Tag Archives: Muslims of Bihar

Israil Mansuri: From Mukhiya to a Minister

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Mathurapur, Patahi (Muzaffarpur District), BIHAR :

The new information technology minister of Bihar Mohammad Israil Mansuri belongs to a socially backward Dhuniya community.

Mohammad Israil Mansuri. | Photo: Facebook/Israilmansuriofficial

Patna (Bihar) :

Mohammad Israil Mansuri, a Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) MLA is the new minister of Information Technology in the government of Bihar. 

Mansuri, 46, belongs to the Dhuniya community and uses Mansuri as a surname. In Bihar, the Mansuris are primarily involved in quilt making. He is considered to be the first in his community to become a minister in the government. 

Mansuri started his political career in 2001 as a Mukhiya (village head). Though he calls himself a “servant of all communities,” in political terms he is a Pasmanda (socially backward). 

Mansuri completed his early education in his village Mathurapur, Patahi in the Muzaffarpur district. He studied up to I.Sc. and later joined politics.

His father Mohammad Usman does not have prior experience in politics and his wife Zubaida Khatoon is a homemaker. His only daughter Neha Tarannu is studying Unani medicine. Mansuri used to work with his father in litchi gardens and at his grocery shops. He is the third among six siblings of four brothers and two sisters. One of his brothers runs a fruit shop while the other is a teacher. He wanted to be a teacher but could not clear the main examination in 1994 while he had also passed the preliminary test for T.C. in Railways after passing his 12th board examination the same year. 

He first joined Nitish Kumar’s party Janata Dal in 1996 and was part of the party till Kumar joined hands with the Bharatiya Janata Party in 2017. He resigned from JD (U) and joined RJD.

Talking to TwoCircles.net, Mansuri thanked the Almighty and his party leaders Lalu Prasad and his son the deputy chief minister of Bihar Tejaswhi Yadav for choosing him to be a minister. “For me being a Mukhiya too was a big dream. Then in 2020, I got a ticket from RJD and got elected as an MLA in my first attempt from the Kanti seat. I was extremely surprised when I got a call to take the oath as a minister. It seems that my struggle in politics has impressed my leaders Lalu and Tejashwi,” he told TwoCircles.net. 

“To struggle and strive for something comes naturally to me. I studied in a school where we had to take our Bora (Jute bag used as a mat) and did not have a pen and notebook but slates to write on. I used to cycle 10 to 15 kilometres to bring the grocery items for our shop while I was in school. As I had an interest in social work, I got a chance to meet people. Though I come from the Mansuri community, my popularity in all communities is equal,” he said. 

Mansuri was caught in controversy soon after he became a minister. He travelled with the chief minister Nitish Kumar to the Hindu holy city of Gaya as he was the in-charge minister of that district. When he entered the Vishnupad temple accompanied by Kumar, a huge controversy erupted as “non-Hindus were not allowed to the sanctum sanctorum of the temple. “I used to visit all places of worship without caring for the religion. I was not made aware of the restriction at that temple. I entered without any intention to breach the rule.”

When asked what his focus would be as a minister of the IT department, he said, “IT is a fast-changing sector. We would try to keep our state updated in this field. We would also see how many jobs we can provide to the youths from our department as this government aims to give ten lakh jobs.” He checks his emails and runs his Facebook page by himself and has his own website.

All India Pasmanda Muslim Mahaz President and former Rajya Sabha member Ali Anwar told TwoCircles.net that as Mansuri belongs to Pasmanda Biradari his election as MLA and now elevation to a minister is a great morale booster for the downtrodden section of the Muslim community. “Lalu and Tejaswhi took the right decision to induct Mansuri as a minister and many more such steps are needed for the society,” he said.  

Former Director of Jagjivan Ram Institute of Parliamentary Studies and Political Research – Srikant sees it as a necessary step to bring upward mobility to the people who belong to the lower strata of society. “Since Mansuri belongs to the most backward section of the society his empowerment in politics is in accordance with the theory of Ram Manohar Lohia and Mahatma Gandhi,” Srikant said. 

