrenching account of exasperating struggles that women have to confront in the patriarchal society) and Qurratul Ain Haider (who judiciously used stream of consciousness to explore and reflect upon the gender injustices). Some Muslim women such as Razia Sultana, Chand Bibi and Begums of Bhopal, especially Sultan Jahan, committed themselves to the male-driven and exhausting path of leading the country, and they mapped new terrains of courage, bravery and governance. However, their contribution to collective life is not adequately documented.
These vital pieces of information largely lay in oblivion and have been aptly articulated and cogently documented in an astutely edited anthology of Muslim women trailblazers, Apostle of Transformation, published recently (Peter Lang, 2022). The anthology, edited by a well-known Islamic scholar Akhtarul Wasey and a promising academician Juhi Gupta, carries an assortment of 23 articles that engages the constitutive acts of turning mundane life into moments of epiphany by Muslim women. Their pulsating and coming-of-age experiences need to be told candidly.
Akhtarul Wasey and Juhi Gupta took pains to upend the widespread but erroneous perception that hardly considers Muslim women beyond being silent and passive onlookers. The book produces a gripping and layered narrative of those women who are to be reckoned as role models, but why their awe-inspiring efforts have not fetched the requisite response? As a central premise of the study, this question hardly took off, and the editors dish out a laudatory and partially plausible answer instead. For Wasey and Juhi, Muslim women, by and large, sump up a story of hope and resilience, and they assert, “In reality, Indian Muslim women, in the past and the present, have exerted their freedom, identity and agency. One way or the other, they have found ways to create, contribute, act and participate in various fields and ascended to prominence. Be it art, science, nation-building or politics, there have been hordes and hordes of Indian Muslim women pioneering, participating and contributing to development in the specific field.”
The creative dexterity, sweep of learning and speculative intelligence of Muslim women resonate with almost every genre of literature and non-fiction, and Urdu is not the only beneficiary. Azarmi Dukht Safavi, Rakshanda Jaleel, Rana Safavi, Annie Zaidi, Sami Rafeeq, Nazia Erum, Rana Ayub, Ghazala Wahab, Huma Khalil, Zehra Naqvi, Reema Ahmad, Nasra Sharma, Sadiqa Nawab Saher and the like make it for Persian English and Hindi with remarkable success. Their stories bear witness to what the editors asserted in the preface.
Several prominent authors and academicians, including Syeda Hameed, Rasheed Kidwai, Madhu Rajput, Bharthi Harishankar, Shahida Murtaza, Sabiha Hussain Ayesha Muneera, Azra Musavi, Shiangini Tandon, excavate details and they set forth a discourse whose emotional arc looks irresistible.
The book zeroes in on many prominent women by employing the case study method. Syeda Hameed, in her ear-to-ground and empathetic story of an accomplished author Saliha Abid Hussain whose fifty books, including her profoundly consequential autobiography, Silsila-e- Roz-o- Shabh (sequence of Days and nights), hardly got the recognition she deserved. It rightfully peeved Syeda Hameed, who candidly enumerated her oeuvre by observing that she was a chronicler of her times with natural talent for storytelling and, above all, a woman who believed, practised, and propagated her religion in its most liberal and humanitarian spirit.
Not many knew that Qudsiya Sikandar, Shah Jhan and Sultan Jahan were more than fortuitous rulers of Bhopal. Rasheed Kidwai employed laudatory idiom for adeptly documenting how their rule saw justice, gender sensitivity, peace and reforms even as faith and traditions remained intact. Surayya Tayyabji’s incredible artistic dexterity and pivotal role in designing our tricolour continue to elude public attention, and Shahida Murtaza’s academic rigour-filled succinct article, Surayya Tayyabji, the Resolute woman, supplements it.
