Brief Report of the National Workshop of Muslim NGOS held in New Delhi
The
Milli Gazette
A three-day National Workshop of the Muslim NGOs from across the country was held at the India Islamic Cultural Centre, Lodhi Road, New Delhi from 22nd December to 24th December 2006.
Jaipal Reddy, Union Minister for Urban Development, inaugurated the workshop, while Saiyid Hamid, Chancellor, Jamia Hamdard, delivered the keynote address. Navaid Hamid, General Secretary of MOEMIN and Convener of the Workshop, offered introductory remarks and a background note about the aims and objectives of the workshop, while Vayalar Ravi, Union Minister of Overseas Indians and Hamid Ansari, Chairman of National Commission for Minorities were Guest Speakers. Renowned Gandhian and Member of Parliament, Nirmala Deshpande, presided over the Inaugural Session.
Priyaranjan Das Munshi, Union Minister for Information & Broadcasting and E. Ahamed, Union Minister of State for External Affairs, addressed the workshop in different sessions.
Notable speakers who gave presentations on various subjects in various sessions included Hannan Mollah, Member of Parliament; Basheeruddin Babukhan, Former Minister of Government of Andhra Pradesh and Chairman Babukhan Foundation; Dr. Zafar Mehmood, OSD, PM’s High Power Committee on Minorities; Prof. Allauddin Ahmed, former Vice Chancellor, Jamia Hamdard; Jaffer Qureshi, Vice Chairman, Muslim Aid UK; Hasan Kamal, President, Confederation of Aligarh Alumni Associations, USA; A.R. Shervani, renowned educationist; Imran Kidwai, Chairman, Minorities Department of the All India Congress Committee; Zafar Agha, senior columnist; Aziz Burney, Editor, Rashtriya Sahara Urdu daily, Uzma Naheed, Chairman Iqra Foundation, Mumbai, Asma Zehra, Hyderabad, Dawood Batcha, Chennai, Dr. Rahmatunnisa BSA Rahman, Chennai, Sirajuddin Qureshi, President India Islamic Cultural Centre, New Delhi; Dr. Shakeel Ahmed Khan, Director General, Nehru Yuvak Kendra Sangathan, New Delhi, Kamal Farooqui, Delhi; Dr. Zafarul-Islam Khan, Editor,
The Milli Gazette, New Delhi and Ghaffar Shaikh, Aurangabad.
The workshop received a message of blessings from Sonia Gandhi, Chairperson of the UPA, and messages of good wishes from K Rahman Khan, Deputy Chairman, Rajya Sabha and also from Rahul Bajaj, MP and renowned industrialist.
Imtiazuddin from USA; Maulana Abdul Wahab Khilji; Badiur Rahman, Jahanabad, Bihar; Javed Habeeb and Prof. Akhtarul Wasey, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi, also intervened in different sessions.
Around 325 delegates, including 35 Muslim women delegates from 19 states from across the country, participated in the workshop. The participants deliberated on the issues of development, economic, social and educational empowerment, and discussed issues of the rampant discrimination in nearly all spheres of life today.
The delegates noted, with great satisfaction and appreciation, the recent announcements of Hon’ble Prime Minister about the affirmative actions of the UPA government for the Minorities in general, and the Muslim community in particular, and hoped that the announcements would be translated into actions in the coming months and years. The participants also welcomed the presentation of the Sachar Report to the Prime Minister, and the announcement of the Union Minister of Minorities Affairs on the floor of Parliament and on several other occasions that the UPA government is sincere in implementing the recommendations of the
Sachar Committee report.
The participants of the three-day National Workshop of Muslim NGOs adopted a joint declaration and floated a Central Coordination Forum for Muslim NGOs with Navaid Hamid as its Secretary General.
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