Srikant added that it was a time taking process to empower the Pasmanda section but a positive step has been taken. 

www.israilmansuri.in

Sami Ahmad is a journalist based in Patna, Bihar. He tweets at @samipkb

source: http://www.twocircles.net / TwoCircles.net / Home> Careers / by Sami Ahmad, TwoCircles.net / August 30th, 2022

Five Muslims Get Ministerial Berths in Bihar – Operation Lotus Fails

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Patna, BIHAR :

Meanwhile, BJP is deliberating upon the reasons for the failure of operation lotus in Bihar and the future course of action in the changed situation there

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar after the expansion of his cabinet has made public that there will be 5 Muslim ministers in his cabinet of 31 Ministers that took oath on August 16, 2022.

The JD-U broke away from the BJP and was successful to retain power in the newly formed government with the RJD and other allies. The JDU gave only one ministerial berth to its member from the minority community from its quota. Jama Khan was made Minister of Minority Affairs.

In Contrast, the RJD gave three Ministerial berths to the minority community from its quota. Shamim Ahmed made sugarcane minister, Shahnawaz Alam got disaster management, and Mohammad Israil Mansoori got information technology.

Congress, the alliance partner of the JDU-RJD combined government has given only one ministerial berth to a member of the minority community. Afaq Alam has become the animal husbandry and fisheries minister of Bihar.

If we compare 2022 with 2020 when the JDU aligned with the BJP to form the government in Bihar, there was not a single Muslim Minister in Nitish Kumar’s cabinet. Even the Minority Affairs Ministry was held by Ashok Chaudhary, a close confide of the Bihar CM. This was worse than in Uttar Pradesh where the lone BJP Muslim MLA was made Minister of Minority Affairs.

In the cabinet expansion, the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) got 16 ministerial berths. The Janata Dal-United (JDU) got 11, the Congress got 2 ministerial berths. Jitin Ram Manjhi’s Hindustani Awam Morcha and an Independent MLA Sumit Kumar Singh also found a place in the new cabinet.

It is learned from the sources that 5 ministerial berths are kept reserved for future expansion of the Bihar cabinet that can have up to 36 ministers, including the Chief Minister.

The Grand Alliance in Bihar has a strength of 163. Now it has climbed to 164 after Sumit Kumar Singh an Independent MLA extended his support to the JDU-RJD alliance and got a ministerial berth in the new government. The RJD- JDU government in Bihar is likely to prove a majority in the Assembly on August 24.

Earlier Chief Minister Nitish Kumar pulled the rug below the BJP’s feet when the saffron party was set to launch a surgical strike code-named operation lotus. Buoyed by the success of its operation in Maharashtra last month with his man Friday Eknath Shinde the BJP propped up RCP Singh the former Union minister who was to plot a coup by taking JDU MLAs to some safe haven in the BJP-ruled state.

However, before he could make any moves, the Chanakya of Magadha got the wind of the ‘Gujarati trap.’ He first exposed RCP Singh’s ill-gotten wealth and sought his explanation. This made BJP’s ‘Mohra’ resign from the primary membership of JD(U). This happened on August 7.

Even before the BJP could launch a strike on Nitish Kumar with the help of RCP Singh, the Vikas Prush of Bihar parted his ways with the BJP. He hems a new alliance with the RJD and other political parties and took oath on August 10 with RJD’s Tejashwi Yadav as his deputy. This is how Nitish Kumar becomes the Chief Minister of Bihar for the seventh time.

The BJP got the taste of its own medicine in Bihar. Now the BJP top brass is holding meetings with the party’s leaders in Bihar. The saffron party is to deliberate upon the reasons for the failure of operation lotus in Bihar and the future course of action in the changed situation there.

[Syed Ali Mujtaba is a journalist. He can be contacted at syedalimujtaba2007@gmail.com]

source: http://www.ummid.com / Ummid.com / Home> India / by Syed Ali Mujtaba / August 18th, 2022

Medal winning girl credits father for success

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Siwan, BIHAR / Baramulla, JAMMU & KASHMIR / Lucknow, UTTAR PRADESH :

Shafia Khursheed

Lucknow :

She could leave her hometown Baramulla in Jammu & Kashmir to get quality education at a reputed institute in Lucknow only because her father supported her dreams.

Shafia Khursheed could not have expressed gratitude to her father in a better way than by winning a silver medal for BA (Hons) in Urdu.

“I owe it all to my father,” she said, while walking confidently to collect the medal during the convocation ceremony on Tuesday.