The dreadful and calamitous partition is dotted with poignant tales of sufferance, and heart wrenching stories of the abducted women remained inarticulated. It was the turn of a celebrated author and activist, Begum Anees, who put together permeating and nuanced memories of the event and its earth-shattering aftermaths from the standpoint of women subjected to unprecedented affliction. Azra Musavi made her autobiography, Azadi Ki Chaon Mein (In Freedom’s Shade), the object of a single pristine look. Azra’s lucid close reading of the text draws forth an informed debate on how the two states faltered in fulfilling the aspiration of people.
Ayesha Muneera astutely spells out the contours of Rokeya Sakhawat Hussain’s creative world, and she argues that Sultana’s Dream is a feminist, political, and ecological utopia. She sides with Nilanjana Bhattacharya by terming it an anti-colonial text. For her, the novel works against India’s colonialization and internal colonization of women within Indian society. Rokeya’s trail-blazing text subtly conjures a dystopian world where gender roles are reversed, but the environs remain dreadful.
Naima Khatoon produced an evocative piece on Begum Akhtar, one of the most accomplished singers of Ghazal, Dadra and Thumri that India ever produced. She blended music and poetry with remarkable ease.
In her article, Sabiha Hussain ropes in feminist and cultural studies tools to map the creative terrains of Ismat Chughtai and Qurratul ain Haider.
Juhi Gupta turns her attention to the family of Sheikh Abdullah, the pioneer of Muslim women’s education, and she perceptively analyses the contribution of Begum Abdullah, well-known educationist Mumtaz Jahan, famous author Rasheed Jahan and prominent actor Begum Khurshid Mirza (Renuka Devi).
Shah Alam insightfully unravels the vanguards of change, and his laconic account, Vignettes of Muslim women Politicians in India reads well.
Faiza Abbasi, Mayuri Chaturvedi, Chand Bi, Tauseef Fatima, Bharti Hari Shankar, Rekha Pandey, Abida Quansar, Madhu Rajput, Bilal Wani, Naseem Shah, Shirin Sherwani, Shivandgini Tandon, Ruchika Verma, Anam Wasey and Huma Yaqub are the other contributors who made the anthology an intriguing read.
source: http://www.siasat.com / The Siasat Daily / Home> Featured News / by Shafey Kidwai / November 12th, 2022
The young nurses believe that more Muslim girls across the country should opt for the nursing profession to serve society.
Patna (Bihar) :
Two Muslim nurses Naziya Parveen and Shabrun Khatun from Bihar were awarded this year’sNational Florence Nightingale Awards (NFNA) by the President of India, Droupadi Murmu at Rashtrapati Bhavan earlier this month.
The National Florence Nightingale Awards (NFNA) were instituted in 1973 by the Government of India’s Ministry of Health and Family Welfare as a mark of recognition for the meritorious services rendered by nurses and nursing professionals to the society.
Sajeeda Banu of Karnataka, Ahmedullah Wani of Jammu & Kashmir, and Mohammed Kasim AB of Lakshadweep are the other Muslims who were awarded this year.
She was among 51 people from around the country who were awarded in different categories by the President. Her citation states that she has contributed to the establishment of the labor room and for helping in preparing the standard operating procedure.
32-year-old Naziya Parveen receiving the award from the President Murmu. | Picture by arrangement
Hailing from Sultanganj, Bhagalpur, Naziya is the eldest of three sisters. She is married to a microbiologist Mohammad Shams of Gaya. After completing her high secondary education in Dumka, Jharkhand she studied nursing for GNM at JawaharLal Medical College, Bhagalpur, and worked with Jamia Hamdard in New Delhi for six years. It was challenging to move from Delhi to Araria but her family supported her as “there isn’t much scope of work in Sadar Hospital.”
“I feel quite proud to be awarded as our society does not recognize the work of nurses. I am elated for being a Muslim awardee as we don’t get nominated for such awards. I was asked if I was from Kashmir as I was wearing a hijab,” she said.
Mother of two kids, Naziya has inspired other Muslim girls to take admission to nursing courses. Local newspapers in the state ran stories featuring her.
