Tag Archives: Syed Zafar Mahmood – CEO – Zakat Foundation of India

Achievement has Come with Burden of Responsibility: Junaid, UPSC Topper

Community Involvement / Social Issues, Education, Leaders, , , , , , ,

Nagina town, Bijnor District, UTTAR PRADESH :

Junaid Ahmed, a 27-year-old alumnus of the prestigious Aligarh Muslim University who completed his engineering from Sharda University
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

UPSC exam: Muslim aspirants to get free coaching at Haj Houses from nxt year

Community Involvement / Social Issues, Education, SCHOLARSHIPS, Useful / SCHOLARSHIPS, , , , , , , , ,

NEW DELHI :

Buoyed by 51 Muslim candidates clearing the civil services examination this year, the Haj Committee of India has decided to provide free coaching across states and union territories from next year.

UPSC civil services aspirants are being provided free coaching at the committee’s Mumbai-based headquarters for the last seven years. Two of the students who studied there were selected for the prestigious service this year.

The Haj Committee of India had recently sent a proposal to the Minority Affairs Ministry about providing coaching for the civil services in Haj Houses in all states and union territories. The ministry has accepted the proposal.

Union Minority Affairs Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi told Bhasha, “Two students who took coaching at the Haj Committee of India-run classes, cracked the UPSC exams. Next year onwards the government will start free coaching in Haj Bhavans in states and union territories.”

“We had requested the ministry (of minority affairs) to start free coaching service in Haj Bhavans in different states. We are happy that the minority affairs minister has approved the proposal. We want to start the (coaching) service from next year. We will implement this with the state Haj boards,” Chief Executive Officer of Haj Committee of India, Maqsood Ahmed Khan, said.

For the last seven years, 40 students are provided free coaching at the Haj Committee of India’s headquarters in Mumbai every year, he said.

Of the 980 candidates selected for civil services this year, 51 are Muslims.

Syed Zafar Mahmood, the chief of Zakat Foundation of India, which helps aspirants from economically weak Muslim families to prepare for the exam, said, “In 2017, around five lakh candidates appeared for the civil services preliminary examination and hardly 2 per cent of them were Muslims.”

“If the participation of Muslim students grows in the civil services examination then the number (of selected candidates) can go up from 51 to 100 as well,” he said.

source: http://www.outlookindia.com / Outlook / Home> Magazine / New Delhi – May 06th, 2018