Like Shafia, Bihar’s Sumaila Ayub, the gold medal winner in BA (Hons) in economics and Lucknow’s Insha Rizvi, the silver medal winner in BA (Hons) in English, also owe their success to their father who fought against the conservative mindset which stop girls from going to far-flung places for studies.

“My father Khursheed Ahmad Lone is my pillar of support. To attain good education, he sent me not only outside the city but to a different state. I stayed back in the hostel, was regular with classes and visited home only once a year so that I can score high and make my father proud,” said Shafia, who wears hijab with pride, and aspires to become an Urdu professor.

Sumaila said, “I came all the way from Siwan, Bihar to Lucknow to achieve my goal of becoming an economics professor. This was not at all possible if my father Mohd Ayub had not given me the freedom to run after my dreams. I am the first gold medal winner of my family.”

“We are three sisters and our father Achchan Ali Rizvi not only gave us the best education but also stayed awake with me late at night to help me study,” said Insha.

Meanwhile, the winner of two gold medals, BA (hons) in computer science Deepali Singh’s from Malihabad said she had the support of both her father Satyapal Singh and her husband Sanjeev Singh to pursue education.

“I come from Malihabad daily to attend classes. My hard work paid off as I have won two gold medals,” said Deepali.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> News> City News> Lucknow News / by Mohita Tewari, TNN / March 23rd, 2022

Senior journalist Zeya Saheb has left us, as well

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Badharwa Fateh Mohammad Village, BIHAR / Lucknow, U.P. / NEW DELHI :

New Delhi :

Mohammad Zeyaul Haque, a senior journalist, well known in journalistic and intellectual circles of Delhi, Bihar and UP, passed away on Thursday after a short hospitalisation, the end came around 7:30 pm today. He was 72.

Born in 1948 in a remote village of Bihar called Badharwa Fateh Mohammad, under Dhaka subdivision of East Chamapran district, he received his early education in Dhaka. After schooling, he went to college in Motihari and later joined LS college, Muzaffarpur, from where he graduated with English Literature. Inclined towards Journalism and writing from college days, he went to Lucknow to pursue his Journalistic career, first joining Urdu daily, Qaumi Awaz, published by the associated journals limited which also published National Herald and Navjeevan in Hindi. His journalistic acumen, writing skills and intellectual calibre soon attracted the attention of the Editor of English daily, the pioneer of Lucknow who offered him a job as a reporter for his newspaper.

It was a big jump for a person who started out as a Journalist in an Urdu Daily. From there, there was no looking back for Mr Haque who was affectionately called Zeya Saheb by his friends and journalist colleagues. In Lucknow, he worked National Herald and Times of India which he left to join Russian Embassy to work for its publications as the consultant editor in Delhi. Later, Mr Haque took up the stewardship of a fortnightly, Nation and the World, as its Executive Editor, though he piloted it as its de facto Editor.

He was executive editor of The Milli Gazette and edited a number of books published by Pharos Media. Currently, he was editing the English translation of the Quran by Zafarul-Islam Khan.

He also edited the Magazine ‘The Encounter’, with distinction. Zeya saheb was a trilingual journalist who was a regular columnist of Rajasthan Patrika published from Jaipur and used to contribute articles to the multi-edition Hindi daily The Hindustan. At the time of his death, Zeya saheb was working for an NGO group, Institute of Objective Studies, New Delhi, which he served for long years, as its strongest pillars.

Coming from a rural background, Zeya saheb compared well with many of city-bred and public school educated peers. He had trained and inspired generations of Journalists. Apart from qualities of Head, he was also known for his qualities of heart. He was a thorough gentleman, kind and compassionate, helping people with his right hand without his left hand knowing it.

A gentleman to the core, he had exceptional grasp of English and was highly well-read. Always had a story to share from his treasure.

He is survived by two sons and one daughter and a lot of grandchildren and relatives. His eldest son Waqas is Senior Journalist with India Today and the other son Arafat, is a Senior Manager in an MNC, while his daughter Naila teaches English in Delhi University. May Zeya Saheb’s soul rest in peace.

source: http://www.milligazette.com / The Milli Gazette / Home> News> Community News / by The Milli Gazette Online / April 22nd, 2021

Credit society run by Muslims offers respite for low-income wage groups

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Patna, BIHAR :

Head office of Al-Khair Society in Patna, Bihar. | Picture: Clarion India

Headquartered in a small building in the state capital Patna, Al-Khair Co-operative Credit Society, with thirteen branches in four states, has transformed lives by loaning money to low-income groups at zero interest rate. 