“We need to change our attitude towards this profession. It is a good job and one can draw good income from it. The nursing course is such that even if one does not opt for a job, they can get the chance to serve from home and earn. I am of the view that more Muslim girls should study nursing as a profession,” she said.
28-year-old Shabrun Khatun was awarded in the ANM (Auxiliary Nurse and Midwife) category. | Picture by arrangement
28-year-old Shabrun Khatun was awarded in the ANM (Auxiliary Nurse and Midwife) category. She works at Darbhanga Sadar primary health center. She had applied for the award previously but it was her work during Covid-19 that won her an award this year. She recalled how she went for a door-to-door screening of Covid-19 in April 2020 while being on fast and continued to work in 2021.
Shabrun told TwoCircles.net that receiving the award from President Murmu was quite encouraging.
Her journey to success has not been smooth. She had to work in local hospitals to support her family but this experience helped her. “I was good at studies in school and got prizes for my co-curricular activities. I wanted to be a medical doctor. I was selected for MBBS at a private medical college but did not have enough money to take admission. I also wished to be an officer in administration but my father’s proximity to doctors got me into nursing.”
Shabrun’s father Mohammad Akhtar is a tailor who would stitch clothes for operation theaters of hospitals nearby. She had cleared the preliminary test for selection in the police department but finally settled for a nursing course after her graduation in Zoology from her hometown of Rosera Bazar in Samastipur district in Bihar.
Shabrun said that she had to face unfriendly treatment in society after she chose to become a nurse. “But seeing my success now, everyone is happy,” she said.
She is of the view that Muslim girls who are not able to qualify for MBBS should consider nursing as a career as “it gives the satisfaction of serving humanity in one small way.”
In December this year, she would be felicitated on the foundation day of the Darbhanga district.
Sami Ahmad is a journalist based in Patna, Bihar. He tweets @samipkb
source: http://www.twocircles.net / TwoCircles.net / Home> Lead Story / by Sami Ahmad, TwoCircles.net / November 25th, 2022
You must have seen the film Dangal starring Aamir Khan, but today we are going to introduce you to the Dangal family of Shivpuri.
The story of this family is no less than the story of the film Dangal. Shivpuri’s daughter Muskaan Khan has brought laurels to the country, state and city.
Muskaan has achieved a new milestone by winning 4 Gold in Open Federation Commonwealth Power Lifting Championship 2022 held in Auckland, New Zealand.
Read the story of a father who fulfilled his dream through his daughter
Father Mohammad Dara Khan told- I had a dream since childhood to bring gold medal for the country. For this, I was interested in sports from the beginning. My game was handball. Played at the state level 3 times in this. Also played national in basketball. In the year 1997, at the age of 20, I got selected as SI in ITBP from sports quota.
2-4 days before the selection, my fingers got cut in an accident. My dream of winning gold remained unfulfilled due to a broken hand. Days started passing. Leaving the dream behind, I got busy in the poultry farm business.
Sports man father was selected as SI in ITBP at the age of 20 from sports quota but due to accident he could not join duty.
I have 5 children. Has 3 daughters and 2 sons. The business was growing for the upkeep of the family, but the heart used to beat only to bring gold medal for the country. Was constrained but kept looking for opportunities. I started playing a special role in organizing sports competitions in the village.
Meanwhile, the middle daughter Muskaan came as a ray of hope. Her inclination towards sports started encouraging me. I thought that only my daughter would fulfill my dreams. Along with school studies, she started working hard towards sports as well. I also joined her.
Muskaan won gold in squat lifting, bench press, dead lifting and total weight count.
Muskan was enrolled in a private school in Shivpuri, 20 km away from the village. I started taking my daughter to school 40 kilometers away every day. Muskaan’s hard work paid off. She started topping the sports competition.
I stood by him every step of the way. Kept supporting him equally. Wherever I felt that there was a possibility to move forward in it, I would try to take it forward in that field. First she started with handball. Muskaan played national 3 times in mini handball. My daughter alone scored 9 out of 10 goals in the match.
