Following her victory from the Cuttack seat, Congress candidate Sofia Firdous has become the first Muslim woman MLA in the history of Odisha since Independence.
Sofia Firdous won the Barabati-Cuttack seat with a margin of 8001 after a neck-to-neck contest with BJP’s Purna Chandra Mahapatra. Firdous replaced her father and sitting MLA Mohammed Moquim from the seat.
In the Lok Sabha elections across the country, at least 15 Muslim candidates successfully secured seats in the lower house. The list includes TMC nominee and former India cricketer Yusuf Pathan who secured a comfortable victory over Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury in the Congress veteran’s Baharampur bastion. ( With Agencies Inputs )
source: http://www.muslimmirror.com / Muslim Mirror / Home> Indian Muslim> Politics> Women / by Muslim Mirror Staff / June 06th, 2024
The winner of the game Sahajan Mohammad who hails from Jaspur town of Odisha works as a chef at a hotel in Abu Dhabi.
Abu Dhabi:
A 28-year-old United Arab Emirates (UAE)-based Indian expatriate won the grand prize of Dirhams 20,000 (Rs 4,48,927) in Dream Island’s scratch card game.
The winner of the game Sahajan Mohammad who hails from Jaspur town of Odisha works as a chef at a hotel in Abu Dhabi.
Mohammad has tried his luck at different raffle draws in the past to no avail.
On June 7, he purchased scratch cards through an ongoing promotion and won a free ticket.
Mohammad has decided to contribute a portion of his winnings towards assisting the victims of a tragic train accident that took place in his hometown. The accident killed at least 288 people and injured more than 1,000 people.
He will also use the prize money for construction expenses and some for his relatives who are in need and struggling for their livelihood.
“I am flying home on June 25. I have become a father now. I will be meeting my baby girl. She has brought this luck,” an elated Mohammad told Khaleej Times.
About Dream Island
Dream Island, the UAE’s gaming platform rewards players with the chance to win cash prizes by playing a selection of games.
With each play charged between Dirhams 10 and Dirhams 50, participants have the chance to win prizes of different sizes – the largest being Dirhams 10 million.
The rules and prizes of different Dream Island games vary, as do the prize amounts.
source: http://www.siasat.com / The Siasat Daily / Home> News> Middle East> UAE / by Sakina Fatima / June 10th, 2023
Mumtaz Khan was India’s top scorer in the 2022 women’s junior hockey World Cup and at the FIH Hockey5s Lausanne.
Picture by Hockey India
Teenager Mumtaz Khan was named the FIH Rising Star of the Year 2021-22 in the women’s category, the international hockey federation (FIH) announced on Tuesday.
Mumtaz Khan scored eight goals, including a hat-trick against Malaysia in the group stages, as the Indian hockey team finished fourth in the 2022 women’s junior hockey World Cup in South Africa. She was India’s top scorer in the tournament and the third-highest scorer overall.
The 19-year-old Mumtaz was also the leading goal scorer for the Indian women’s hockey team that played in the FIH Hockey5s Lausanne 2022. She netted five goals in four games, including a hat-trick against hosts Switzerland.
“I cannot believe that I have won this award. It is the hard work of our entire team over the year that has paid off, and I dedicate the win to my team,” Mumtaz Khan said.
“I feel the award is a sign that the hard work that I have put over the past year on the training grounds has helped me improve a lot as a player. But this is just the beginning of my career. I wish to continue the learning process and will continue the hard work to improve upon my game.”
Mumtaz Khan won 32.9 points in the final standings for the FIH Rising Star of the Year award, edging out Belgium’s Charlotte Englebert, who finished with 29.9 points.
Mumtaz Khan is the third Indian woman to win the award after Lalremsiami in 2019 and Sharmila Devi in 2020-21. In the men’s category, Vivek Sagar Prasad has won the honour in both 2019 and 2020-21.
France’s Timothée Clément was named the FIH Rising Star of the Year 2021-22 in the men’s category.
source: http://www.olympics.com / Olympics.com / Home> English> News / by Rahul Venkat / October 04th, 2022
In the history of Odisha, there had never been a Muslim woman helming the top post of any municipality. That changed last week when she won the election to the chairperson post of Bhadrak town.
Thirty-year-old Gulmaki Dalawzi Habib has smashed many social and political conventions. Fighting the polls as an Independent in Bhadrak, the 31-year-old of Puruna Bazaar area made the candidates of three major political parties – the ruling BJD, BJP and Congress – bite the dust.
In the history of Odisha, there had never been a Muslim woman helming the top post of any municipality. That changed last week when she won the election to the chairperson post of Bhadrak town.
Gulmaki won the election by defeating her nearest rival, Samita Mishra of BJD, by a margin of 3,256 votes. While she secured 28,115 votes, Samita bagged 24,859 votes. The BJP candidate came a distant third with 6,787 votes while the Congress nominee could only secure 1,977 votes.
In a communally-sensitive town like Bhadrak, Gulmaki’s poll victory was an outcome which was least expected.
Though there were councilors from minority community in the past, the municipality chairperson post was never helmed by a Muslim. The fact that a Muslim woman could be choice of voters, majority of whom were Hindus, was something which even poll pundits could not predict.
The chairperson-elect said she was both humbled and proud to be the first Muslim woman in the State to be elected to the top municipality post.
“The whole of Bhadrak town is celebration my victory. People were steadfast in their support to me. I dedicate my win to both Hindus and Muslims of the town,” she said.
Of the total 30 Wards in Bhadrak Municipality, 12 are dominated by Muslims while two have a sizable population of the minority community.
There are more than 87,000 voters in Bhadrak town of whom over 34,000 are Muslims.
Contrary to the perception, there was no reservation in the minds of Hindu voters towards a Muslim candidate.
“While campaigning, I was treated like one of their own. In my personal experience, there is no divide between Hindus and Muslims as was being spread by some people during the elections. Irrespective of religion, voters showered their love and blessings on me.”
Though Gulmaki is a political greenhorn, her husband Sheikh Jahid Habib was the former district vice-president of BJD’s youth wing.
In the run-up to the urban local body polls, people of Puruna Bazaar demanded a chairperson candidate from the area which always bore the brunt of civic authorities’ neglect.
However, BJD ignored the demand following which Gulmaki filed nomination as an Independent candidate.
Development of the town is top on the agenda of Gulmaki, who hold a degree in Business Administration.
“Roads and drainage system need to be be drastically improved in the town. Especially in Puruna Bazaar, the living conditions are poor. I plan to work on these issues first after taking office.”
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> States> Odisha / by Anup Nayak, Express News Service / March 28th, 2022