Patna (Bihar) :

For 18 years, 51-year-old Kamala Devi used to sell vegetables at her small shop in Patna, Bihar, to support her family. The business wasn’t doing well and when in need of cash she would borrow money from a local lender at a 20 percent interest rate per month. Paying back this money at this interest rate was an extra burden. She found a way out when she came to know about the Al-Khair Co-operative Credit Society, a registered society based in Patna that loans money to low-income groups at zero interest rate. 

In 2012, she borrowed Rs 10,000 from Al-Khair with zero interest and a one-time nominal service charge. With this money, which she had to repay by easy installments of Rs 50 per day, Devi started selling readymade garments at her shop. Her business improved. She paid back the loan amount in one year. Happy with the result, she took two more loans to expand her business. 

“I am planning to borrow Rs five lakh from Al-Khair after repaying a loan of three lakh twice in the last three years. My goal is to further expand my business with the help of my elder son,” Devi told TwoCircles.net. 

Besides lending her money to help her business, Al-Khair also loaned her money to buy a laptop for her younger son, who works in a private company. 

“My family is settled now and our days of hardships are over,” she said. 

Devi is one among 29,000 members of Al-Khair Co-operative Credit Society, a registered body under the Multi-State Co-operative Society (MSCS) Act 2002. 

The society has 13 branches across Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh and New Delhi. Its beneficiaries include vegetable vendors, ready-made garments shopkeepers, medicine shop owners and Dhaba (eatery) owners etc. 

Launched in 2002 by Arshad Ajmal (then chairman of Al-Khair Charitable Trust), Dr Badurl Hoda, Syed Shamim Rizvi and a few others, it employs 125 people as its staff. The need for such a society was felt after a detailed survey in 2001 conducted by S.B. Sinha, a Harvard University expert, revealed that “only 10% of people who were in need of loans had access to commercial banks.”

In order to become a member, one is required to buy at least 10 shares of Rs 10 each. 

Managing Director of Al-Khair Naiyer Fatmi told TwoCircles.net that “Al-Khair has disbursed loans of Rs 113 crores since its inception.” 

Fatmi said that they levy a one-time service charge ranging from 3.5 to 8.5 per cent. 

Helping hand to low-income women during pandemic
Nearly 35 percent of Al-Khair’s members are women. In 2012, Al-Khair started a branch in Mahendru, Patna that is run entirely by women. 42-year-old Shama Parween of Dargah Shah Arzan neighborhood is a member at this branch. She runs a small eatery near a school in Sultanganj, Patna.

In 2019, she became a member of Al-Khair by depositing Rs 500 per month from her husband’s savings.

“During the countrywide Covid-19 lockdown in March 2020, managing our household expenses became difficult as there was no work,” Parween, a mother of two daughters, told TwoCircles.net. As she was a member of Al-Khair, it only took a week for her to avail a loan of Rs 25,000.

She said she found it easier to repay the loan as the field staff from Al-Khair collected Rs 100-200 every day from her.

The hassle-free loans offered by Al-Khair, which take around two weeks to disburse after submitting basic documents, are popular among low-income groups. Its door-to-door system of collection is also found to be a matter of ease for its members.

Rajesh Sahu, from the Madhubani district of Bihar, is a vegetable vendor in Gomti Nagar, Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh. In 2012, he started his small shop with a loan of Rs 3000 from Al-Khair. 

Sahu told TwoCircles.net that he was introduced to Al-Khair by his brother-in-law who was a beneficiary. “There is no hassle with Al-Khair. They don’t ask for too many documents and their charges to disburse loan is reasonable unlike where interest is charged which gets compounded,” he said. He is currently repaying his loan of Rs two lakhs, which he had taken in March this year, by depositing Rs 800 to 1000 every day. 

Despite its popularity, Al-Khair is finding it difficult to increase its number of branches. The last branch was opened in 2014 at Jamia Nagar, New Delhi which remains its only branch in the national capital. 

Fatmi said they have been waiting for almost five years for approval to open their five new branches, which include three in Bihar and two in Jharkhand. Earlier, the decision to open any new branch under MCMS Act lay with the Board of Society, Government of Bihar but after the demonetisation in 2016, the authority was delegated to Registrar, Co-operative in New Delhi under the Central government.  

