Junaid Ahmed, a 27-year-old alumnus of the prestigious Aligarh Muslim University who completed his engineering from Sharda University
New Delhi :
Junaid Ahmed, a 27-year-old alumnus of the prestigious Aligarh Muslim University who completed his engineering from Sharda University, came third in the civil services final examination 2018, the results of which were declared on Friday evening.
Ahmed’s choice of subject was geography and he took guidance from the Zakat Foundation, an NGO working for community upliftment. Ahmed has been preparing for the exams since 2013.
“I have seen failure before and today, I am completely overwhelmed. This sense of achievement has come with the burden of responsibility,” Ahmed was quoted by News18 as saying. “And I now have to work for the people and make sure the schemes of the government reach beneficiaries.”
Ahmed’s father is a lawyer and his mother a homemaker. He studied in St Mary’s School in Bijnore district’s Nagina town in Uttar Pradesh. He has two sisters and a younger brother.
“I come from a middle-class background – every parent in India wants their child to become an IAS officer, my parents were no different. I was not so keen, but with time I realised I can do it and then prepared myself for it,” he said.
Ahmed said he would like to work towards ensuring that more people from his community appear for the exams. “Many Muslims don’t want to sit for these exams, they think the test would be biased against them,” he said. “Most importantly, their socio-economic condition is not good. I would do my best to inspire more of them and keep them motivated to sit for the exams. The only thing that matters is hard work and focus.”
Zafar Mahmood, founder of Zakat Foundation of India, said, “Junaid joined us at later levels of the UPSC – for the mains. His victory is good news for the efforts of community members – who laboured 10 years ago to make Muslims sit for the exams.”
“If we start looking from independence, until 10 years ago the community’s participation was only 2.5%. We made efforts and started getting results over the last two to three years and held civil services orientation programmes, among other things,” he said. “Now, we see a 5% jump in representation. The participation in exams has improved and so has the quality of aspirants.”
Kanishak Kataria, a B.Tech from IIT Bombay, topped the exam, followed by Akshat Jain, an engineering graduate from IIT Guwahati. Srushti Jayant Deshmukh secured the top spot among women. The top 25 candidates comprise 15 men and 10 women.
source: http://www.caravandaily.com / Caravan / Home> Editor’s Pick> India> Indian Muslim / by Caravan News / April 07th, 2019
Muzammil Sayyed, a trainee at the centre from Latur, said, “We got a boost after three of our seniors cracked the UPSC examination.”
“The cell is good for freshers as it helps in clearing the UPSC preliminary examination,” said Mohammed Mustafa Aejaz.(Pratik Chorge/HT Photo)
The civil services coaching centre at the city’s Haj House, which until now has had limited success in pushing Muslim youth towards civil services, got a boost, after three of its alumni were recently selected by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC).
Junaid Ahmad, who hails from Bijnaur in Uttar Pradesh and was trained at the IAS and Allied Coaching and Guidance Cell, run by the Centre’s Haj Committee of India (HCI), for two years between 2013 and 2015, ranked third nationally in the UPSC examination. The other two successful aspirants – Zaib Shaikh, from Ahmednagar, and Mohammed Mustafa Aejaz, from Mehboob Nagar in Telangana – were placed at the 225th and 613th positions, respectively.
An HCI official said the news of these achievements has generated a renewed interest and awareness about the coaching facility among the community. “Ever since the UPSC results were declared [on April 5], we have been receiving enquiry calls from all across the country. I still get around 50 calls every day,” he said.
Muzammil Sayyed, a trainee at the centre from Latur, said, “We got a boost after three of our seniors cracked the UPSC examination.”
Last year, as many as 6,732 graduates from across the country had applied for the centre’s entrance test, up from around 1,500 registrations in 2017. This year, the HCI officials expect the number of applications to increase even further – the last day to apply is May 7.
The Cell was established in August 2009, in the backdrop of the Sachar Committee report, which found that Muslims lagged behind most of the other communities in the country in educationally, economically and politically. The report, released in November 2006, pointed out that while Muslims constitute 14% of the Indian population, they only comprise 3% of the civil services and 4% of the police service. Since then, the Muslim representation in civil services has improved to some extent. Of 1,099 candidates who cleared the civil services examination last year 50 (4.5%) were Muslims, the highest since Independence. So far, the coaching centre has produced seven UPSC achievers, including the three who were selected this year. Several other alumni have joined other government agencies, including Reserve Bank of India, Central Excise Department and various state services.
“The cell is good for freshers as it helps in clearing the UPSC preliminary examination,” said Mohammed Mustafa Aejaz.
According to SAM Hashmi, the founder director, who headed the cell between 2010 and 2013, lack of proper leadership at HCI and the cell is to be blamed for its slow progress. “The leaders lacked either academic experience or administrative experience or both,” said Hashmi, who was principal at Akbar Peerbhoy College, Grant Road, and now heads a coaching academy at Mumbra.
In the last ten years, the cell has had four directors. Anwar Khatau, the current director, has previously served at the accounts section of HCI as well as the state’s Maulana Azad Minorities Financial Development Corporation Limited. He was appointed in 2017.
The cell has been experimenting with various coaching techniques, including video lectures and in-person lectures. Last year, the HCI switched back to in-person lectures by faculty from a Pune-based academy, after video lectures by a Delhi-based academy failed to deliver desired results. MA Khan, who was appointed the chief executive officer (CEO) of HCI last year, said the cell is trying to extend every possible support to its students and alumni. “We are providing books, residence and monetary help to our former students for service-specific training at their own place. We have even roped-in non-government organisations for this purpose. We fulfil all the demands of the students of the current batch of the students. In fact, we sought their approval before appointing the faculty,” he said.
Among other changes, the HCI has also done away with the deeniyat (religious knowledge) section of the entrance test and admitted aspirants solely on the basis of their knowledge relevant to civil services. It has also introduced weekly tests and facilitates weekly interactive sessions with faculty. The cell has also encouraged interaction among students, including inter-gender interaction, which was discouraged until now. The students said that the environment at Haj House is conducive for preparing for civil services examinations. “After a year of coaching at Haj House, I stayed here for another year to prepare for the UPSC exam. I will now leave so other students get the opportunity,” said Rais Shaikh, a trainee from Thane.
Sajid Husain, a trainee from Jalpaiguri in West Bengal said that the Haj House facility needs wider publicity. “Many are still unaware of the scheme,” he said.
“There’s a proposal to start such coaching centres at the state-level Haj committee facilities,” said Sayyed.
source: http://www.hindustantimes.com / Hindustan Times / Home> Mumbai / by Hindustan Times, Mumbai / April 22nd, 2019