Then I felt that she should be brought into the individual game. Muskaan prepared for weight lifting after a lot of thought. As soon as weight lifting started, Muskan reached to play the state. Meanwhile, Corona stopped the speed of the daughter. Seeing this, I decided to make arrangements for her at home. I slowly got the gym ready at home. Muskaan worked hard for 2 years.
Muskaan with her team at the airport to participate in the power lifting championship in New Zealand.
Results in one year The father told that his daughter Muskaan took part in the power weight lifting competition as soon as the corona was over and on seeing it, she won her glory from district level to divisional level and then state level competitions.
After this Muskaan was selected in the Commonwealth Power Lifting 2022 to be held in New Zealand. Muskaan was flown to New Zealand on 25 November. Where Muskaan brought laurels to the country including her city by winning 4 gold in the power weight lifting competition. It is a matter of pride for me that my daughter has fulfilled my dream.
Muskaan left for New Zealand on 25 November. There he brought laurels to the country by winning 4 gold in the power weight lifting competition.
Muskaan left for New Zealand on 25 November. There she brought laurels to the country by winning 4 gold medals three in squat lifting, bench press, dead lifting and one in total weight count in the power weight lifting competition.
Played Mini Handball for the State Mohammad Dara said that daughter Muskaan had participated in the State Handball Competition for the first time in the year 2016.
After this she played National in the years 2017, 2018 and 2019.
Javelin to Shot Put Khan told that his daughter had already tried her luck in handball before power lifting. She also threw javelin and shot put in individual games. After facing a problem in the preparations in the village, he got inclined towards weight lifting.
Participants from other countries with a smile. Muskaan also made new friends during the Power Lifting Championship in New Zealand.
Used to fight with brother over eating spicy Muskaan’s brother Honey Khan told that there is a fight with the younger sister Muskaan over food and drink. She used to like spicy food, but I don’t let her eat it. She used to complain about this to her father. Papa and I tell her to pay attention to the diet. I am happy now that she has reached this point because of this fight. Today the whole family is celebrating with the success of Muskaan.
Muskaan had earlier won 2 gold medals and one silver in the ‘All India Power Lifting Competition in Kasargod, Kerala in August 2022.
Muskan hoisted the flag in competitions from district level to divisional level and then state level.
source: http://www.divya-bharat.com / Divya Bharat , New India / Home> Sports News / by Kapil Mishra (edited) / November 29th, 2022
Bazm-E-Niswan, an all women’s charitable trust distributed Rs. 1 crore 51 lakhs in scholarships to 4146 female students from the economically weaker section of the community on Sunday. While 2,166 beneficiaries are PU students, 1,796 are pursuing undergraduate courses. As many as 59 are diploma students and 125 are post-graduate students.
The organisation has been distributing scholarships since its inception in 1971 and has so far given financial aid to over 67000 students to complete their higher education
The purpose behind the yearly scholarships is to encourage Muslim girls from deprived sections to pursue higher studies, Mrs Husna Ziaullah Sheriff, president, Bazm-E-Niswan said.
These girls are now successfully qualified as teachers, professors, doctors, lawyers, government officers, businesswomen, engineers, journalists, trainers, nurses, paramedics and in many other professional courses, she said.
Students applied for the scholarship online through Bazm-E-Niswan’ website. Candidates were required to fill out an online application and submit the hard copy of the application at the trust’s office. The fresh students who had secured more than 50 per cent in their previous exam were selected.
“We received 5,200 online applications this year as against 4,505 last year. The increase in applications indicates the growing need for scholarship due to the financial crisis post Covid 19,” Ms Sheriff said.
“Overall 69.7% students belong to BPL families and 30.3% belong to non BPL families,” she said.
However, the total number of applicants in Post Graduation was only 152, compared to 2,350 in Under Graduation. “This shows only 6.46% girls pursue Post graduation after completing their UG,” it was observed.
source: http://www.thecognate.com / The Cognate / Home> Education / by Shaik Zakeer Hussain / November 27th, 2022