“Our application is lying with them from 2016. We just hope that it gets approved,” Fatmi said.

Sami Ahmad is a journalist based in Patna, Bihar. He tweets at @samipkb

source: http://www.twocircles.net / TwoCircles.net / Home> Lead Story / by Sami Ahmad, TwoCircles.net / May 26th, 2022

U.S. Special Coordinator for Tibet Uzra Zeya to visit India and Nepal

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Bihar,INDIA / North Carolina / Washington, U.S.A. :

U.S. Special Coordinator for Tibetan issues Uzra Zeya. File | Photo Credit: AFP

U.S. Special Coordinator for Tibetan issues Uzra Zeya will travel to India and Nepal this week to deepen cooperation on human rights and democratic governance goals with the two nations, the State Department has announced.

Ms. Zeya, the Under Secretary for Civilian Security, Democracy and Human Rights and an India-American, is expected to visit Dharamsala in Himachal Pradesh during her visit to India.

Dharamsala is home to the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan Government-in-exile.

“Under Secretary for Civilian Security, Democracy and Human Rights and U.S. Special Coordinator for Tibetan Issues Uzra Ms. Zeya will travel May 17–22 to India and Nepal to deepen cooperation on human rights and democratic governance goals, and to advance humanitarian priorities,” the State Department said on May 16.

“She will also discuss partnering with India and Nepal during this Year of Action for the Summit for Democracy. The delegation will include U.S.AID Deputy Assistant Administrator for Asia Anjali Kaur,” it added.

It will be the first high-level contact between the U.S. and the Tibetan leadership after Joe Biden became President in January last year.

In New Delhi, people familiar with the development said last month that Ms. Zeya will hold talks with the Dalai Lama and other senior leaders of the Tibetan Government in exile in Dharamsala, signalling the Biden administration’s commitment to the Tibetan cause.

Last month, Tibetan exile leader Penpa Tsering paid a visit to Washington D.C. and met Ms. Zeya. Tsering — the elected head of Tibet’s India-based exile Government the Central Tibetan Administration — had also met House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other congressional leaders.

China considers the 14th Dalai Lama as a political exile who has attempted to split Tibet from China under the guise of religion.

According to the people cited above, key issues relating to the Tibetan cause are likely to figure in the talks.

As the U.S. Special Coordinator for Tibetan issues, Ms. Zeya has been coordinating the Biden administration’s policies, programmes and projects relating to the Tibetan cause.

Ms. Zeya was sworn-in as the Under Secretary for Civilian Security, Democracy, and Human Rights by Secretary of State Antony Blinken on July 14 last year.

On December 20, she was concurrently appointed as the U.S. Special Coordinator for Tibetan issues.

The U.S. has been consistently supporting the Tibetan cause notwithstanding China’s strong objection.

In 2020, the U.S. came out with legislation reaffirming the absolute right of Tibetan people to choose a successor to the Dalai Lama and the preservation of Tibet’s environment.

After the U.S. Congress passed the legislation, China had accused Washington of meddling in its internal affairs.

China has been insisting that the selection of the next Dalai Lama has to be decided within Chinese territory and that it has to have a say in the matter.

The issue of a successor to the 14th Dalai Lama, who has been living in exile in Dharamsala since 1959, gained traction as he turned 86 in July last year.

Mr. Blinken had met a representative of the Dalai Lama during his visit to New Delhi last year.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> International / by PTI / Washington, May 17th, 2022

Stranded in Ukraine, Rashid Rizwan one of Ivano-Frankivsk national medical university students’

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Kapoorpoor Village (Gopalgang District), Bihar, INDIA / UKRAINE :

Rashid was one of the countless students stuck in Ukraine, without any government aid, when the war broke out.

 Rashid Rizwan and other Indian students at the Ukraine-Hungary border. (Special arrangement)

Over the last few weeks, users of social media have sifted through, cross-checked and reshared posts and videos of Indian students stuck in Ukraine. However, one video, in particular, stood out. The subject of the video, Rashid Rizwan, a student of medicine in Ukraine’s Ivano-Frankivsk national medical university, can be seen remarking in a video posted a few days ago, “Isse acha toh mar hi jaate,” (We might as well have died instead of suffering this way.)

