IDB Seminar calls for preparing best Professionals

Hyderabad, March 6 (INN): The Educational Development Seminar of the Jeddah-based Islamic Development Bank and the Delhi-based Muslim Education Trust (MET) began at Maulana Azad National Urdu University here on Friday with a call for the community to help in preparing committed professionals.

The four-day event, in which about 150 scholarship beneficiaries from Uttar Pradesh, Uttaranchal, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh are taking part, has been organized by MANUU and Muslim Educational Social and Cultural Organization (MESCO), a city-based NGO. The title of the seminar is 'A Roadmap to Peace, Progress and Prosperity.'

MET Chairman Mohammed Amanullah Khan said that about 5,000 students from across India have benefited from scholarship programme of the IDB which it started under its Special Assistance Scheme in 1983.

Zafar Javeed, in-charge of IDB's projects support programme, said first the IDB allocated $30 million for scholarships and projects in India and later added another $30 million. The programme which started with the clearance from the Central Ministry of Home Affairs and the Reserve Bank of India is said to be one of the most successful ventures of the IDB across the world, he said.

Describing the situation of Muslims in North India as sad, Amanullah Khan, asked the people in the South, especially Hyderabad, to assist them in improving their educational and socio-economic backwardness.

Khan said that the backwardness of the people in the north is mainly because of the disunity. There have hardly been any organized and successful campaigns within the community to bring it at par with the nation's development levels. 'When you compare the situation in the North with that in the South, it is much better here. You should come forward to help the people in the North,' he appealed.

He said that the under the IDB's Special Assistance Programme about 5000 students, mainly in engineering and medicine, have benefited so far. The IDB scholarship and project support programme was initiated under its Special Assistance Programme.

MANUU Vice-Chancellor Prof. Mohammed Miyan hoped that the beneficiaries of the IDB scholarship programme will contribute positively in the progress of India. 'Be sincere, be focused. Don't ever forget that your country needs your services,' he told the participants.

The vice-chancellor and Zafar Javeed said that being secular does not mean one is straying from his religion. It is giving respect to all religions, they said.

Prof. Khwaja M. Shahid, Pro Vice Chancellor, asked the participants to use the opportunity of being together to learn from each other's knowledge and experience.

The other eminent persons who spoke on the occasion were Prof. S. M. Rahmatullah, in-charge Registrar, Prof. Suhail Sabir, Dr. Fkhruddin Mohammed, and Malik Moatasim Khan. While Dr. Mohammed Shahid Malik conducted the programme Arshad Warshi, a scholarship beneficiary, proposed the vote of thanks.