Even a superficial viewing of the video makes it clear that Rashid was distraught. His eyes, still glassy with leftover tears speak volumes. He asks how long he can cope. (Kitna sambhale khud ko?) As the video progresses, Rashid says, in a shaky, fearful tone that “yahan par puchne wala koi nahi hain. (There is no one here to enquire after our well-being)”

Rashid, who is a native of Gopalganj district of Bihar, was critical of the Citizenship Amendment Act introduced by the Union government in 2019 and in fact protested against it in his university in Ukraine. He also stood in solidarity with the countless victims of the 2020 northeast Delhi riots.

Further, Rashid clarified that he was open to the Citizenship Amendment Act but was uneasy with one community alone being sidelined. “Constitution toh WE the people se shuru hota hain na ma’am? Ab woh WE main Muslims nahi aate kya? (The Constitution starts with We the people no? Does that not include Muslims?)” he asks.

Victim-blaming students stuck in Ukraine

When asked about why he stayed put in Ukraine, when the advisory asked them to leave, Rashid stated that universities in Ukraine demand 100% attendance. If they left without coordinating with the universities, they would lose out on an entire year of education and further waste a huge sum of money.

This was made worse by the fact that Turkish visas were not readily available and the students could not book tickets to India directly. “The flight ticket prices kept soaring. At a point it was between 80,000 and 1,20,000 INR,” says Rashid.

After countless hours of debilitating panic (nearly two days), embassy officials approached Rashid and his companions at the Hungary border, to aid their return to India.

“We were asked to go to the nearest west Ukrainian border and so we obeyed. I, along with a few others was at the Ukraine-Hungary border. Then a new advisory stated that only students who could arrange for cars or buses should move towards the borders of the country. If we knew this in advance, we would have stayed put. Why are we being judged and maligned?” asks Rashid.

Rashid also tried to coordinate with the embassy and the university from February 14 but was met with either a tepid response or no response at all. He also wrote letters to the District Magistrate of Gopalganj and MP Alok Kumar Suman for aid the day Ivano-Frankivsk city was attacked.

A Doctor’s dream:

Towards the end of his narration, this reporter asked Rashid why he chose to become a doctor. He said that there was no doctor in his village for a very long time. “In Kapoorpur village (in Gopalganj district of Bihar), we don’t have a readily accessible doctor. Anyone seeking treatment has to travel 12 kilometres to the nearest dispensary. I wanted to relieve some of the distress caused by poverty,” he simply remarked.

At the time of writing this article, only 3,352 Indian students have returned to India from Ukraine as per government estimates.

source: http://www.siasat.com / The Siasat Daily / Home> News> India / by Anjana Meenakshi/ March 04th, 2022 (edited )

The Art Of ‘Chaapa’, The Unique Wedding Couture Of Bihari Muslims

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BIHAR :

Chaapa continues to remain popular among the Bihari Muslim families both nationally and internationally and even today, Bihari Muslims around the world opt for chaapa clothes for their children’s weddings.

Models Nandini (left) and Kajal (right) sport traditional Chaapa sarees with a modern twist. Outlook Photos/Tribhuvan Tiwari

India, with its diverse cultures and traditions, has a rich heritage of indigenous fashion. With global trends taking over markets, many of these traditional and unique styles of couture and dressing are fading out of fashion. Tucked in the heart of Bihar’s Patna, however,  are the ‘Chaapa’ dresses of Bihari Muslims, a style of clothing that have withstood the test of time and the onslaught of mass production.

Chaapa is a traditional Bihari bridal dress made with silver block print. This dress was specially designed to be worn by the bride on the day of Nikah (wedding). No Bihari Muslim nikah ceremony is complete without the chaapa.

The word chaapa came from chaap (which means print in English) and the history of this traditional dress can be traced back to the nineteenth century where Francis Buchanan in a journal mentioned the chaapa clothes and their significant demand among the Muslim Bihari families in 1811 – 1812.

Earlier chaapa was fabricated in the entire Bihar but today due to the cultural influence, the chaapa style has become confined to Patna, Bihar Sharif and Gaya.

Initially, chaapa was available only in two colours, red and green. But currently, they are available in other colours such as yellow, blue, violet, pink etc.

Chaapa continues to remain popular among the Bihari Muslim families both nationally and internationally and even today, Bihari Muslims around the world opt for chaapa clothes for their children’s weddings.

(Md Umar Ashraf, a civil engineer by education who later pursued a masters in journalism, is the founder of www.heritagetimes.in, a website dedicated to bringing out the lesser-known facts of Indian history. He has served in the capacity of historian for several museums undertaken by the Ministry of Culture as well as projects under NBT. Several newspapers and portals have covered his impact on popular history.)

source: http://www.outlookindia.com / Outlook / Home> National / by Md. Umar Ashraf / November 11th, 2022

Book Launched on Shamim Ahmed, A Human Rights Activist

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BIHAR / Kolkata, WEST BENGAL :

Kolkata:

A book titled ‘A world Divided: Human Rights in an Unequal World’ written on the 25-year struggle of famous social activist Shamim Ahmed was launched on September 25 at a grand ceremony held at the Five Star Ruff Hotel The Park in the West Bengal Capital.

Former minister and congress leader Mani Shankar Iyer paid tributes to Shamim as he said there are very few people in the country who do great service for the restoration of human rights and to put a smile on the face of the people of the country.

He congratulated the author of the book and said that the author has researched the life of Shamim Ahmed and brought a book before us.

The book sheds light on the life of Shamim Ahmed and his work in promotion of Urdu language.

Shankar said that he had the opportunity to read a book, adding that he was very much impressed with his “Food for All” campaign.

“Rights and opportunities have not been found. Even today, people on the streets are longing for food.” Mani Shankar Aiyar said that India is a multi-religious country. “The destiny of this country lies in national unity.”

pix: goodreads.com

Former Member of Parliament and renowned intellectual Mohammad Adib, while acknowledging the services of Shamim Ahmed, said that coming from Bihar to Bengal and launching a movement to make Urdu the second official language is nothing short of a feat.

He said, “it is unfortunate that after India’s independence Later, Urdu was treated leniently. There was injustice with Urdu in Bengal as well. Shamim Ahmed raised his voice against this injustice.

Expressing his views on the occasion, Adib said that the 25-year journey of Shamim was full of difficulties, trials and tribulations.


On the occasion, renowned international artist and Bengali intellectual Shubha Parsna said that Shamim Ahmed is the pride of Bengal. “We are happy that there are people in Bengal who speak of humanity and deal with people on humanitarian grounds. That I have known Shamim Ahmed for the last many years. He had compassion for humanity in his heart.

Prasana urged books should be written on such personalities so that the new generation is aware of him. The event was attended by important personalities from different sections of the society.

source: http://www.millattimes.com / Millat Times / Home> National / by Millat Times Staff / October 05th, 2021

Khan Sir, the teacher who can explain everything, but RRB: ‘Beyond me’

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Gorakhpur, UTTAR PRADESH / Patna, BIHAR :

Khan opened his G S Research Centre at Patna coaching hub Chak Musallahpur over five years ago. The centre comprises a big hall with tin shade that can accommodate about 1,000 students at a time.

Faisal Khan who has built a You Tube following of 14.5 million from his videos breaking down intricate topics into easily understandable details, denies instigating the applicants (photo videograb @Khan GS Research Centre)

His students can decode all the theories of science but cannot understand how the Railway Recruitment Board (RRB) thinks, says Faisal Khan a.k.a Khan Sir. In the protests that have broken out in mainly Bihar and Uttar Pradesh over recent RRB exam results, the head of a coaching institute and popular YouTuber is among six teachers booked on the charges of instigating the applicants.

Khan, who has built a YouTube following of 14.5 million from his videos breaking down intricate topics into easily understandable details, denies instigating the applicants. However, the 29-year-old says, the workings of the RRB are beyond his comprehension. Talking to reporters on January 26, Khan said: “The RRB people do not know the ground reality.” Adding that the government “can’t be blamed for everything”, he said it was good the Railways has decided to hear out students.

Khan opened his G S Research Centre at Patna coaching hub Chak Musallahpur over five years ago. The centre comprises a big hall with tin shade that can accommodate about 1,000 students at a time.

However, Khan really took off when he started his YouTube channel in 2019, and soon gained an audience for his videos explaining things in Hindi, with a lot of vernacular and proverbs thrown in. In 2021, he started an app called ‘Khan Sir Official’, that has one million-plus downloads.

Khan opened his G S Research Centre at Patna coaching hub Chak Musallahpur over five years ago (photo videograb @Khan GS Research Centre

A teacher in the area said around 12,000-15,000 students used to attend classes at G S Centre in batches before Covid struck. Khan has earlier said he charges fees as per the paying capacity of a student. There is no other teacher at the coaching centre though it does have a devoted “research team”.

The centre gives coaching for examinations conducted by the Railways, Staff Selection Commission, State Teachers Eligibility Test and Institute of Banking Personnel Selection.

Khan did not reply to calls or text messages, remaining unavailable since issuing a video appeal to students on Thursday night to maintain calm.

In an interaction with the media on January 26 and 27, he said he had never provoked students nor told them to take to the roads. But underlining the anger, he pointed out that a “digital protest” by them had drawn “some eight million tweets”. “I just tweeted once, and it had nothing provocative.”

Khan admitted though that, during his classes, he told students how the RRB had changed the format for the exams, leaving many applicants apprehensive that they would not get the jobs for which they had applied back in 2019. The forms released at the time did not mention any change.

“The RRB examinations are very important. A government job means a lot. I have two students who work as daily wagers on the side. If they become station masters, their lives would change forever,” he told reporters, thanking Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw for putting the exams on hold after the protests.

While applicants took to the streets and blocked rail lines in both UP and Bihar, the maximum violence was in Bihar, where students burnt empty train coaches. The Indian Express had reported that the two states made up nearly 30% of the applicants for the RRB exams.

In a recognition of how the youth protest – and the police action on them in UP – could backfire amid polls in five states, former Union minister and BJP Patna Saheb MP Ravi Shankar Prasad on Friday urged the government to hear them out.

Little is known about Khan’s background, and he does not say much except that he belongs to Gorakhpur in Eastern UP and wanted to join the Army like his elder brother. Crestfallen after rejection due to a medical condition, Khan has said, he wondered for a long time what to do.

In a video on his channel, he said that with a degree in science and a Masters in geography, he decided to try out teaching. “I started with just six students in Patna. They told me I was good at explaining things. This is when I decided to pursue this field, ” he said.

About his style, his ease at explaining issues like the Galwan Valley crisis – a video of it went viral at the height of India-China border tensions – Khan once said: “Unless a teacher understands the mind of an average student, he cannot teach well.”

He said he liked doing the Galwan video as he is fascinated with defence subjects. “It is my first love. However, a lecture comes after several days of preparation. There are occasions when I spend nights at my studio, ” he said in an interview recently.

In the wake of the RRB protests and the case against Khan, there has been an outpouring of support for him on social media.

Sometime back, there was a controversy regarding Khan’s real identity. “How does it matter if I am called Amit Singh or Faisal Khan? I am only a teacher to my students. One has heard about ‘Guru, Govind dou khade…’ (underlining that if God and your guru were both before you, a wise man chooses the guru)’,” he said at the time.

He also said he revealed his identity wherever necessary. “What’s in a name? Teachers have no religion, I can recite verses from the Quran and also the Gayatri Mantra.”

Khan had also stirred a row in April 2021 when in a viral video, he was heard criticising participation of children in a protest in Pakistan. Criticising their parents, he had said: “18-19 bachche paida honge to kis kaam aayenge? Koi bartan dhoyega, koi bakri kaatega, koi puncture banayega (If one has 18-19 children, what will they do? Some would wash utensils, some would work at meat shops and some would repair punctures).”

Following outrage, he had said that he meant people in Pakistan and not a community.

In a recent video, Khan cautioned police that arresting him would only aggravate the crisis. “I am very relieved that Patna District Magistrate Chandrashekhar Singh gave teachers and the coaching association a patient hearing. I also said that some people were running fake accounts in my name,” he said.

On Friday, the Bihar Bandh called by several student organisations, and backed by Opposition parties, was peaceful. While party workers were seen at some places, the DM said: “We were relieved to note almost nil presence of students. It is good that Khan Sir appealed to students. I met Khan and the other teachers to say we do not have any prejudice against them.”

Asked about the case against Khan and the others, the DM said: “We are scrutinising the facts. The administration will look at the evidence and not do anything that can aggravate the problem.”

Unmarried, Khan has also been fending off other, more pleasant, rumours. “I don’t have any control over them. Someone said I have two girlfriends, some have declared me married… One even ran a news about my death. My mother called me after learning about it,” he said in a video.

source: http://www.indianexpress.com / The Indian Express / Home> India / by Santosh Singh, Patna / January 29th, 2022